Black History Month: Changing The Dentistry Game

DETROIT (WWJ) -- One local professional is really sinking his teeth into blazing new trails.

Dr. Darnell Kaigler Jr., was the first graduate of a joint DDS/PH.d. program at the University of Michigan. Now, he's a tenured Associate Professor at the university where he's leading ground-breaking research.

"[It's] a federally funded research program where we study tissue regeneration and tissue engineering," Kaigler said. "One of our main areas of focus is in stem cell therapies."

As part of a clinical trial, Kaigler restored the smile of a 45-year-old woman by regenerating her jaw bone.

"We harvested a small population of stem cells from her, then we cultivated them outside of the body and then reintroduced them in the areas where she had this jaw bone deficiency," Kaigler said.

The 41-year-old is also a periodontist at the Detroit Dental Specialty Center, which he opened with his colleagues on Mack Ave. in the Detroit Medical Center four months ago.

"There's really no other specialty clinic like this -- of this nature -- in the city," Kaigler said.

He's following in the footsteps of his father, Darnell Kaigler, Sr. -- who's been practicing for 40 years -- and gave advise for anyone looking to follow their dreams.

"In the face of adversity, being able to respond, realizing that it's not going to be easy, if it were easy everyone would be doing it there would be no 'trailblazers,'" Kaigler said

WWJ Newsradio 950 celebrates Black History Month by recognizing our local African-American professionals and their heroes – you can hear these reports throughout the day: 6:23 a.m., 9:23 a.m., 12:23 p.m., 5:23 p.m. and 10:23 p.m.