M A G A Z I N E O F T H E T u F T s u N I v E r s I T y d E N TA l A l u M N I A s s O c I AT I O N
S P r i n g 2 0 1 3 v o L . 17 n o . 1
Dental meDicine
a daughter of maine on a
mission to care for rural kids
PLUS: mexican PartnerShiP
32392_C1+C4.indd 1
n
bio rePair Kit
n
2020 viSion
5/2/13 10:14 AM
first impre ssion
A Handy Craft
During the 19th century, sailors aboard the “lightships” (floating lighthouses)
off the Nantucket South Shoals developed the craft of weaving rattan baskets
with a solid wood base. Now known as Nantucket lightship baskets, they are
prized as examples of American folk art. Lauren Murphy, D13, started making
the baskets when she was 9. Later, when she was weighing which branch of
the health sciences to pursue, the baskets offered a clue. “I thought about
medicine, veterinary, everything,” says Murphy, of Hingham, Mass. “But I love
working with my hands, so dentistry was the perfect fit.” The patience and
attention to detail needed to complete a basket are the same skills needed in
the clinic, she says. “I say the baskets led me to dentistry.”
photo: john soares
32392_C2-01.indd 4
4/26/13 8:28 PM
contents
SprINg 2013 voLuMe 17 No. 1
features
10 Grassroots Dentistry
Former environmental activist Corie Rowe, G05, D11,
sees dentistry as yet another way to bring social justice
to underserved communities. By David Levin
14 Strength in Numbers
More dentists, especially recent graduates, are choosing
to join large group practices. Economics and the search
for work-life balance are just some of the reasons why.
By Helene Ragovin
cover STory
18 Northern Light
Norma Desjardins, D92, the daughter of Maine potato
farmers, knows firsthand about the great need for oral
health care in her state’s rural regions. Her children’s clinic
is meant to remedy that. By Jacqueline Mitchell
24 True Grit
14
What does a feisty German governess do when the Great War
leaves her stranded in America? She goes to dental school.
By Julie Flaherty
30 Full Circle
When Thanh-Trang Nguyen, D01, was a teenager newly
arrived from Vietnam, Boston’s Dorchester House offered
her a lifeline. Now she’s the dental director there.
By Linda Hall
departments
2
LeTTerS
3
From THe DeAN
4
worD oF mouTH
A ScAN of peopLe, pL AceS & eveNTS
8
LAb NoTeS
A reporT oN LeADINg-eDge ScIeNce
33
oN CAmpuS
D e N TA L S c H o o L N e w S
43
uNiverSiTy NewS
THe wIDer worLD of TufTS
44
ADvANCemeNT
g I v I N g . g r o w T H . g r AT I T u D e .
46
37
32392_C2-01.indd 5
ALumNi NewS
S TAy I N g c o N N e c T e D
cover photo: Norma Desjardins, D92,
is filling a void in rural Maine.
photo by patrick McNamara
4/26/13 8:28 PM
letters
good re ading
I enjoyed the Fall 2012 issue of Tufts Dental
Medicine on many levels. It was nice to learn
more about Nadeem Karimbux, our new
associate dean for academic affairs and his
interest in the relationship of oral health and
systemic disease, which I believe will be the
center of our dental universe in the future.
Also our new associate dean for admissions
and student affairs, Robert Kasberg (“A Life
in Balance”), has a very interesting personal
history and commitment to diversity, specifically seeking prospective students from
rural and urban areas to fill the need for the
shortages in the underserved populations
of our cities and rural locations alike. And
finally, the articles about government subsidy for graduate education (“Will the Safety
Net Hold?”) and the cost of emergency room
dentistry were informative for many outside
of the public health arena, I am sure. A terrific issue—my compliments to the writers
and staff.
mark r. buttarazzi, d83,
m13p, m15p
scarborough, maine
Anna Q. Churchill, right
and quite a few other students with her own
revolving student loan fund. No paperwork, no interest; you paid it back after you
graduated, and it would go to other needy
students.
Dr. Churchill was also a Smith College
graduate. I found this photo (below)
that was taken in 1957 at her 50th Smith
reunion. (She was known for carrying a
parasol on and off campus.) At the time, I
lived and practiced in Northampton, Mass.,
and Dr. Churchill contacted me to ask if I
had an extra room to put up a friend of hers
who had accompanied her to the reunion.
(Housing at graduation time is just impossible!) I was delighted to help her—a small
thing to do after she came through for me
when I was in dire straits. She was a truly
outstanding person.
peter laband, d50, a76p, j80p,
a89p, m93p
south yarmouth, mass.
2 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p02.indd 2
v o l u m e 1 7, n o . 1 s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
e xecutive editor
editor huw F. thomas
Dean, School of Dental Medicine
editor helene ragovin
editorial Director Karen bailey
Alumni editor Vangel r. Zissi, D62, Dg67
Design Director margot grisar
senior Designer betsy hayes
Contributing Writers
gail bambrick, Julie Flaherty, Linda hall,
marjorie howard, David Levin, Jacqueline
mitchell, heather stephenson
Contributing editor bob sprague
editorial Advisors
mark gonthier, executive associate Dean
maria gove tringale, senior Director,
Dental Development and Alumni Relations
susan ahearn, senior associate Director,
Alumni Relations
Dental Alumni Association
president John J. millette, D91, a15P
l aurels
Tufts Dental Medicine has been recognized for writing, graphic design and
overall excellence. The International
College of Dentists gave the magazine the
Platinum Pencil Award for Outstanding
Graphic Design for the issues published
in Spring 2011 (“Treat the Child, Treat
the Parent”) and Fall 2011 (“Inside Job”).
In the 2013 Council for Advancement and
Support of Education (CASE) District I
Communications Excellence Awards contest, the publication was awarded a Gold
Medal for Best Magazine Writing and a
Bronze Medal for Best Overall Magazine
with a circulation under 25,000.
talk to us
remembering dr. churchill
I was sorting through an accumulation of
60-plus years of slides and pictures when
I came across some shots of Dr. Anna Q.
Churchill, our microanatomy teacher. She
was an unusual lady. She had helped me
dental medicine
Tufts Dental Medicine welcomes
letters, concerns and suggestions
from all its readers. Address your
correspondence, which may be
edited for space and clarity, to Helene
ragovin, editor, Tufts Dental Medicine,
Tufts university office of publications,
80 george st., medford, mA 02155.
You can also fax us at 617.627.3549
or email helene.ragovin@tufts.edu.
vice president
president
Joseph P. giordano, D79, Dg84
Assistant secretary/Treasurer
secretary/Treasurer
cherie c. bishop, D94
Treasurer nicholas t. Papapetros ii, D91
secretary Janis moriarty, D94
Directors
michelle anderson, D07, Dg09; rustam
K. DeVitre, Dg76, Di77, D12P; Joanne
Falzone-cherubini, D80; Peiman mahdavi,
D91, Dg94; raina a. trilokekar, Dg88, Di91;
Derek a. Wolkowicz, D97, Dg00
past presidents
presidents
Peter a. Delli colli, a69, D73; mostafa h.
el-sherif, Di95; tofigh raayai, Dg77, Di82
Dental m Club
mary Jane hanlon, D97, chair
mary c. Demello, D86, vice chair
Historian charles b. millstein, D62, a10P
Chapter and Club presidents
presidents
steven Dugoni, D79, a08P, a12P, California
robert berg, D03, New York
William n. Pantazes, D90, Dg08, Florida
John a. Vrotsos, Dg82, Greece
Lino calvani, Dg91, Italy
Tufts Dental Medicine is published twice
annually by tufts university school of Dental
medicine, the tufts university Dental alumni
association and the tufts university office
of Publications. the magazine is a publication
member of the american association
of Dental editors.
send correspondence to:
editor, Tufts Dental Medicine
tufts university office of Publications
80 george st., medford, ma 02155
© 2013 trustees oF tuFts uniVersity
Tufts prints green
Printed on 25% postconsumer waste
recycled paper. Please recycle.
5/2/13 10:16 AM
from the dean
No Simple Issue
greetings! i have often
commented in this column on the tremendous
sense of family that characterizes the Tufts School
of Dental Medicine community. This was nowhere
more apparent than during the events surrounding
the terrorist attacks at the
Boston Marathon, which have reminded us all of the
importance of our friends and family in very challenging times. I have been so moved and impressed
with the way our school, university and the people
of this great city have responded. Our thoughts and
prayers remain with all those affected by this tragedy.
That sense of caring about the communities in
which we live is highlighted in our lead story in this
issue, which explores many of the challenges facing
our profession. Access to oral health care, especially
in rural areas, presents a significant national problem. The situation in Maine illustrates this issue—
a shortage of dentists, low reimbursement policies
and a patient population that is largely unaware of
the benefits of sound oral hygiene to their oral and,
indeed, general health until a problem arises. We are
all grateful to dentists like Norma Desjardins who
choose to practice in underserved areas. Through
our externship programs we seek to educate and
encourage our graduates to consider these underserved regions as possible sites for their future
careers. But if that is all we do, we will allow others
to determine the future of oral health-care delivery,
a situation that is unfortunately playing out in many
areas of the country.
The theme of increasing access to care, especially among low-income populations, is continued
in our story about another alumnus, Corie Rowe,
who is opening an office on Chicago’s South Side.
This article illustrates the multifaceted issues that
we deal with in our understanding of access issues.
Simply providing access to care does not ensure that
individuals will take advantage of it. Education in
sound oral health-care practices is essential if we are
to make progress in reducing disease.
Our current students are featured prominently
in this issue of the magazine and help us appreciate
the outstanding group of young women and men in
our dental school classes. For the second year in a
row, our students have been recognized as contributing the largest number of abstracts to the annual
meeting of the International Association of Dental
Research, held recently in Seattle.
By the time many of you read this, the Class of
2013 will have graduated. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the graduates on their many
achievements and wish them the very best as they
embark on the next phase of their careers.
huw f. thomas, b.d.s., m.s., ph.d.
dean and professor of pediatric dentistry
huw.thomas@tufts.edu
PHOTO: alOnsO nicHOls
32392p03.indd 3
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 3
4/30/13 8:39 AM
word of mouth
a scan of people, places & events
Good Zzzzzs
Mexican students tap into Tufts’ dental sleep medicine curriculum
by Helene Ragovin
he field of dental sleep medicine was barely out of its
infancy when Tufts faculty realized the importance of training
students to screen, diagnose and treat sleep disorders. In 2009,
the school became the first in the U.S. to incorporate dental
sleep medicine into its curriculum.
But Americans aren’t the only ones whose nights are upended by conditions such as obstructive sleep apnea, which not only deprive their sufferers of
much-needed rest but pose significant health risks. So when the Tufts-trained
dean of a Mexican dental school realized his country could benefit from dentists with sleep medicine expertise, he reached out to Boston. The result is a
collaboration between Tufts School of Dental Medicine and the University of
Monterrey (UDEM) that allows students in Mexico to take the Tufts class in
dental sleep medicine using distance-learning technology.
“I knew that I had to bring something that would have an impact for our
community,” says Hector Martinez, DG08, dean of the UDEM dental school.
“So I turned right back to Tufts and asked for help to develop this program.”
The UDEM dental sleep medicine program, now in its second year, is the first
of its kind in Latin America.
