Joseph I.  Helman, DMD
Professor and Chair

Dr. Helman maintains his focus on the surgical management of oral cancer as well as orthognathic surgery in patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome. His current research focus is on Clinical Outcome Measures and his current projects are recurrence rates in the management of Odontogenic Keratocysts, success rates in the surgical treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea, and Maxillofacial findings on patients with Nevoid Basal Cell Carcinoma Syndrome (Gorlin Syndrome).

Lawrence Ashman, DDS
Director, TMD and Orofacial Pain Clinic

Dr. Lawrence Ashman is the Director of the TMD and Orofacial Pain Clinic at the University of Michigan. In his role, Dr. Ashman provides patient's care, supports he educational needs of the dental students, and assist in related research projects. He is also an adjunct lecturer at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry.

Benjamin Cornwall, DDS
Assistant Professor

Dr. Cornwall earned his DDS from the University of Michigan in 1978. After eighteen years of Private practice he started teaching part time at the UM. He took a full time position with UDM and for 6 years was the director of the clinic at Detroit Receiving Hospital. While in private practice Dr. Cornwall was on Active Staff at Sinai Hospital in Detroit with the GPR program. At UDM he was appointed Active Staff at St. John Riverview Hospital in Detroit as a faculty member of the AEGD program. Currently, Dr. Cornwall is the Assistant Director of the GPR program at the University of Michigan, School of Dentistry in 2006. His clinic and his office is located in The University of Michigan Hospital.

Sean P. Edwards, DDS, MD
Assistant Professor
Director, Residency Program
Chief, Pediatric Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Dr. Edwards, the Department's Chief of Pediatric Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, graduated from the Dalhousie University School of Dentistry and the University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. Edwards obtained his residency here at the University of Michigan Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department. After his residency, Dr. Edwards completed fellowship training at the University of Pittsburgh in Craniofacial Surgery. Dr. Edwards' clinical interests include craniomaxillofacial deformity, pediatric obstructive sleep apnea, cleft lip and palate, craniofacial trauma, and pediatric neoplasms of the craniomaxillofacial structures with research interests in craniofacial biology wound healing.

Stephen E Feinberg, DDS, MS, PhD
Professor
Associate Chair & Director of Research

Dr. Feinberg maintains his clinical activities and also has an active NIH-funded research program in tissue engineering. His main project is in the ex vivo development of a human full-thickness oral mucosal tissue that is suitable for intraoral grafting procedures. The long-term objective is to produce a "smart" transduced oral mucosal graft that will be used for reconstruction of major oral defects secondary to oncologic resection, traumatic events or developmental disturbances. The graft would act both as a material for reconstruction and as a repository for in situ transmucosal delivery of recombinant growth factors or cytokines. The goal is also to establish expanded cultures in an enriched population of oral mucosa progenitor/stem cells using only physical and pharmacological means under chemically defined conditions that will be the foundation for our advances into cell replacement therapy. His next step is to perform a FDA-approved Phase I/II clinical trial through the UM General Clinical Research Center in 2006. Dr. Feinberg's other area of research is in the development of 3-dimensional biomimetic scaffolds for tissue engineering of bone and/or cartilage for reconstruction of the temporomandibular joint.

Pilar Hita-Iglesias, DDS, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Undergraduate Clinic Director

Dr. Hita-Iglesias graduated from the University of Granada, School of Dentistry in Spain. She obtained her Masters in Oral Surgery and her PhD in Stomatology at the University of Seville, Spain, as well as her Board Certification through the European Association of Oral Surgery. Dr. Hita-Iglesias serves as the Undergraduate Clinic Director at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, a position where she clearly manifests a passion for teaching. She also holds clinical and surgical privileges at University of Michigan Hospitals. Her clinical research has been focused in the area of cause/effect as well as prevention of alveolar osteitis. Her clinical interests include oral implantology and oral-dentoalveolar surgery.

Carol Anne Murdoch-Kinch, DDS, PhD
Oral Radiologist
Oral Medicine

Dr. Murdoch-Kinch is studying oral health in patients after parotid-sparing radiation therapy of head and neck cancer. Unlike patients who receive standard radiation therapy (RT) and suffer from permanent xerostomia, patients treated with parotid-sparing RT, developed at University of Michigan, experience recovery of salivary function over time. She hypothesizes that this will translate into better oral health for our patients.

Brent B. Ward,  DDS, MD
Assistant Professor
Oncology Fellowship Program Director

Dr. Ward is actively involved in the clinic and operating rooms, his research endeavors, and as the Program Director of Maxillofacial Oncology and Reconstructive Surgery fellowship. His clinical practice is focused on the treatment of cancer and pre-cancer as well as minor and major reconstruction of the structures of the face and jaws. As a member of the University of Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and the Biological Sciences his lab is working with nanostructures both for targeted chemotherapy to Head and Neck Cancer and for pain management with physiologic triggers. In both endeavors, the focus is on increased efficacy and safety for patients. Continuing his bridging effort between dentistry and medicine, he facilitated the creation of a pilot program to train medical doctors in dentistry preparing them for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgical residency so that our dual degree program can be a true "two-way" street.

Wen-Xiang Zhang, MD
Co-Director of the
Microsurgery Training
Center

Dr. Zhang, the Co-Director of our Microsurgical Training Center has trained numerous residents and specialists from around the world in the art of vascular and neural microsurgery. He is collaborating on a federally funded research project with Drs. David Humes (Internal Medicine) and Dave Brown (Plastic Surgery) developing an experimental model for a tissue engineered kidney.

Samuel R.  Zwetchkenbaum, DDS
Program Director, General Practice Residency in Hospital Dentistry

Dr. Zwetchkenbaum is Section Chief of Hospital Dentistry at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry and U of M Health System. He received his DDS. at the University of North Carolina in 1987 and completed a General Practice Residency at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. Following a period of dental practice at both a community health center and nursing home in his native Rhode Island, he returned for advanced training in Prosthodontics and then Maxillofacial Prosthodontics at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Current clinical care involves maxillofacial prosthodontics and hospital dentistry. He is the program director of U of M's general practice residency where recent dental graduates train in care of medically compromised and developmentally disabled patients.