Associate Professor
Director of the Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Postgraduate Program
Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology
Department of Dental Diagnostic Science

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Dental School

E-mail: nummikoski@uthscsa.edu

Office: 2.561U

Phone: (210) 567-3349

FAX: (210) 567-3334

Pirkka V. Nummikoski, D.D.S., M.S. is an Associate Professor and Director of the Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Postgraduate Program in the Department of Dental Diagnostic Science of UTHSCSA. He also has a cross-appointment in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and he is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Periodontics. Dr. Nummikoski received his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1975 from the University of Helsinki Institute of Dentistry in Finland. He practiced general dentistry in Helsinki for seven years after which time he enrolled in 1982 in the oral and maxillofacial radiology training program at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. After completing the specialty training program in 1985 with his Master of Science degree, he took a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral Diagnosis and Radiology at Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas. Year later he returned to San Antonio Dental School, Department of Dental Diagnostic Science as an Assistant Professor and as an Associate Director of the Dental Diagnostic Science postdoctoral program. In 1990 he was appointed as the Program Director of the postdoctoral program, and in 1993, he was tenured and promoted to the rank of Associate Professor. Dr. Nummikoski's research interests are the development and application of advanced digital image analysis methods in clinical research and service. For eight years, he has been the Director of Longitudinal Radiographic Assessment Clinic at the Dental School, and has accrued over $600,000 in research grants and contracts to support the development of new state-of -the-art image analysis methods. With his expertise in digital image analysis, he has also served as an advisor on twenty-five thesis committees. Dr. Nummikoski's other research interests have been in the investigation and development of clinical imaging modalities in TMJ evaluation and dental implant site imaging with tomography. Dr. Nummikoski has thirty-seven peer reviewed publications including papers on development of panoramic radiology equipment, direct digital imaging sensors, digital radiographic image analysis with subtraction and bone change quantification, and alveolar bone texture analysis for osteoporosis detection. He is a member of seven professional organizations and has served as an officer in several of them, such as the President of the The American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Treasurer of the International Association of Dento-Maxillo-Facial Radiology, Secretary-Treasurer of the Diagnostic Systems Group of the International Association of Dental Research, and Chairman and Secretary of the American Association of Dental Schools Graduate and Postgraduate Education Section.