FACULTY

New ABPD Diplomates from U-M Program

This year, 13 U-M pediatric dentistry alumni became Diplomates of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. Their names and the year they completed our program are listed below.

• James R. Boynton (2004)
• Jon A. Dallman (1997)
• AnnaMarie (Malavolti) Defeo (2003)
• Heather E. Gormley (2004)
• Catherine H. Hong (2003)
• Jennifer L. MacLellan (2005)
• Shonna L. Masse (2000)
• Steven K. Rayes (2003)
• Daniela R. Silva (2002)
• Michelle J. (Opalka) Tiberia (2001)
• Aleco Tujios (2005)
• James M. VanWingen (2000)
• Vanessa Q. Velilla (2002)

Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry

There have been many noteworthy achievements among faculty, residents, and staff in the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry since my last report in the Spring & Summer 2005 issue of DentalUM. The arrival of new faculty members and significant accomplishments in a range of endeavors continue to fuel our progress. Our department's clinical operations also continue to improve to enhance the clinical experiences of our students.

Faculty Updates

Several new faculty members have recently joined us. Dr. Nan E. Hatch arrived as a full-time faculty member in October 2005 after completing her orthodontics and PhD studies at the University of Washington. She has focused on establishing her research in the first two years of her appointment and has also begun her faculty practice.

Dr. R. Scott Conley joined us as a full-time clinical assistant professor last July. Formerly an assistant professor in orthodontics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Dr. Conley's expertise is in orthodontic management of orthognathic surgery, distraction osteogenesis, craniofacial anomalies, and sleep apnea patients. He is a member of the Angle Society and will add tremendous strength to our curriculum in orthognathic surgery.

Drs. Eric S. DeVries and Yu-Ju (Rita) Yang were appointed as clinical lecturers early this year after completing their pediatric dentistry training at the University of Michigan last December. Their primary responsibilities include predoctoral clinical teaching and patient care both at the U-M School of Dentistry and hospital clinics. Additionally, Dr. Thomas Pink has become pediatric dentistry clinic director. His goal is to expand patient care activities and refine the clinic's business procedures.

Considering that there is a severe shortage of full-time academics, recruiting these capable individuals to our faculty is a major feat for us.

A number of new part-time faculty have also joined our department including Drs. Andre Haerian and Ulla Crouse in orthodontics and Drs. Kevin L. Boyd, Suzanne K. Port, and Toral Gandhi in pediatric dentistry.

Awards & Recognition

Faculty

Dr. James R. Boynton successfully completed the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry certification process despite a very busy year managing the predoctoral program and sustaining a practice. In addition to Dr. Boynton, twelve other U-M pediatric dental alumni were also "Board certified" within the last year.

One of Dr. Scott Conley's manuscripts published in the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics was recognized by the College of Diplomates of the American Board of Orthodontics as the best case report published last year.

Dr. Nan Hatch received the Robert E. Gaylord Teaching Fellowship Award from the AAOF last year and postdoctoral fellowship grant. Nan was also awarded the first-place Hatton Award in the postdoctoral categories from both the American and International Associations for Dental Research. [See story, pages 62-63.]

Dr. Lysle E. Johnston Jr. received the Louise Ada Jarabak Memorial Orthodontic Teachers and Research Award at the recently concluded AAO meeting. This prestigious award recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to orthodontic education and research.

Dr. Sunil D. Kapila received a $1.2 million five-year research grant from the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research to study the contribution of periodontal ligament cells and osteoblasts to periodontal bone breakdown.

Dr. James A. McNamara was selected to receive the 2007 World Prize from the Italian Society of Orthodontists and the 2008 Ketcham Award from the American Board of Orthodontics.

Dr. Josephine C. Weeden, Dr. H. Ludia Kim, and six of our alumni from the class of 2005 - Drs. Jerome B. Schuman, Heather L. Zablocki, Laurie M. McClatchey, Marsha L. Beattie, Jason F. Hall, and Steven W. Charchut - successfully completed the American Board of Orthodontics exams to become Diplomates of the ABO.

Residents

Two of our 2005 orthodontic graduates, Dr. Jerome Schuman and Dr. Heather Zablocki, were awarded the Thomas M. Graber Award of Special Merit at the 2006 AAO Meeting for their master's thesis research.

Dr. Matthew D. Dunn (Ortho 2006) received an award in the Resident Scholars Research Competition for his master's thesis: "Local Delivery of Osteoprotegerin for Orthodontic Anchorage." Matt was also awarded the Thomas Graber Award of Special Merit for this research at this year's AAO meeting.