4 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p04-07.indd 4
The course is taught by Leopoldo Correa,
DG11, an associate professor of diagnosis
and health promotion and head of the dental
sleep medicine section at Tufts’ Craniofacial
Pain, Headache and Sleep Center. UDEM
associate professor Hector Cuellar provides
hands-on instruction on his end in Mexico.
With a generation of students accustomed
to using Skype and Facetime, the virtual
attendance of the Mexican students is fairly
easy to handle, Correa says.
The 24 UDEM students are in their final
year of a five-year dental program, all specializing in a track known as growth and
development. UDEM is a bilingual university, and the students are tested to assure
their fluency in English.
The prevalence of sleep disorders in Latin
America has not been measured extensively,
but a 2008 study in the Journal of Clinical
Sleep Medicine that examined sleep issues
in four Latin American cities, including
Mexico City, found a “high prevalence of
sleep-related symptoms and undiagnosed
obstructive sleep apnea,” ranging from 2.9
percent to 23.5 percent of the study subjects.
In the U.S., it’s estimated at least 40 million people have some sort of sleep disorder,
and up to 5 percent of the population may
have obstructive sleep apnea, in which the
airways consistently become blocked during sleep. The result, in addition to loud
snoring or gasping, can be sleep that is disrupted anywhere from a few times to several
hundred times a night. Along with daytime
sleepiness, the periodic lack of oxygen can
create a risk for cardiovascular conditions,
such as high blood pressure or stroke, as
well as diabetes and depression. The firstline treatment is usually a nighttime device
known as a Continuous Positive Airway
Pressure (CPAP), which uses mild air pressure to keep the airways open during sleep.
For many patients, an oral appliance to help
prevent the collapse of the tongue and soft
tissues in the back of the throat is used along
with, or instead of, the CPAP.
Martinez’s wife, Gabriela Garza, DG09,
works at UDEM’s orofacial pain clinic,
IllustratIons: marc rosenthal
4/29/13 1:56 PM
where patients thought to have sleep disorders are evaluated and diagnosed.
“Most of the time patients don’t know
what the problem is,” Martinez says. “In
Mexico, patients don’t visit the dentist to
try and take care of sleep problems. All they
know is they are not having good sleep.” If
nighttime restlessness or daytime sleepiness
prompts anyone to take action, the choice is
usually a trip to a physician. So the task for
Martinez and his colleagues was not only
to train dentists in sleep medicine, but to
enlighten physicians and dentists outside
UDEM about the relatively new field.
“Word started to spread about what we
are doing for sleep disorders, and after that
we started growing. We try to give physicians and dentists guidance on how to manage their cases,” Martinez said.
“The University of Monterrey is trying to
take the lead in public awareness of the medical consequences of untreated sleep apnea
and sleep disorders,” Correa said.
Mexico’s public health plans do not cover
treatment for sleep disorders, nor do most
private Mexican dental insurance plans,
Martinez said. At UDEM, a private university where there is an emphasis on community service, “we can give service to the
low-income community, those who cannot
pay for dental insurance and those who are
not being treated by a government program,
and give them very high-quality dental
treatment, and a type of treatment that is
very rare in Mexico,” he says. “People are
now coming from outside Monterrey, from
distant parts of Mexico, to have diagnoses
here on sleep medicine. So we’re having an
impact on the whole country.”
Tuning Out the Pain
f you’ve gotten lost in a book or found yourself “in the zone” at
the gym, you’ve been in a kind of hypnotic trance, so focused on
the task at hand that time passes unnoticed. Dentists can take
advantage of that state of mind to help their patients manage
orofacial pain, says Teresa Sienkiewicz, a physical therapist who
uses clinical hypnosis to manage her patients’ pain and stress.
A simple technique known as guided imagery is one way healthcare providers can “manipulate patients’ experiences and alter
their perceptions,” said Sienkiewicz, who spoke at Tufts School of
Dental Medicine last fall as part of a speaker series hosted by the
Craniofacial Pain Center. Practitioners might ask patients to imagine physically pushing away the pain or visualize it swirling down a bathtub drain.
With guided imagery, patients
who can easily reach a deep
trance state can “set their pain
to zero,” said Sienkiewicz, who
specializes in the treatment
of facial pain and headaches.
But even for the control freaks
among us—those who are
generally less susceptible to
hypnosis and are capable of only
shallow trances—hypnosis can
still help modulate pain.
She recommends using these
techniques in conjunction with
other pain-management strategies,
including medication and cognitive
behavioral therapy. Anyone can become certified in hypnosis, and
some training sessions are specifically designed for health-care
professionals. The techniques can also help patients manage their
fear of going to the dentist and help improve compliance. “As with
any discipline,” says Sienkiewicz, “the real learning happens when
working with patients.”
Sienkiewicz cited peer-reviewed research, published in 2009 in
the European Journal of Pain, which found that hypnosis can help
patients manage the pain associated with fibromyalgia. Though
it’s not known exactly how it works, the same study found that
hypnosis induces measurable physical changes in the thalamus,
prefrontal cortex and insular cortex,
all regions of the brain associated
with emotions, suggesting that
hypnosis reduces pain by altering those brain structures.
Ironically, it can be tough
to assess the effects of hypnosis in a controlled study. Any
kind of caring attention from
a health-care provider seems
to have a positive effect on
pain management and patient
compliance with follow-up
care, Sienkiewicz said. It turns
out that good chairside manner can be as powerful as the
power of suggestion.
—jacqueline mitchell
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 5
32392p04-07.indd 5
5/3/13 9:17 AM
word of mouth
Why Do We Avoid Health Care?
Brain science may offer answers by Gail Bambrick
ear of pain and general anxiety about the dentist cause
many patients to neglect their oral health. Kelly Kimiko
Leong, D14, is conducting basic research at the National
Institutes of Health to identify what parts of the brain
are activated when we make such decisions—science that could
lead to a better understanding of the issues that prompt patients
to avoid seeing a dentist or physician.
“I have always been interested in what motivates or prevents
people from taking care of their health,” Leong says. “In dentistry,
we often focus on maintenance, or correcting a problem, such
as filling the cavity. But if you’re scared to come to the dentist
because you have anxiety, how can we alleviate these worries so
you will want to take care of yourself?”
Leong, one of only four dental students in the country selected
for the inaugural class of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Medical Research Scholars Program, is spending this year at the
NIH campus in Bethesda, Md.
She’s working at the National Institute of Mental Health, in
the lab of cognitive neuroscientist James Blair, where researchers are using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to
determine which neural pathways are activated when we face a
decision involving a moral component
While an MRI produces images of internal body structures,
such as bones or organs, an f MRI measures brain activity by
detecting changes in blood f low. When an area of the brain is
active, blood flow to that region also increases.
Blair’s lab focuses on understanding children with psychological disorders and behavioral problems. While this may seem a
far cry from dental anxiety in adults, the basics of how the brain
functions when we make decisions could have implications for
many kinds of human behavior.
Leong’s assignment is to establish a baseline range of responses
of mentally healthy adult subjects confronted with a series of moral
issues. She presents them with scenarios that illustrate “care-based”
morality (someone inflicting harm on another person) as well as
“social convention” morality (a boy going into a girl’s bathroom).
While undergoing an fMRI, study subjects are asked to decide, on a
scale of 1 to 4, if an action is acceptable or unacceptable.
These kinds of decisions usually prompt activity within the limbic
system and temporal cortex regions of the brain. Leong and her colleagues use the fMRI to look even more closely to identify the specific
neural pathways that show increased blood flow and oxygen, a signal
known as the BOLD (Blood Oxygen Level Dependent) response.
Once these adult baselines have been established, researchers can
compare them with the responses of children with psychological and
behavior problems who will undergo similar tests.
Leong says she’s always been equally intrigued by research and
human behavior (she did her undergraduate work in psychology and
6 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p04-07.indd 6
molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley).
Before coming to Tufts School of Dental Medicine, she was a student
researcher at the University of California, San Francisco’s Marshall
Laboratory, where she investigated dental implant materials that promote maximum bone healing around the implant.
She is hoping to find a niche in the dental profession that will
allow her to meld her interests in psychology, neuroscience and
dental research. Her mentors at NIH have advised her to let her
career evolve in line with her passions. She sees research as key
to eliminating the emotional and technological barriers that can
hamper the delivery of accessible, state-of-the-art dental care.
“To make a mark on how we work, to change the way we look at
procedures and to innovate dental technology is really something
very special,” Leong says. “I think if we can encourage dental students in their research pursuits, it could have a great impact on the
whole profession.”
Gail Bambrick, a senior writer in Tufts’ Office of Publications, can be
reached at gail.bambrick@tufts.edu.
Kelly Kimiko Leong,
D14, wants a career that
melds her interests in
psychology, neuroscience
and dental research.
Photo: chrIs hartlove
4/29/13 1:56 PM
d
the
20%
Percentage of u.s. dental
offices that closed an
average of two days after
hurricane sandy, according
to Baird equity research.
$153 milliOn
size of the market for dental
services in Boston, according to
dentaltrends—the largest of 15
major u.s. cities examined by the
online dental research service.
A smattering
of dentistry tidbits
to inform, amuse
and amaze
emergency dentist
23-29 DecembeR
Week when Google searches
for the term “Emergency
Dentist” hit their highest point
during 2012, almost double
that during the rest of the year.
list
how dentists fared in a 2012
gallup poll that asked the
public to rate 22 professions
based on their honesty and
ethical standards.
1982
Publication year of the children’s
book Doctor De Soto, by William Steig, about a clever
mouse dentist who outwits a sneaky fox patient.
11%
Respondents to a dentek oral
care survey who said they will
floss anywhere. the majority
(75%) said they floss at home
in the bathroom.
minutes
300+
How long the Tooth Tunes
toothbrush plays music by
the boy band One Direction
to encourage young fans to
brush longer.
s
vir tual bulletin board
the
on
”
tal
en
“d
ed
titl
website Pinterest.
1,050
Aspiring bakers
who entered the
valentine’s day
bakeoff sponsored by
the tufts chapter of the
american dental education
association. First place went
to avanthi tiruvadi, d16, for
a toffee cake; second place
to Julia caine, of research
administration, for her
mousse cake.
6
PROOF
alcohol content
of bourbon- and
scotch-flavored
toothpastes that
went on sale in
1954, and were
written about in
Life magazine.
Photos: Book, kelvin ma; shoes, Fantich and young; istockPhoto
32392p04-07.indd 7
Number of false teeth
in “Apex Predator. Oxfords Shoes,” a 2010
sculpture by the London artists Mariana
Fantich and Dominic Young.
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 7
5/2/13 10:25 AM
leading-edge science
A microscopic view
of fibroblast cells
grown from a patient’s
nonhealing, diabetic
foot ulcer.
regeneration
multipurpose cells could act as biological repair
kits, treating diseases that won’t get better on
their own by David Levin
for most of us, minor
wounds are just an inconvenience. We endure the minor
pain of a cut or scrape, stick on
a bandage and within a week,
our skin looks like nothing ever
happened.
In some cases, though,
healing isn’t so simple.
Somewhere along the way,
the complex chain of events
that lets the body repair itself
breaks down, and a wound
remains open, raw. Such is
the case with those who suffer
from chronic foot ulcers, a
nonhealing wound common
in diabetics.
