Dennis Lopatin, MS, PhD

Senior Associate Dean

Being Prepared

He has lectured and delivered continuing education courses on preparedness planning for the oral health profession. That includes emphasizing to those in private practice that they must be prepared for emergencies that occur in their practices and they must serve in a leadership role in emergencies that may affect their community, the state, or beyond.

"Preparedness is a hot topic, not just in terms of what it means for the country, the state, or the county, but also in terms of what it means for the individual dentist," Lopatin said.

It's more than knowing what to do during a biological or chemical threat. "It has to do with preparing for events that could affect every dental office. That could include anything from a tornado to a widespread and prolonged power outage," he said. "That includes knowing what to do in terms of maintaining and backing up patient records, recovering lost data, and a host of other issues."

Oral health care professionals, he said, need to devote more time to preparing for those kinds of emergencies.

"Probably fewer than fifty percent of dentists are prepared for many common disasters. They're so busy taking care of running their businesses that, for the most part, they don't take time to anticipate risks that could affect them," he said.

He cited other reasons. "Sometimes it's the cost, but more often than not, they usually don't know what to do, how to do it, or who to contact. In my view, preparedness is a critical part of any dental business plan."

Early Adaptor: Technology

Lopatin enjoys dabbling in new technology and looking for ways to use it in a research laboratory, classroom, or office.

"I've always been involved in new technology in one way or another," he said. That started by learning to program computers using FORTRAN and BASIC in the 1970s to analyze data.

"I was an early adopter of Apple computers and wrote mountains of software to analyze laboratory data," he said.

However, Lopatin said he "got hooked even more" when the School's graphic artist, Chris Jung, introduced him to the Macintosh computer. The year was 1984. "It wasn't long before I purchased several for my laboratory," Lopatin said with a laugh.

Given that background and interest in technology and how it could be used, it came as no surprise when Lopatin was approached by Dr. Lynn Johnson, director of Dental Informatics, in 2004 to ask if he would be willing to be a "guinea pig" for a student-suggested innovation - podcasting.

Now very popular at the School of Dentistry, podcasting involves recording classroom lectures and then transmitting them to an Apple's iTunes U Web site where students, using their U-M password, can later download the lectures to their iPods or other portable listening devices. Students listen to the lectures any time and anywhere. Last year, the number of dental and dental hygiene classroom lectures recorded and available as podcasts surpassed 1,000. [DentalUM, Fall 2007].

The Science of Bowling

When he has time, Lopatin enjoys bowling with his wife of 25 years, Connie. Between them, they share about two dozen bowling balls.

"I used to belong to three or four leagues," he said. "But in recent years, I haven't had much time."

Although he has never rolled a perfect score, he has played in a number of state tournaments and a few pro/am tournaments, and is a member of the Ann Arbor 700 Club.

For Lopatin, bowling is not just a sport. It's science and research.

As he talks about the sport, he waxes eloquently about the different cover stocks on bowling balls, how weights inside a bowling ball make it rotate to travel down a lane, and even the viscosity of oil that's applied to a lane.

"Yes, my calendar is full from morning until night, so there's always something going on. But I enjoy that because I'm a part of making things happen."

See Dennis Lopatin's professional achievements and selected highlights.