Dr. Orest J. Pilipowicz (Ped Dent 2006) received a graduate student research award from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry to attend this year's annual meeting and compete for the Ralph MacDonald Award for outstanding resident research. Among the competitors from many different programs, Orest's project received the top award, the Ralph MacDonald Award. This is the same award that Dr. Heather E. Gormley (Ped Dent 2004) received two years ago. The title of Orest's presentation was "The Effects of Nitrous Oxide During Pediatric Dental Sedation with Oral Transmucosal Fentanyl Citrate and Hydroxyzine Pamoate." His chief mentor is Dr. Daniel M. Briskie and advisory mentors are Drs. Robert F. Majewski, Jan C. Hu and Paul Reynolds.

Dr. Yu-Ju (Rita)Yang (Ped Dent 2006) also received a graduate student research award to attend the 2007 AAPD meeting and present her research entitled "Long Term Success of Fissure Sealant Placement on Newly Erupted Hypoplastic First Permanent Molars." Her chief mentor is Dr. Ruwaida Tootla, and thesis advisors are Drs. Lloyd Straffon, Steve Eckland, and Kathy Welch.

Program News

Graduate Orthodontics

In the past year, the Lysle E. Johnston Jr. Endowed Collegiate Professorship was launched and has received strong support from several of Lysle's former students, colleagues, and friends. [See pages 47-48.]

Similarly, the collegiate professorship in honor of James E. Harris needs a final boost to make it a reality. These endowments will help us maintain our competitiveness in recruiting and retaining top-notch faculty in this era of faculty shortages. It would be wonderful to bring these two collegiate professorships to fruition in the near future. Your support is needed to achieve these goals. I am very thankful to so many of our loyal alumni who continue to support us in these times of dwindling state support.

Launching the "Paperless Clinic"

Since 2004, we have been working to implement a paperless clinic in graduate orthodontics. Our efforts began with digital photography and radiography, and continued with the streamlining of the software management programs from two to one.

In the past two years, we laid the groundwork to go to electronic charting. This involved selecting the hardware through trials with a number of systems and the development of appropriate modules in the MiDent software. The computers were purchased and installed in our clinic in May this year [See story, page 7]. Most of the modules including patient health history, clinical findings, treatment planning, and daily treatment notes, are now ready for use. The business and scheduling modules of this software program have been used since last summer. Final components of a totally electronic chart, that include the incorporation of extraction and retainer prescriptions, will begin shortly.

The graduate orthodontics clinic is now the first in the school to convert to completely paperless records. The pioneering of electronic charting in orthodontics is an excellent "pilot" for other clinics in the School as they move towards the same goal. We are extremely proud of the lead taken by graduate orthodontics in this endeavor. Our goal is to similarly transition the graduate pediatric dentistry clinic to electronic charts.

Graduate Pediatric Dentistry

The graduate pediatric dentistry program admitted six from a large pool of competitive applicants. They are Dr. Amy Buehler and Dr. Oshmi Dutta from the University of Southern California, Dr. Damien Kaiser and Dr. Michelle Kurkowski from the University of Michigan, Dr. Elizabeth Miller from the University of Virginia, and Dr. Shirim Sheiny from Azad University, Iran.

Our current graduate students, Drs. Beth Nelson, Sam Malcheff, and Tim Seto were successful in obtaining Delta Dental funds to support their research projects investigating issues related to access to dental care, infant oral health care provider education, and incidence of pneumonia among children with cerebral palsy.

Dr. Rita Yang (2006) and Dr. Eric DeVries (2006) stayed on to serve as clinical lecturers, which greatly stabilized our teaching program and filled the gaps left by Drs. Davenport and Kaiser. Dr. Yang also maintained the level of patient care at the Hospital Dentistry Clinic while Dr. Ruwaida Tootla was on maternity leave.

The Kenneth A. Easlick Society sponsored a well-attended alumni reception during the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry in May in San Antonio.

Many of our alumni are doing well and looking for associates to expand their practices. In addition, we were happy to note that four of our alumni in academia are involved in directing either graduate or predoctoral programs. The program continues to carry out the mission of educating excellent clinicians and nurturing academicians in the field of pediatric dentistry. Dr. Hu and I expressed our sincerest thanks to the alumni who attended for joining the program faculty at this event and for making themselves available to our residents as excellent role models.

Research

The Department continues its sound research program with a strong record of publication, grant funding, and continued recognition of the work done by our faculty and students through research awards. These accomplishments, besides enhancing the scientific basis of orthodontic practice, bring prestige and recognition to our program, the faculty, and the students.

Research objectives for our department include an emphasis on understanding novel clinical issues utilizing contemporary scientific approaches and technologies that will help advance our profession. Interdepartmental and intradepartmental collaborative research is also being encouraged. Drs. Jan Hu, Nan Hatch, and I maintain actively funded basic and translational research activities in topics ranging from dental dysplasias, craniosynostosis, TMJ pathobiology, tissue engineering and bone, dentine, and enamel biology. Dr. Hu's research and mine are funded by the National Institute of Health while Dr. Hatch has grant funding from the AAO Foundation. Drs. Conley, McNamara, Arruda, Boynton and Tootla continue to perform clinical studies on various topics and to mentor many master's theses and dental student research projects.