“For these foot ulcers,
there are a variety of therapies,
but they are only successful in roughly half the cases,
and [the ulcers] have a high
recurrence rate,” says Jonathan
Garlick, head of the Division
of Cancer Biology and Tissue
Engineering at Tufts School of
Dental Medicine. If the wound
doesn’t heal, sometimes the
only recourse is to amputate
the limb.
Garlick’s research could one
day help patients avoid that
kind of traumatic outcome.
He studies pluripotent stem
cells—a type of all-purpose
cell that has the potential to
become any type of tissue in the
human body. Once cells like
these are harnessed in the lab,
he says, researchers can implant
them directly into damaged
tissue to stimulate healing.
It’s a radical new way
of thinking about treating
disease, and it offers possible
cures for chronic conditions
that may not otherwise heal
on their own‚ from diabetic
foot ulcers to heart disease
and even periodontal disease,
where lingering inflammation
can lead to bone and gum loss.
“There are millions of
patients suffering from chronic,
nonhealing conditions like
these,” says Garlick, a professor of oral and maxillofacial
pathology. “That suggests that
we have a lot of work to do.”
The challenges he and other
pluripotent stem cell researchers face, however, have often
been more political than scientific. Until several years ago,
the only way to obtain such
cells has been to harvest them
from human embryos that are
several days old; those tiny
balls of cells ultimately grow
into muscle, nerves, skin and
bone in the womb. Because
embryos develop from fertilized human eggs, opponents
of their use in research argue
that scientists should not be
allowed to work with them
in the lab, a stance that has
sparked heated debate over the
embryo’s role in the quest for
stem cell therapies.
Garlick’s research, however,
might allow scientists to sidestep these moral conundrums.
Using a process Japanese
researchers developed in 2006,
he and his team “reboot” cells
from freshly removed foreskins (yes, foreskins), forcing
them to revert to an embryonic
cell-like state by adding four
genes to the cells’ DNA. The
resulting cells, called induced
pluripotent stem (iPS), acquire
the ability to develop again
into different kinds of cells.
“These alternative cells are
really at the crux of our scientific questions,” says Garlick.
“Are induced pluripotent
stem cells the equivalent to
embryonic stem cells in terms
of their potential therapeutic
value? Do they hold the same
promise for human therapies
in the future?”
To find out, Garlick and
his colleagues are trying to
better understand some of the
biochemical processes that let
the cells “reboot” in the first
place. He says it all goes back to
DNA—or rather, the myriad
ways that cells interpret DNA.
G en e tic Recipes
As you may remember from
high school biology, the information in a DNA molecule is
a master plan for the entire
body. It’s a genetic cookbook
of sorts—inside, it contains
recipes for creating bone cells,
muscle cells, skin cells or any
other type of cell. Somehow,
though, in the face of all this
raw information, cells know
exactly where to start reading. A healthy liver cell homes
8 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p08-09.indd 8
4/26/13 9:24 PM
“WHAT’SREALLYSPECIALABOUTTHEEPIGENOMEISTHAT
ITGIVESCELLSTHEABILITYTOREGULATEWHICHGENESARE
EXPRESSED,WITHOUTALTERINGINFORMATIONSTOREDIN
THEDNAITSELF.”—Jonathan Garlick
in on recipes relevant to liver
cells, and a healthy nerve cell
will focus only on recipes that
make nerve cells.
This selective reading of
DNA is made possible by a
biochemical control system called the epigenome.
Like a set of bookmarks, it
highlights certain sections
of DNA, allowing specific
genes to “turn on” as a cell
develops. The epigenome can
also “mask” parts of DNA,
effectively turning those genes
off. By selecting which genes
can be activated at a given
time, the system guides cells
to develop into specific types.
“What’s really special about
the epigenome is that it gives
cells the ability to regulate
which genes are expressed,
without altering information
stored in the DNA itself,” says
Garlick.
The epigenome is also key
to creating iPS cells. The four
genes that Garlick’s lab add to
skin cells can rearrange these
DNA “bookmarks,” making
only specific parts of the DNA
cookbook (the parts needed
to make an embryoniclike
cell) available for browsing.
As a result, the cell is reprogrammed back to its original
embryonic state.
Understanding the epigenome has big implications for
understanding disease, Garlick
notes. A patient may have flawless DNA, but if his or her cells
are reading it wrong, well, there
are going to be problems. He
thinks these epigenetic glitches
might cause some nonhealing
disorders—and that iPS cells
could offer a tantalizing cure.
“If we can understand the
epigenome in iPS, we can think
about using cells derived from
them to treat a chronic wound
or periodontal gum defect that
doesn’t heal, and potentially
reverse those defects,” he says.
Although iPS cell therapy is
promising, it’s not yet a magic
A colony of human-induced pluripotent stem cells. Each of the cells in this
cluster has the potential to remain a stem cell or can be stimulated to
become a more specialized cell type with therapeutic potential.
IMAGES: IPSC CORE LAB/SCHOOL OF DENTAL MEDICINE
32392p08-09.indd 9
bullet. Clinical trials, slated to
begin in Japan by March 2014,
haven’t yet been approved in
the United States. The field
is so new, Garlick notes, it’s
unclear whether iPS cells can
be used in humans without
complications. “We have to
be 100 percent sure that any
cell derived from an iPS won’t
give rise to a tumor,” he says.
“That’s going to be a big challenge to the field.”
In the meantime, he and his
team are using tissues grown
from iPS cells to study diabetic
foot ulcers in the lab. “By using
iPS-derived cells to engineer
skinlike tissues, it’s possible
to examine the behavior and
biology of diseases in ways we
couldn’t do in humans,” he
says. “Essentially, we have a
surrogate for a human right on
our lab bench.”
In a dish filled with orange
fluid, he points out a translucent, dime-sized puck. It’s
human skin tissue grown
from iPS cells. Garlick’s team
is using it to examine how
the cells might behave once
transplanted into a patient. Up
close, it looks like an insignificant blurry mass, yet what it
represents is something much
bigger. By using tissues like
these to gain a deeper understanding of what makes new
iPS-derived cells tick, Garlick
says it may one day be possible
to create a sort of biological
“repair kit” to treat nonhealing diseases in the mouth and
throughout the body.
“Dental research like this
contributes to an understanding of basic disease processes
that are broadly relevant to the
entire body,” he says. “After all,
our mission as dentist-scientists
is to advance both oral and
systemic health—to reduce
the burden of disease, and to
improve quality of life.”
David Levin is a freelance
science writer based in Boston.
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 9
5/2/13 10:28 AM
32392p10-13.indd 10
4/26/13 9:28 PM
Former environmental activist Corie Rowe parlays his
commitment to social justice into caring for an urban neighborhood
grassroots
By Dav i D L e v i n p h oto g r a p h s by Dav i D j o h n s o n
the last thing corie rowe, g05, d11, wanted
was to become a dentist. His first experience
in the chair, as a young boy in Jamaica, was so
dreadful that he swore it would be his last.
After studying mathematics and environmental science at Bradford College in Massachusetts,
Rowe test-drove some pretty diverse career paths,
starting with grassroots community work with
local and national environmental organizations
in Boston (he holds a master’s degree in urban
and environmental policy from Tufts). In the late
1990s, during the dot-com heyday, he worked as
a network engineer. Then it was public health: he
studied access-to-care issues as a research associate at the University of California, San Francisco.
A divergent path, for sure. Along the way, he
went back to the dentist (his second experience
was positive), and he started thinking that dentistry could be a powerful way to improve health
in low-income African American communities.
Now, nearly two years after earning his
D.M.D., Rowe has obtained a loan and expects
to open a clinic this spring on Chicago’s South
Side. He talked to Tufts Dental Medicine about
how his experiences helped shape his approach to
dentistry.
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 1 1
32392p10-13.indd 11
4/26/13 9:28 PM
Tufts Dental Medicine: So your first
experience with dentistry almost drove
you away from the field permanently?
Corie Rowe: Yes! At the time, I was a kid in
Kingston, Jamaica, with a typical Caribbean
upbringing—kites, soccer from dusk till
dawn, hurricanes, running around barefoot. I was really independent, so when I
had a toothache one day, I was just told to
go find this clinic around this corner all on
my own. I wound up with an extraction of
one of my molars—number 30, in the lower
right. Knowing what I know now as a dentist, I’m sure it could have been saved with a
root canal, but back in those days, they just
did extractions. So I left the place with a
lump of gauze stuck in my mouth, and when
I went home, I fell asleep and woke up with
blood all over the pillow. I was so freaked
out that I wanted to kill the guy. That was
it for dentistry, as far as I was concerned. I
hated it for years.
That’s not an auspicious start. How did
you end up in dentistry?
I took kind of a circuitous route. I knew I
wanted to stick with science, but I didn’t want
to do purely academic stuff. I wanted it to
apply to something, and I felt the best way to
do that was in environmental science, where
I could have an impact at a grassroots level.
During undergrad, I started working
for a program that the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency ran at the Franklin Park
Zoo in Boston, helping expose urban youth
to the environment around them, instead of
just concrete, which is just about all you see
in the city. Later, I worked with Alternatives
for Community and Environment, an outfit that gives legal assistance to low-income
communities that are trying to prevent
industrial waste facilities from being built in
their neighborhoods. Most often you won’t
find those sites in wealthy areas of a city.
That experience drove home the idea that
environmental issues are really social justice
issues. That resonated with me and inspired
me to start grad school at Tufts in environmental and natural resource management. I
left school for a few years, though, because
my experience with the EPA led to some disenchantment with the whole environmental
process.
Disenchantment? How so?
Well, at the community level, you’re on the
street, hearing people’s concerns in person.
In order to do anything about them, though,
you have to wade through the red tape of a
government organization. You don’t always
serve the community effectively. I got so
frustrated that I eventually left the environmental movement and dropped out of
grad school at Tufts for a while. I wound
up switching gears entirely, thanks to some
computer skills I picked up in high school
and college. I was a network engineer at a
Building connections with low-income patients
in 2007, corie rowe ran into a riddle: more children in america’s low-income communities had access to state-provided dental insurance than
ever before, yet according to the National center for Health statistics,
they also had more cavities.
the problem wasn’t simply that they had no place to go for care.
“even if there’s a clinic around the corner, low-income communities just
don’t have the same education about preventive dental care as you’d
see in more affluent communities,” he says, and so their oral health
may not be as good.
Perhaps something was getting lost in translation between the
academic community and the patients and their parents. rowe, G05,
d11, who at the time was a research associate at the University of
california, san francisco (Ucsf), had read dozens of studies that
examined the effectiveness of treatments to prevent caries. “Yet very
few of those studies examined which treatments community members
actually preferred for their children,” he says. a better understanding
of their preferences, he reasoned, could help dentists encourage more
widespread use of the available treatments—and therefore lower the
rates of decay in these communities.
rowe decided to test his hypothesis in a formal study done through
Ucsf. Based on similar research other Ucsf researchers conducted in
nearby Hispanic communities, he helped design a 10-question survey
examining three common cavity-prevention treatments for children: brushing, applying a fluoride varnish and using the proven cavity fighter xylitol,
a dietary sugar substitute. Because parents ultimately decide what sort
of dental care their children receive, rowe says, he included questions
32392p10-13.indd 12
about two treatments for parents themselves (xylitol gum and chlorhexidine rinse). the questions directed toward the adults, he theorized, might
tell researchers more about the parents’ own preferences, which could
offer insight into how family habits affect children’s oral health.
rowe administered the survey to 48 low-income african american
adults who lived in Berkeley, calif. they were asked if they felt any of the
five treatments were appropriate for a toddler or young child, and then
asked to rate their preferences for each treatment for their own kids.
the 48 parents and guardians said all five treatments were “acceptable,” but the vast majority chose tooth brushing as the preferred
treatment for their children. the study results were published last year
in the Journal of Public Health Dentistry.
rowe attributes the overwhelming preference for brushing to existing cultural norms. “that’s what their mom and dad taught them to do,”
he says. “that’s what people in their community did, and that’s what
you see people most often on tV doing.”
a better understanding of these treatment preferences, he says,
may give other dentists working in low-income african american communities an entry point to educate patients about a range of effective
oral health practices.
“existing treatment preferences, that’s your hook,” he says. “You
say, ‘Well, i know you value using a toothbrush, and that’s great. But
did you know about xylitol?’ and if someone isn’t already comfortable
with these other preventative measures, you can use their knowledge
about their existing treatment preference to get them interested in
—david levin
that conversation.”
4/26/13 9:28 PM
telecom start-up called Snapdragon in the
late 1990s, and later moved on to Wired
Business and Alcatel, two other telecom
companies. It was a real dot-com experience. We were all drunk on the idea of
being millionaires overnight! But the dotcom boom went dot-bust pretty quickly, so
things didn’t pan out the way we’d hoped.
Corie Rowe is about
to open a clinic on
Chicago’s South Side.
That’s a big career change. Was it hard
to make the switch?
Sort of. It was great to get that big paycheck
every two weeks, but I always missed the satisfaction that I got when I worked with lowincome communities. That was far more
rewarding than any accolades I could get in
the tech world. Luckily, after a couple years,
I had an epiphany about dentistry.
How did that happen?
I finally had a truly great dental experience!
It was around the time I left grad school
temporarily in the late ’90s. I had a cavity,
throbbing pain—something wasn’t quite
right. I hadn’t been to the dentist since I was
a kid, if you can believe it, so I was pretty
lucky that I didn’t have any other problems.
I was nervous, of course, but this guy was
fantastic. He gave me local anesthetic, and I
didn’t even feel the needle because he shook
my jaw. That was totally new to me. My perception of the pain was much less than the
horrible experience I had as a kid, so I left
the appointment thinking very differently
about dentistry.
Then, in 2000, the surgeon general’s
report on oral health in America came out.
It was pretty influential—it basically said
that the state of oral health in low-income
communities and communities of color
was so bad, it was becoming a public health
nightmare. That’s when it hit me: Those are
the same populations I was working with
doing environmental stuff, so if I became
a dentist, I’d have an opportunity to really
make a difference in those communities. So
I got back in touch with Tufts, finished the
last few credits on my master’s degree and
applied to dental school.
What was it like to be in dental school after
years of doing environmental work?
It was like trying to drink water from a fire
hydrant. That’s how fast and furious the
information came at us. Ultimately, though,
it was a blessing. I was talking with some of
my classmates recently—we’ve only been
out in the real world for a year and a half,
yet we all feel that Tufts prepared us really
well for any challenge. Drinking from the
fire hydrant helped us define the boundaries of our own knowledge and gave us the
confidence we needed to teach ourselves
anything we didn’t already know.
How do you think all of your experiences
have shaped your approach to dental care?
They’ve made me appreciate that dentistry
isn’t just about white, straight teeth. It’s
about total oral health, and systemic health.
How you chew your food, for instance—
that can affect your temporomandibular
joint, which can cause headaches or pain
from chewing. It can affect your whole life.
So how will that translate into your work
at the new clinic in Chicago?
The clinic on the South Side is in a predominantly African American area. My goal will
be to educate my patients on a one-on-one
basis to help them understand how their
oral health ties in to their overall health.
My negative ex perience w it h dentistry also informed my outlook, in that
my practice will use a lot of technological
advances to reduce a patient’s perception
and apprehension of pain. I know what it’s
like to be terrified when you’re in the chair.
If you give the patient a couple of tablets of
a benzodiazepine, for example, it relaxes
them and reduces their anxiety so you can
get the work done that’s needed. Those are
the individuals who oftentimes fall through
the cracks within dentistry—the ones who
are afraid of the dentist.
As a new grad, however, one of the most
important things we have to keep in mind is
that a dental practice is a small business. The
clinic will be in a storefront on West 95th
Street, where there are a lot of other businesses that have been open for years, so I’m
hoping that’ll help bring in patients. It’ll be
a small practice at first—just me, an assistant and a front-desk person. But if things
go well, I want to bring in an office manager,
an insurance verifier and a hygienist. Right
now, I’m just trying to promote the business
the way other small businesses do—go out
and make connections in the community,
work with the local small business bureau,
send out marketing pieces, the works. tdm
David Levin is a freelance science writer in
Boston.
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 1 3
32392p10-13.indd 13
4/26/13 9:28 PM
32392p14-17.indd 14
4/26/13 9:34 PM
Buoyed by economic and social changes,
group practices pick up steam
strength in
numbers
By H e le n e R ag ovi n
i l l u s t r at i o n b y F e d e r i c o J o r d a n
the neighborhood dental office—
the wood-paneled waiting room stocked
with Highlights magazines and a single
contour chair staffed by a lone dentist—
occupies a corner of most 20th-century
memories.
But that scenario has pretty much
gone the way of the rotary telephone.
One chair has become 10, 15 or even 20,
with the number of dentists practicing as
a group increasing as well. Following a
trend already embraced by other branches
of medicine, the number of large group
practices and multilocation dental-care
chains has been growing at a faster clip
than ever before, and the new model
of dental practice is likely to become as
ingrained in the memories of the next
generation of patients as the one-dentist
show was to the previous one.
“Solo practice is no longer the only
point of entry for a new dentist,” says
Kathleen O’Loughlin, D81, executive
director and chief operating off icer
of the American Dental Association
(ADA). While there have always been
groups of anywhere from two to 10 doctors working together, O’Loughlin says,
“the emerging model is multiple sites,
sometimes in multiple states, all with an
identical management system in place for
economies of scale.
“T he solo prac t ice is not goi ng
away—that’s not what the data shows,”
O’Loughlin stresses. “What we’re seeing is
a bifurcated model.”
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 1 5
32392p14-17.indd 15
4/26/13 9:34 PM
ver the past 25 years, there has been a 10 percent increase in
the number of dentists practicing in groups, from 25 percent to 35 percent, according to the
ADA. Among specialists, that number has increased from 32 to 42 percent. The very largest
group practices—those with anywhere from 20 to more than 200 locations—could account for
up to 11 percent of the total dental market share by 2015, the ADA estimates.
From a financial standpoint, large group practices make sense. They allow for reduced capital and operating costs and benefit from economies of scale: volume discounts with suppliers
and labs, lower overhead and more attractive reimbursement rates from insurance companies.
A chain offers opportunities for widespread advertising and marketing. And having specialists
within the group means that outside referrals don’t drain revenue from the practice.
But the real efficiency, says Samuel Shames,
D75, managing partner at Gentle Dental of
Massachusetts and director of practice management at Tufts School of Dental Medicine,
“is that talented dentists are spending time
in the office doing what they do best—dentistry—and not spending 20 to 25 percent of
their time doing other stuff.”
It’s that other stuff—the tasks of managing a business—that can turn dentists,
particularly younger ones, away from solo
practice.
“When you’ve been studying science and
dentistry for eight to 10 years straight, you
can emerge with no perspective as a business owner. And dentistry is a business,”
says Joey Pedram, DG11, a pediatric specialist who works for the Pacific Dental chain in
Southern California.
At first, David Goldberg, D92, a periodontist, took the traditional route, buying into a
practice. He discovered that networking to
find patients and establishing relationships
with referring dentists to build his part of the
business was as stressful—maybe more so—
than repairing gums and bone. Two years in,
he started working part-time at Gentle Dental
of Massachusetts. “I quickly learned that as a
specialist [in a group practice], I no longer
had to beg to get patients,” he says. Goldberg
eventually left solo practice and became a
partner with Gentle Dental, where he now
oversees periodontics for all locations.
Then there’s the cost of dental care. “The
ADA is beginning to see that price sensitivity
has become more important” for patients,
O’Loughlin says, as the number of people
who have third-party dental coverage has
declined, according to recent surveys. “As
consumerism increases among the public,
more and more patients look to cost as well
as quality of care,” she says.
And convenience, of course. “Americans
want every thing under one roof,” says
Shames. “They don’t want to leave Target to
buy their groceries, and they don’t want to
bounce from a general dentist to an endodontist to an oral surgeon. Today’s public
is demanding multispecialty practices and
extended hours.”
t
he growth in larger practices began with the spread of
employer-provided dental insurance in the 1970s, and received a boost in
1979, when the Federal Trade Commission
lifted the ban on advertising by dentists.
Not long after, in 1981, Shames and his
partner, Ronald Weissman, started Gentle
Dental. Shames had been bringing specialists into his solo practice—“I was sick of
patients saying, ‘Can’t you do it here?’ ”—
and liked the idea of a multispecialty group.
Weissman, meanwhile, was interested in
how advertising and marketing could help
expand a dental practice.
It took some time for multispecialty
practices to take hold with patients, both for
Gentle Dental and its counterparts around
the country. It also took time for these large
group practices to be accepted within the
profession. Robert Girschek, D92, a partnerowner of Gentle Dental who is based at the
Waltham, Mass., location, started working
for the group as a hygienist while a student
at Tufts and then joined the dental staff after
graduation. “In 1992, it was still early on,
and, as we’ll all admit, we were shunned by
most dentists,” Girschek says. “But I thought
it was an interesting model.” Gentle Dental’s
growth reflects the industrywide trend. The
company, in which the dentist-partners share
equity, now has 26 locations in Massachusetts
and one in New Hampshire.
There are several models of group practice. State practice acts vary on the specifics of whether nondentists can own a dental
practice, or what role a non-dentist can play
in the operation of a practice.
Group practices appear to be particularly
attractive to new graduates. According to a
2012 study of trends in group practice that
appeared in the Journal of Dental Education,
dentists who had completed their education
less than 10 years prior were three times
more likely to work for a larger company.
A big driver is economics. Dentists are
leaving school with increasing amounts
of debt—the American Dental Education
Association puts the average student debt
at $203,000. In addition, since the start of
the recession, small private practices have
not been hiring new graduates at the rates
they once were, according to the ADA’s New
Dentist Committee. The economic downturn
has also cut into the number of older dentists
who are retiring—and that, in turn, has created a seller’s market for practices and raised
prices for new graduates looking to buy.
But the appeal of group practice is about
much more than money, says O’Loughlin.
Young dentists, both male and female, like the
quality of life that large group practices provide. “The Millennial Generation seeks balance in life,” she says. “They are different from
previous generations—employers have been
talking about that for a number of years.”
Still, more women than men do work
in large group practices, according to the
2012 journal study. “When you talk to
woman dentists, the most compelling thing
for them is time,” O’Loughlin says. “They
really value their time as much, or more,
than money, especially when they’re in the
position of bearing children and raising
children. Many women dentists are married
to other professionals. When you have two
16 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p14-17.indd 16
4/26/13 9:34 PM
actively engaged professionals, they really
Miller, the Aspen owner in Michigan,
Girschek, of Gentle Dental. “The older I get,
value their time, want time off together.”
says it’s important to confront such assumpthe more quality of life is important.”
When Nicholas Miller, D08, graduated
tions. “Sometimes dental service organizaGoldberg, the periodontist, says, “One
from Tufts, he wasn’t sure whether he wanted
tions, they do have a stigma,” he says. Both
of the things that stresses dentists out” is
to stay in the Boston area or return to his
he and Pedram, of Pacific Dental, stress that
getting stuck on how to handle a difficult
native Michigan. Either way, he needed a job.
they oversee all clinical decisions in their
clinical case. “In a group practice, when
Through another Tufts alumnus, he got in
offices. “I have complete autonomy,” Miller
you have the benefit of specialists working
touch with the Aspen Dental chain.
says. “Aspen has never told me how to treat
with you, the whole thing is more synergis“I was very honest with them about what
a patient.”
tic—you have more minds working on the
my goals were,” says Miller. Among them
Another assumption, says Shames, of
same problem.”
was a steady income that would allow him
Gentle Dental, is that large groups place
to start paying back his loans while living
inordinate pressure on their dentists to
a comfortable life. Working as an associate
perform procedures to generate revenue.
ecently, more private equity
moving among three Aspen offices in subPrivate practice owners, he points out, aren’t
firms and other corporate entiurban Boston, he was able to do just that.
immune to that. “If you buy a practice for
t ies have invested in denta l
When he returned to Michigan in 2010
$800,000 and have payroll to meet every
chains because their rapid growth makes
and started looking into buying his own
week and rent and loans to repay, there is
them attractive in a sluggish economy.
practice, he weighed the choice of setting
much more pressure to produce,” he says.
Some of these companies have come under
out on his own, or buying into the Aspen
Traditionally, large chains have seen
scrutiny by various state and federal regulanetwork. With private practices in the
high turnover, as young dentists gain
tors regarding the extent to which the nonGrand Rapids area running anywhere from
experience and go off to establish their
dentist investors are involved in clinical
$400,000 to $1 million, Miller says, “I think
own practices. Whether that will change
decision-making, or, in some cases, in conit’s fair to say that Aspen’s price was two to
in this fluid economic climate is unknown.
nection with Medicaid abuses.
three times less than purchasing a private
O’Loughlin says the ADA is interested in
Perhaps publicity from those cases has,
office with comparable revenue.” Aspen also
collecting more data about turnover rates
to some extent, cast a shadow over the entire
helped provide an attractive financing packas well as other aspects of the large group
segment of the industry—unfairly so, say
age through an outside lender, he said.
practice phenomenon.
O’Loughlin, of the ADA, and others.
In July 2010, Miller purchased an existPedram, who splits his time between
“You can’t generalize that that behaving Aspen office. In the three years since,
working at Pacific Dental and as an associior happens just in corporate practices,”
he bought another existing office and a
ate in a private pediatric practice, says his
O’Loughlin says. “It happens anywhere peostart-up. “I manage the
clinical end, and Aspen
manages the business,”
he says. “I own the dental
americans want everything under one
practices and, along with
rooF. they don’t want to leave target to
my team of dentists, make
all the clinical decisions in
buy their groceries, and they don’t want
our offices. What Aspen
to bounce From a general dentist to an
provides is the business
framework—professional
endodontist to an oral surgeon.
training, accounting ser—Samuel Shames, D75
vices, marketing strategy,
i nsu ra nce operat ions,
facilities management,
dual experience has allowed him to assess
human resources, at my discretion.
ple are not following the rules. It’s importhe benefits and drawbacks of each. While
“It has given me work-life balance. I am
tant people don’t make broad assumptions.
he’s not sure what direction he’ll go in, he
able to go to work and concentrate on my
If you’ve seen one DMSO [dental services
makes this observation: “In a few years, if
patients and not worry about making sure
management organization], you’ve seen one
I finally want to open my own practice, the
that the mortgage payment is sent out or
DMSO. Members of ADA agree to adhere
way it’s going now, competing against these
ordering supplies. Then I can go home and
to the ADA Code of Ethics that puts the
corporations is going to be tough.” tDm
continue to have a life.”
patient’s best interest at the center of the
Those feelings are shared by dentists
doctor-patient relationship, and that code
Helene Ragovin, the editor of this magazine,
further along in their careers, too. “I like
holds for an ADA member regardless of his
can be reached at helene.ragovin@tufts.edu.
to pick and choose my headaches,” says
or her career path,” she says.
R
“
”
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 1 7
32392p14-17.indd 17
4/26/13 9:34 PM
32392p18-23.indd 18
5/2/13 10:40 AM
Norma Desjardins, D92, knows
how tough it is to find dental care
for kids in rural Maine. She’s on a mission
to make it easier
by jacq u e lin e Mitch e ll
photog r aphy by patrick mcnamar a
hen the 8-year-old girl climbed into
the chair, hygienist Williams Rodriguez
wasn’t prepared for what he was about to see.
“Her 6-year molars were completely riddled
with cavities, like a bomb went off,” he says.
The girl’s mother thought her young daughter’s teeth
were all baby teeth, destined to fall out eventually. “I had to
tell her, ‘No, those were supposed to be there forever. If your
kids lose those, that’s a big problem,’ ” Rodriguez says.
Rodriguez says he might well expect to see this kind of
extensive decay in his native Dominican Republic. He was
stunned to find it in America. Children with rotted-out first
molars, toddlers with tiny sepia-tinged incisors or teenagers with plaque so extreme it’s cemented along the gum
line are not uncommon at St. Apollonia Dental Clinic in
Presque Isle, Maine, where Rodriguez is the only hygienist.
Just 12 miles from the U.S.–Canadian border, Presque
Isle is about as far east and as far north as you can get
and still be in the United States. The downtown of rural
Aroostook County’s largest city is little more than an intersection surrounded by rolling potato fields that are blanketed by the plants’ white flowers in midsummer.
Norma Desjardins,
D92, on Presque Isle
farmland.
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 1 9
32392p18-23.indd 19
5/2/13 10:40 AM
ike many of the country’s
rural regions, Maine doesn’t have enough
dentists—the state estimates there are
five for every 10,000 residents. The farther
afield you get from cities such as Portland
or Bangor, the more geography turns a trip
to the dentist into an expedition instead of
a simple drive. Maine, which has the largest
percentage of rural residents of any state in
the country, could be the poster child for the
access-to-care issues that confront patients
who don’t live near urban areas.
Presque Isle got lucky. It has a tooth fairy
in Norma Desjardins, D92, who has made
it her mission to provide dental care to the
Mainers who need it most. Born in rural
Van Buren, Maine, where her brothers still
run the family potato farm, Desjardins has
practiced general dentistry in the region
for 20 years. With her own children grown,
she opened St. Apollonia (named for the
patron saint of dentistry), a low-cost pediatric dental clinic, in March 2012, to serve
Presque Isle, which has just under 10,000
residents, and neighboring towns. So great
was the need that about 900 kids sought
care in the new clinic in just the last six
months of 2012, Desjardins figures.
“It’s the old cliché, but I thought this
could be my way to give back,” she says. “I
feel like this is my mission trip, right in my
own neighborhood.” Since the clinic opened
in a former ob/gyn clinic just down the street
from Aroostook Medical Center, so many
kids have come through the doors—toddlers
with cavities in every tooth, high schoolers
who’ve never been to a dentist—that the twochair clinic is already operating at capacity.
Desjardins estimates that the majority of St.
Apollonia’s patients, about 600 of them, are
younger than 10. Because the patient caseload is skewed toward the little kids, the staff
(a full-time dentist, the hygienist and a dental
assistant) focuses on education and prevention. “If we could really teach them the preventive philosophy early, there wouldn’t be as
much work to do,” she says.
Though Desjardins’ role at St. Apollonia
is more CEO than dentist—she covers for
the full-time dentist, Keely O’Connell, when
O’Connell is away and consults on some
cases—she is keenly aware of the desperate
need of the patients who seek care at the nonprofit clinic. Many toddlers come in with the
extensive decay known as baby bottle caries,
caused by putting a child to sleep sucking on
a bottle of milk or juice. “I had hoped as a
profession we had done so well eliminating
that problem, but it seems to be making a
comeback for some reason,” says Desjardins.
“We have to educate parents all over again
and make the public aware again.”
It’s not just the toddlers who suffer from
poor oral health. Desjardins says the teenagers’ situations are especially heartbreaking.
Some teens make their own appointments
and show up alone—clearly on their own
already. Some have missing or misaligned
teeth that she knows must make them selfconscious in social situations. Some have
reached high school without ever seeing a
dentist, including one 17-year-old boy who
“Ifeellikethisismy
missiontrip,rightinmy
own neighborhood.”
—Norma Desjardins, D92
Above: Family checking in for services at
St. Apollonia. Right: Norma Desjardins
showing children films of their teeth.
20 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p18-23.indd 20
4/26/13 10:01 PM
Aroostook
2,995
Population-to-Dentist Ratio
in Maine’s Counties
3,670 – 4,450
2,900 – 3,670
2,130 – 2,900
1,360– 2,130
Active dentists in
Maine are unevenly
distributed across the
state. In 2011, 16 percent of Mainers lived in
a “dental health professional shortage area”
(DHPSA), the 10th
highest percentage
of all states. Nationally,
10.1 percent of
Americans live in a
DHPSA.
Above: Norma Desjardins treating Jenna
Violette, 4, at the St. Apollonia Clinic.
Left: “Helping Hands” recognize proud
donors and sponsors of the clinic.
had the hardened layers of tartar across and
between all his teeth known as a bridge of
calculus, which occurs when teeth are not
professionally cleaned.
“We have to educate [patients] about
more than just brushing and flossing. We
have to explain to them [that calculus hardened like cement] is not the way your teeth
are supposed to feel,” she says.
St. Apollonia is not the f irst clinic
Desjardins has started from the ground
up. Right after graduating from Tufts, she
returned to her hometown of Van Buren
and, after applying to seven banks, secured
a loan to buy equipment and launch her own
practice. The only dentist in town, Desjardins
found herself working six days a week, sometimes seven. Seeking a better work-life balance, she decided to join Academy Dental in
Presque Isle, about 45 minutes south.
Today, on top of her administrative and
supervisory roles at St. Apollonia, Desjardins
maintains her practice at Academy Dental.
Just up the street from St. Apollonia,
Academy Dental is the pediatric clinic’s
“big sister,” says Desjardins, who salvaged
Piscataquis
2,923
Somerset
4,018
Franklin
2,564
Washington
2,527
BANGOR
Oxford
4,419
Kennebec
1,546
Waldo
3,879
Hancock
2,177
Knox 1,589
Lincoln 2,871
PORTLAND
SOURCE: CENTER FOR HEALTH
WORKFORCE STUDIES, 2012
Penobscot
1,877
York
2,347
Rodriguez’s hygienist’s chair from the basement of the private practice. Together, she
and her partners at Academy take care of
more than 7,000 smiles. Her husband, Paul,
is Academy’s practice manager.
De ntal Dese rts
Since Desjardins left Van Buren 16 years
ago, the town—home to fewer than 3,000
people—hasn’t had its own dentist. Maine
has fewer dentists per capita than most other
states, according to a 2012 study commissioned by the state. With just five dentists for
every 10,000 people, it’s lower than the average
dentist-to-patient ratio in the United States
(six dentists for every 10,000 people in 2007)
and the lowest of the six New England states.
As is the case in the rest of the country,
dentists in Maine are clustered in the more
populated regions, meaning that remote
areas, such as Aroostook County, are dental
deserts. While nearly two-thirds of Maine
residents live in rural areas, according to the
2010 U.S. Census, just 13.5 percent of Maine’s
dentists practice in those regions. That leaves
more than 200,000 Mainers in federally
Sagadahoc 1,471
Androscoggin 2,393
Cumberland 1,361
designated “dental health professional shortage areas,” defined as regions with fewer than
one dentist for every 5,000 residents.
Larger than Rhode Island and Connecticut
combined, Aroostook County has 72,000 residents and just 23 practicing dentists, according to the Maine Department of Health and
Human Services. Before Desjardins opened
her clinic, many Presque Isle residents drove
three to four hours to see a pediatric dentist
in Bangor or Augusta.
Now Jacob, 15, Shyanne, 14, and Christopher, 12, and their mother, Kathy, have a
15-minute drive from their home in Fort
Fairfield to St. Apollonia. “I had to take
Christopher clear down to Bangor last time,
really beat up my van,” says Kathy. “It’s good
to have a dentist here.”
Desjardins rolls her eyes as she imagines
a long ride with a child with a toothache—
a trip that’s possible only if patients have
access to a car, money to fill the gas tank
and the flexibility to be able to take most
of the day off work to get to and from the
appointment. “It helps if we are their dental
home,” she says. “Even if they have to go to
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 2 1
32392p18-23.indd 21
5/2/13 10:40 AM
a specialist, they can come back here to have
regular checkups. They can save the long
distances for restorative care.”
Desjardins’ teams, both at St. Apollonia
and Academy, use technology to make obtaining dental care as convenient as possible.
When a toddler bumped into a coffee table
and knocked a baby tooth out of place, staff
from Academy emailed Jonathan Shenkin, a
pediatric specialist in Augusta, a photo of the
injury. Within minutes, Shenkin was able to
advise them about how to proceed. “We did
a little tele-dentistry,” says Desjardins. “It was
great to be able to get his expertise that way.”
While this happened at the private practice,
Desjardins says she could easily see a similar
scenario unfolding at St. Apollonia.
Convenience is not the only reason
Kathy brings her children to St. Apollonia,
though. Each of them has a disability.
Christopher is autistic and can be unpredictable at times. Other clinics, ill-equipped
to manage his behavior, have turned him
away. St. Apollonia “never hesitated to take
him,” Kathy says.
Yvonne Tardie is also grateful to have
a dental clinic closer to home. It takes just
10 minutes to get to St. Apollonia from her
home in Washburn. Before, the Tardie family, who rely on the state’s public insurance
program, known as MaineCare, had to travel
an hour to Eagle Lake to find a clinic that
would accept their insurance. “My husband
had to take half a day off from work,” she says
in slightly French-accented English. “Not
everybody takes MaineCare.”
For some residents, even living next
door to a dental clinic wouldn’t guarantee
access to care. Beyond the scarcity of providers, many Mainers can’t afford to pay
out of pocket, and few clinics accept public
insurance. Maine’s rural residents tend to
be older, sicker, poorer and less well educated than their urban counterparts. That
demographic creates a perfect storm: residents of the state’s sparsely populated counties are more likely to have poor oral health
and less likely to have dental insurance.
The situation only worsened with the
economic downturn. Even though a new
report commissioned by the state of Maine
found that a greater percentage of the total
population had dental coverage in 2010
than in 2006, fewer had it through a private
insurer. That means MaineCare picked up
the tab for more and more patients, covering about 20 percent of the state’s rural residents. Between 2006 and 2010, the public
insurer paid out an average of $31 million
annually for dental care, an amount that
represents less than 2 percent of the public
insurer’s total spending. (Eligibility requirements vary by age, circumstances and size of
family; for example, a family of four is eligible for free dental and medical coverage if
its monthly income is less than $2,882. But
TufTs ExTErnship siTEs in MainE
uring their third or fourth year of school, all Tufts dental students embark on a required five-week Community Service
Learning Externship at one of more than 30 sites nationwide. These off-campus training periods are designed to give students real-world appreciation for access-to-care issues as they hone
their clinical skills. Cynthia Yered, D90, associate clinical professor of public health and community service, expects about a
dozen members of the class of 2014 to be assigned to one of four
such sites in Maine. Katahdin Valley Health Center in Millinocket is
the northernmost clinic and is still more than 100 miles south of
Presque Isle, where Norma Desjardins, D92, operates her low-cost
pediatrics clinic. As soon as she has another operatory, Desjardins
hopes St. Apollonia Dental will be able to host Tufts externs. The
other Maine extern sites are Caring Hands Maine, in Ellsworth;
Penobscot Community Health Care Center in Bangor and Community
Dental with five locations in southern Maine.
Main Street, downtown
Presque Isle.
22 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p18-23.indd 22
5/2/13 10:40 AM
even among the 110,000 children enrolled
in the program, more than 53,000, just
under half, went without dental care in
2010, according to the Maine Department
of Health and Human Services.
That likely has to do with MaineCare’s
low dental reimbursement rates, which
rank 38th in the countr y. Desjardins
estimates the public insurance pays about
half of what she’d normally charge for many
dental procedures; for some dentists, the
reimbursement rate is as low as 25 percent.
Small wonder then that fewer than half of the
state’s dentists accept MaineCare, and twothirds of general dentists who do so limit
the number of publicly insured patients they
treat. That’s part of the reason Maine ranks
34th among the 50 states and the District of
Columbia in the number of residents who
have seen a dentist in the last year.
th e B ig iDe a
It was in 2009 that Desjardins first thought
about opening a clinic to serve children with
no place else to go. She had been asked to
serve on a health services advisory board of
the Aroostook County Action Program, an
umbrella organization that helps connect
low- and moderate-income families with
such services as health care, job training and
home repair assistance. Desjardins attended
one meeting that focused on the difficulty of
finding dental providers for local children
enrolled in Head Start, the federal program
that promotes school-readiness among toddlers from low-income families. Federal law
requires all Head Start children to have a
dental exam within 90 days of enrolling in
the program. With the shortage of dentists in
Maine, that can be tough.
“There just aren’t enough hands to do the
work. It had really been that way for years,”
says Desjardins, a former Head Start child
herself. “Also, these little ones who have a
hard time getting into an office, they also
have the greater need.”
Desjardins was never one to shy away
from hard work—she was among the top
students in her dental class, even though she
gave birth to her two children, Emily, now 24,
and Gerard, 22, while she was in school. She
began laying the groundwork for the low-cost
clinic, writing grants for funding and making
presentations to local groups, including the
Rotary Club, the Kiwanis and the Knights of
Columbus, in search of donations.
Her big idea came along at the right time.
Years of doing lengthy dental procedures had
begun to take a toll on her health. The pain
she had been experiencing in her neck, shoulders and arms began to worsen and affect
her legs. Eventually, she was diagnosed with
fibromyalgia, a nervous system disorder that
can result in soft-tissue pain well as fatigue.
“This year has gone by so fast. I have to
admit every day presents new challenges,”
says O’Connell.
A challenge for Desjardins is the reality
that her dreams for St. Apollonia require
dollars. She estimates the clinic needs an
annual operating budget of $350,000. She
wants St. Apollonia to become self-sustaining, like a private practice, running off
income from the services provided—a lofty
Whilenearlytwo-thirdsofMaineresidents
liveinruralareas,just13.5percentofthe
state’s dentists practice in those regions.
“I went from somebody who had endless
energy to someone who couldn’t walk from
the bedroom to the kitchen without feeling
like I needed a nap,” she says.
Realizing she would have to limit the number of hours she cared for patients, Desjardins
was devastated, at first. “I had worked with
pain for a long time. I was worried I wasn’t
going to be able to practice anymore. Now I’ve
learned I have something to offer besides the
way I was doing dentistry before.”
She began devoting one day a week to getting the low-cost clinic up and running. After
teaching herself to write grant applications
to private foundations in Maine, she secured
$65,000. She created a PowerPoint presentation, which she used with groups such as the
VFW and the American Legion. The clinic
became the Presque Isle Rotary Club’s special
project, which helped raise another $38,000.
“They presented us the check, and that’s how
that first operatory became feasible,” she says.
“From the beginning, this wasn’t going
to be ‘Norma Desjardins’ clinic,’ ” she says.
“This clinic is going to be the community
dental health clinic.”
Once St. Apollonia had an operatory,
Desjardins, needed to hire a dentist, and
one who embraced community service in a
big way. A native of upstate New York, Keely
O’Connell, a 2012 graduate of Creighton
University School of Dentistry in Nebraska,
answered the call. O’Connell moved to
Presque Isle eager to take on lots of responsibility early in her career. “It has been wonderful to have her as our inaugural dentist,”
says Desjardins.
goal, given MaineCare’s reimbursement
rates. To get there, says Desjardins, “we have
to create an environment where [patients]
are coming in with less decay.”
Amid all the new beginnings for Desjardins in 2012, there were endings, too.
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, her
mother-in-law, Lorraine, and her father,
Normand LaJoie, passed away. Now, more
than ever, she sees the clinic as a tribute to
the values her parents and her husband’s
parents instilled in their children.
“There are so many stories—so many
things us kids don’t know—about our parents helping other families,” says Desjardins.
“Now that my dad’s gone, I feel even more of
a sense of responsibility to honor him and
my mom by continuing this work.
Both her and her husband’s mothers took
advantage of the Head Start program when
their children were small, and both women
remained deeply involved with the program
well after their kids were grown. That’s one
reason Desjardins remains committed to
providing dental care for Head Start preschoolers, though she says she is equally
steadfast about helping “anyone who is trying to make their way, anyone who is struggling for whatever reason.”
St. Apollonia’s is “meant to be here as
long as these kids need it,” Desjardins says.
“Unfortunately, I think that’s going to be a
long time.” tDm
Jacqueline Mitchell, a senior health sciences
writer in Tufts’ Office of Publications, can be
reached at jacqueline.mitchell@tufts.edu.
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 2 3
32392p18-23.indd 23
4/26/13 10:01 PM
A world war was raging, money was scarce and
her family was an ocean away—still Erna Neumann
was determined to finish dental school
By J u l i e F l a h e r t y
32392p24-29.indd 24
5/3/13 9:21 AM
Tufts Dental School
Class of 1918 at
Commencement.
in the spring of
1918
, erna neumann was in her final semester at tufts
College Dental School, and she was anxious. The 23-year-old feared that all the effort
and money she had put into her education was about to come to nothing. The antipathy
toward German students like herself had grown as World War I progressed. Her accent was
a liability; playing German music was asking for trouble. Some of her classmates suspected
she might even be a spy. “We thought she had bombs in her trunk,” one admitted later.
Then, just a few months from finishing her dental studies, she learned that two nursing
students she knew had been told to leave their school because they were German.
So Neumann gathered her moxie and
made an appointment to see Hermon
Carey Bumpus, the president of Tufts
University. She told him that she was a
good student, and that the war had nothing to do with her. “I have just my last
semester,” she told him. “I have no money.
I am only full of debt. Are you going to
throw me out, too?”
No, he said, he would not. And a few
weeks later, at an annual dinner for the
dental class, he sought her out. She had
had to borrow money for her white tulle
dress; the blue and white flowers she wore
were a gift from the family she was staying with. As the many men in her class
angled to get Dr. Bumpus’ attention, the
president came forward and spoke to her.
“How is everything?” he asked. “Are you
all right?”
Neumann recalled the moment with
pride and wonder. “This poor student, no
place to go, no money in the bank, and the
president picked me out,” she said. “And I
had a beautiful dress and three orchids.”
She would soon be one of the five women
to graduate with the class of 1918 and go on
to become one of the first women dentists
in Vermont.
Neumann’s story was unearthed recently
in the form of a typed, six-page manuscript,
written by her in 1976 and found in the
drawer of a Tufts administrator who was
changing offices. But there was more.
In the attic of the Burlington, Vt., home
where Neumann lived most of her life were
letters, yearbooks, reunion photos and
audiotapes that fleshed out her story, one of
an adventuresome woman who had a deep
affection for her alma mater. She provides
evocative details of what it was like to be
not just a dental student a century ago, but
one of a handful of women amid hundreds
of male students and an “enemy alien” in a
foreign land.
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 2 5
32392p24-29.indd 25
5/2/13 10:49 AM
Left, the exterior of Tufts College Dental School, 1918;
below left, women students from the dental and medical
schools in 1917, with Erna Neumann front row, far left;
below right, Neumann at Commencement, June 17, 1918.
Above, some
of Neumann’s
dental tools;
right, the
dental school
infirmary, as
shown in the
1918 Dentufts
yearbook.
th e gove rn ess
goe s to school
Erna Neumann and her sister Kathe arrived
in Boston on April 9, 1914. They had left
Germany to spend a year in the United States
as governesses. Their first stop after docking
was for a drink, and Erna was able to give
America a hint of her copious stores of pluck
when the waiter refused to serve her a beer
because she was not yet 20.
“What?” she asked incredulously. “And
this should be a free country?”
Still, she found America intoxicating.
“Everything was just so delightful for us,”
she recalls on a scratchy audiotape, her accent
only slightly mellowed with age.
Just a few months later, though, war broke
out in Europe. Their family thought it would
be safer for the sisters to stay away for a while.
After all, how long could the war last?
But the fighting dragged on, and the sisters were soon cut off from their family.
Neumann needed a plan for her future. She
was interested in dental school, but she had
only $225 in the bank from her governess
job, an amount that would barely pay the first
year’s tuition. A minister she had befriended
encouraged her to apply anyway. Deciding
which school wasn’t much of a problem.
There were only two dental schools in the
area, and only one accepted “girls.”
“So,” the minister said, “your choice is
Tufts.”
Neumann didn’t sleep for a few nights
after she was accepted. “I almost thought
lightning struck me,” she writes. “Can you
imagine the decision to make, all alone in
this country?” In the end she enrolled, with
the understanding that she could stay with
the minister’s family, sharing a bed with his
sister-in-law and paying $3 a week for room
and board while her money lasted.
The 1918 dental class began as a group of
237 men and seven women. In the Dentufts
yearbook, her classmates describe their first
gathering, in September 1915: “When …
each of us ran our eyes over the throng, all
invariably stopped to rest a moment longer
on the blushing countenance of our Erna; of
course she looked down quite demurely.”
Yet soon, they wrote, she was known for
her “assiduous application to her studies.”
One of their first assignments was to carve
teeth out of ivory in the “Technic” laboratory. She recounts the groans to be heard
when an instructor put his calipers to the
carvings and proclaimed, “Sir, this is just a
trifle too deep here—start a new one!”
The students were also charged with making their own dental instruments. Neumann
recalled these tools being dark-colored
(stainless steel not yet readily available) and
not things they used in practice.
Neumann writes fondly of Professor
George Bates, who taught histology, and
Professor Robert Andrews, who taught
physiology. (Both men are honored every
year at Tufts on Bates-Andrews Day, which
celebrates and showcases the work of
ElEctric drills bEing not yEt common for studEnts,
nEumann and hEr classmatEs had to purchasE
hEavy, pEdal -drivEn machinEs —not unlikE
spinning whEEls—to powEr thEir dEntal drills.
26 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p24-29.indd 26
5/2/13 10:49 AM
Exterior of the Forsyth Dental Infirmary, 1918.
Erna Neumann’s
alien registration
card, issued during
World War I.
dental student researchers.)
Bates, in particular, took her under his
wing. During her first test in histology, he
could see that she was staring blankly at some
of the questions. Bates, whom she recalls as
kind and fatherly, coaxed her: “Write it in
German if it is too much for you in English.”
She replied: “It’s too much for me in either
language just now, Dr. Bates.”
She enjoyed her classes, particularly anatomy, which she took in her second semester.
She was grateful that after her labs, she had
a 45-minute walk home across Harvard
Bridge, “where the prevailing wind eliminated the formaldehyde and other odors of
Anatomy which clung to my clothing…”
Summers gave her an opportunity to
save money by working as a governess;
her sister and a friend generously offered
to front her the other money she needed
for school. And she did indeed have many
expenses in her second year: “an instrument case, plus more laboratory equipment
and books, besides tuition,” she writes.
Another major expense was the footengine. Electric drills were not yet common
for students, so Neumann and her classmates had to purchase heavy, pedal-driven
machines—not unlike spinning wheels—to
power their dental drills. She writes: “We carried the instrument case in one hand and the
foot-engine in the other from floor to floor
where it was needed: Crown and Bridge Lab,
Prosthetics, Infirmary and the back of the
locker. It would have been eye-opening to the
advocates of Women’s Lib—we had it then,
and we were too busy for analyzing our position or worrying about our status. Everyone
was on his or her own—no discrimination
either or favors.” The one difference of being
a female dental student, she writes, is that
when the men lost an instrument or broke
an impression, they tempered their profanity
around her.
The dental school hours were from 9
a.m. to 5 or 6 p.m., and Saturdays from 9
a.m. to noon. “Strict attendance was taken
at all classes and labs, and there was little
time wasted,” she writes.
The infirmary had a huge, communal
boiling-water sterilizer, with individual, perforated metal holders for the instruments.
Neumann notes that one had to watch that
one’s instruments did not disappear. She
writes: “A story evolved that ‘the Lord helps
those who help themselves—the Lord is very
busy in our Infirmary!’ ”
WAr , th e n Pe Ace
Once the United States entered the war,
German students were required to register
as enemy aliens. Neumann was issued a
registration card that she had to carry with
her at all times. She had to report to the
registrar monthly and needed permission
to travel or change her residence. Yet not
everyone kept her at arms-length. She made
strong friendships at Tufts, particularly with
some of the other women in her class.
Neumann was not the only student
to notice that immigrants who had come
to the clinic a few years prior with sound
teeth now had extensive cavities. She suggested to some of her professors that the
problem might have something to do with
the patients’ change in diet. The professors
just smiled at her, she wrote, and declared,
“What is this youngster trying to tell us!”
Her interest in nutrition, however, only
grew with the research coming out of the
Forsy th Dental Inf irmar y, which was
studying nutrition among the thousands
of Boston school children who were treated
there for free. She hoped to work there
after graduation, but the Massachusetts
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 2 7
32392p24-29.indd 27
5/2/13 10:49 AM
Below, Erna and Alfred Heininger
in Vermont in 1960; right, three
generations on a summer day, 1963.
Above, the
prophylactic clinic
at Forsyth, 1919;
right, the interior
of Forsyth from the
1918 Dentufts
Dentufts..
State Board of Directors would not give
her a license to practice while the war continued. Instead, she took a position as an
assistant to a dentist in Roxbury. “He and
his wife treated me like a daughter, when
no one would have given employment to a
German enemy-alien, who had to report to
the police every month.” They also gave her
a “huge” salary of $12 per week.
Peace finally came on November 11,
1918. A few months later, she received her
license, and in the spring of 1919 she was
accepted at the Forsyth.
She describes some of her experiences
at Tufts and Forsyth in letters she wrote to
Alfred Heininger, a law student she had met
in 1917. He had moved back to work at his
family’s construction firm in Burlington,
Vt., but their romance continued. She
writes of everyday events, including studying for an exam about Novocain, boycotting the trolley because the fare was raised
a few pennies and watching the laying of
linoleum in one of the dental buildings,
with an eye to detail that gives a glimpse
into why she would make a good dentist.
She writes to Heininger of a typical
day at Forsyth: “It is 2:30 p.m., and for a
moment I am resting peacefully in my
chair. If I pressed the electric button, a
signal for another patient, soon a little
youngster would rush around the corner.”
Later, she writes of the complexity of using
Novocain, invented only 15 years earlier:
A letter from Neumann to her future husband, Alfred Heininger, in 1919.
“It was a very busy day, including 2 conductive [local] anesthesia cases, which take
much work and time, and came out quite
successful. I was just absorbed in my work,
and the last one to leave the clinic.”
When Erna wed Alfred in 1920, she was
marrying into a veritable dental family:
three of his brothers were dentists (and one
was a doctor). She joined one of her brothers-in-law, Bruno Heininger, in his downtown Burlington practice. A photograph
that Neumann took, circa 1924, shows that
their second-f loor dental office (above a
striped-awning drugstore) overlooked a
busy street filled with both motor cars and
horse-drawn carriages.
Her nephew, Calef Heininger, now 83,
one of two cousins in the next generation
who also became dentists, recalls he was
too young to see Neumann at work, but
he imagines the scene being similar to his
father’s dental office in the 1930s. Even
then, there were no X-ray machines, and the
cable-driven drills were noisy and vibrated.
Neumann practiced for five years before
turning her attention to raising her three
children. Her second daughter, Sylvia
Holden, 83, lives in the house where she
grew up, a roomy four-square in what was
once a working-class, immigrant neighborhood of Burlington. She also is too young
28 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p24-29.indd 28
5/3/13 9:23 AM
Erna Neumann’s daughter, Sylvia
Holden, in the attic where her
mother’s papers were kept.
Below, Neumann in 1989.
to have seen her mother at work, but the
family story is that whenever her Uncle
Bruno would call to say, “You’ve got to
come in immediately! The orphanage has
just arrived!” her mother dropped
everything and went.
She says her parents were
focused on their community,
particularly when the Great
Depression left so many people impoverished. Women
in threadbare fox furs would
come to the house, and the
family would take care of
them in various ways.
“My mother used to say my
father had the biggest free law
practice in the state of Vermont,”
Sylvia Holden says. Her mother was always
available to translate a letter for a German
neighbor, or lend a sympathetic ear to any
callers. “She would knit while she was listening to their troubles.”
Neumann helped her husband with his
political career, which was also focused on
caring for the needy. He served six years in
the Vermont Senate and even ran for governor in 1936. He is best known as the father
of Vermont’s social welfare system, as he
helped shuttle one of the nation’s first oldage pension laws through the Legislature.
One of Neumann’s grandchildren, Alfred
Holden, helped capture some of her stories
when he was a teenager. “I would bring out
the cassette recorder, and I would drop a
date,” he says. “And she was so alert in
her memory that she could pick up
on that date and tell you things,
specific things, about it.”
The year 1934, for example, would be when she met
another trailblazer, Amelia
Earhart. The famous aviatrix was promoting her new
airline for business travel,
and she invited the wives of
local business leaders to fly with
her. While it was exciting to meet
Earhart, flying was old hat for Erna.
She had frequently taken barnstorming
flights at the Burlington airfield.
“I don’t know if she was afraid of anything,” says Alfred Holden. “She was a live
wire all through my life. Full of life and
enjoyment. She was game for things. She
wouldn’t say, ‘I’m not going to do that.’ ”
Neumann’s nephew, Calef Heininger,
became her dentist when she was in her 70s.
(She managed to keep most of her teeth her
whole life.) “She was quite a positive person,
although she had her opinions,” he says.
He also marveled that she would put
her car away each winter and walk, almost
daily, a couple miles uphill to visit friends.
“Her motto was, ‘Down the road of life you
get to the end much quicker in a car than
you do on foot.’ ”
She lived to be almost 97 (she died on
February 15, 1991), and was lucid up until
the last few days of her life. Her family
has held onto the letters that speak of love
and linoleum, the dental reunion photos
that show her in a sea of men, as well as
the enemy alien card that she had to carry
with her during the war. They even have
her old dental tools; her grandson often
uses the little round mirror to check over
his own teeth.
Although she practiced dentistry only for
a short time, she was very proud of her Tufts
education. She attended many reunions,
including her 64th, in 1982. And the story of
her meeting with Tufts President Bumpus is
family legend.
“She had spunk; she used it very strategically,” says Alfred Holden, her grandson.
“We’re proud, of course, that she would
have made her case” to finish her dental
studies. tDm
Julie Flaherty, a senior health sciences writer
in Tufts’ Office of Publications, can be reached
at julie.flaherty@tufts.edu.
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 2 9
32392p24-29.indd 29
5/2/13 10:50 AM
Thanh-Trang Nguyen, D01,
with her mentor, Mark Doherty
32392p30-32.indd 30
4/26/13 10:33 PM
Full Circle
By l i n da h a l l P h oto G R A P h Y bY k At h l e e n d o o h e R
just weeks after immigrating to boston from vietnam
helped him improve his skills and confidence after he
in the summer of 1991, Thanh-Trang Nguyen, D01, settled
graduated from dental school. It provided “continuity
into Mark Doherty’s dental chair at the Dorchester House
and comfort,” he says.
community health center.
She received an Advanced Education in General
A shy 18-year-old, Nguyen had an engaging smile but
Dentistry fellowship from Lutheran Medical Center,
spoke only a few words of English. A social service agency
which places dental residents in community health
had referred her there for a dental checkup, a standard part
centers. And so she returned to familiar ground, to
of the refugee resettlement process. It was the kind of preDorchester House, where, she says, “seeing Dr. Doherty
ventative care Nguyen had not known in her native country.
and the staff helping the community inspired me.” She
Early efforts to communicate with Doherty, the direcwas hired for the dental staff at the end of 2002.
tor of dental services at Dorchester House, were challengThen in 2011, two decades after the shy teenager had
ing, Nguyen recalls. After examining her teeth, Doherty
come to Dorchester House for the first time, she took over
said, “Not good, not good. You’ve got to clean your teeth
her mentor’s old job, director of dental services.
better. Do you floss?” Embarrassed to admit she didn’t
“Even though I always wanted to be a dentist,” says
understand, Nguyen replied, “Yes, yes, yes.” A skeptical
Nguyen, “I always doubted that I could make it.” She
Doherty followed up: “Do you know what f loss is?” A
says unwavering encouragement from Doherty kept her
repentant Nguyen admitted she did not.
strong. “I wanted to make him proud.”
As Doherty worked over that summer to fill her cavities
“She was tiny, extremely shy,” Doherty says of their first
and perform extra cleanings to restore her
oral health, Nguyen’s English improved,
As a young immigrant, Thanh-Trang Nguyen found
and their relationship blossomed. “I was
a tremendous teaser, and she was a great
a mentor in her dentist at Dorchester House.
target,” Doherty says. “Tough as nails,
Now she’s in the position he once held.
but a great sense of humor.”
Doherty found a patient as eager to
learn about how to take care of her teeth as she was to
meetings in the clinic. “Getting her to utter more than a
understand his profession. In her dentist, Nguyen found
couple of words was tough. But she was smart as a whip.
a mentor. By that fall, Nguyen had summoned the courThere was no doubt in my mind she could do anything
age to ask whether she could learn to be a dental assistant
she wanted to do” once she cleared the language barrier.
under Doherty’s guidance.
Nguyen already had an idea about what she wanted to
Their professional journey together began with
do, and that was dentistry. It was a childhood ambition
Nguyen volunteering after school a few days a week.
she had carried into adulthood. As an 8-year-old living in
Although she had graduated from high school the year
the town of DaLat in the Central Highlands of Vietnam,
before her family left Vietnam, Nguyen repeated her
Nguyen had a painful toothache. “In Vietnam we only had
junior and senior years at Cathedral High School in
access to emergency dental care,” she says. “There was no
Boston to learn English. Doherty offered friendship and
such thing as preventative care. You’d only go to the denfatherly advice, wrote letters of recommendation and
tist if you can no longer bear the pain.
encouraged her each step of the way, from high school to
“My mother gave me some money and told me to walk
Regis College to Tufts School of Dental Medicine.
down the street to the dentist’s office. I found a young
He encouraged Nguyen to apply for a postgraduate
woman [dentist] all by herself. I don’t remember exactly
fellowship, remembering how much that experience had
what she did, but I remember walking out of the office
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 3 1
32392p30-32.indd 31
4/26/13 10:33 PM
painless. That was the first time I wanted to become a dentist.”
Her youthful aspirations strengthened as she watched Doherty
at work. She repeated high school hoping to improve not only her
English but also her chances of going to college.
“In Vietnam, education was very much based around rote memorization,” Nguyen says. In the United States, “it was all about collaboration and independent thinking, something I had to get used to.”
What a challenge that must have been, taking high school classes
in a language that was foreign, says Doherty, who notes that Nguyen
was quickly earning top grades. She was accepted to Regis College
in Weston, Mass., where she earned her undergraduate degree in
biochemistry. Then she headed to Tufts Dental School, a choice that
allowed her to remain near her parents, who by then had moved
from Dorchester to Roslindale—and still be close to her second
home at Dorchester House.
‘ th e b Re Ath of fReedom ’
When her family came to the United States, Nguyen says, Dorchester
House, which provides health care and other services to residents
of the low-income neighborhood, was one of the lifelines that sustained them. They had only $20, but received help from the New
York-based International Rescue Committee, other immigrants and
public assistance.
“Life was unbearable [in Vietnam] after the war,” Nguyen says.
Her father, an officer in the South Vietnamese army, had been
imprisoned for seven years in the brutal “reeducation camps” where
the new Communist regime banished many who had supported the
old government. After his release, her family faced systematic discrimination, she says. “My father, once a captain, took odd jobs …
from cutting grass to feeding horses to illegally holding night classes
in physics and math at our home. My mother went from being a
French teacher to a peddler. We craved the breath of freedom.”
In 1989 the U.S. government established the Humanitarian
Operation Program to assist former political prisoners still trying
to flee Vietnam more than a decade after the war had ended. Those
who had been imprisoned for more than three years were offered
asylum. Nguyen’s family was able to leave in 1991.
“We were the lucky ones,” Nguyen says, avoiding the fate of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees who died at sea and in
the jungles while trying to escape.
Her parents were determined to succeed in America. They worked
full time during the day—her father in a floor-sanding business and
in manufacturing jobs, her mother as an office clerk; they took community college classes at night. Her father now runs his own dry
cleaning business in Dorchester, and her mother is an assistant vice
president at a financial company.
Doherty says Nguyen’s life experiences add dimension to her
skills as caregiver. “When you grow up in a culture that is a minority,
you learn things” about challenges that others may not fully appreciate, he says.
Today nearly one-third of the patients at Dorchester House are
Vietnamese. “It feels good when I can speak their language,” Nguyen
says, “and they are grateful they can address their concerns in a language they know.”
No matter what language her patients speak, Nguyen’s “best
quality is that she listens,” says Doherty, who now advises community dental health programs in his role as the executive director of
DentaQuest Institute’s Safety Net Solutions program. “She distills
information and uses it in the best way for her program, her family,
her patients, her staff. She’s learning all the time. She’s not afraid of
risks, but they are well-measured.”
After Doherty’s successor as director of dental services at
Dorchester House left in 2011, Nguyen was promoted. Joel Abrams,
the center’s president and CEO at the time, said he chose Nguyen
based on recommendations from Doherty and others about her
clinical skills as well as his own observations about her potential
for leadership—evidenced, he says, “in the way she relates to others,
the respect she garners.” The history of Dorchester House, founded
in 1887, contains numerous examples of those who once benefited
from services there moving on to build new programs, Abrams says.
Nguyen’s promotion resonates with that tradition of “consumers
becoming overseers,” he says.
The Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, as it is now called,
has gone through its own transformation over more than a century.
Founded as a settlement house in Boston’s Fields Corner neighborhood to provide cultural, recreational and educational activities,
primarily to immigrants, the center has relocated, evolved and
expanded multiple times. Now the center cares for more than
26,000 people each year, providing services that range from primary and specialty care to educational programs and social services
to recreation (there is a pool and a gym).
Doherty and Nguyen still talk by telephone nearly every week,
and they continue as colleagues. Since 2004 Nguyen has been a dentist for Commonwealth Mobile Oral Health Services, a program
Doherty founded in 1979 to provide dental care at 250 sites throughout Massachusetts, including schools with low-income students.
Nguyen treats elementary school children at the Boston Renaissance
School in Hyde Park on her day off. Students are taken out of class
for examinations and cleanings, and, if a cavity is found, a filling is
done immediately. “We grab them while we can,” she says.
With a busy life—Nguyen has three children, ages 8, 3 and 1—she
says it is difficult to imagine what’s next. But her goal at Dorchester
House is to increase the number of dentists so that more patients
who rely on subsidized care can be served. The center’s oral health
department has a staff of 23, including 12 dentists who provide adult
and pediatric care in general dentistry, periodontics, endodontics
and oral surgery. Nguyen sees patients as well.
When Nguyen talks about her life, she often interjects: “I’m a very
lucky girl.” She says she is grateful for all the help she was given, from
those who assisted her family’s resettlement to the support services
she received during her education to the opportunities that have
come her way. Above all, she treasures Mark Doherty’s guidance.
“I can’t express enough my gratefulness to Dr. Doherty for having
faith in a teenager who barely spoke any English and for persistently
encouraging her to follow her dreams,” Nguyen says. “I can only
hope for the opportunity to pay this forward someday.” tDm
Linda Hall is a freelance writer in Hopkinton, Mass.
32 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p30-32.indd 32
4/26/13 10:33 PM
dental school news
In His Father's Footsteps
The end of one career leads to the beginning of another by Julie Flaherty
entists have a history of going into the family business,
but for Daniel Gonzalez, D15, the son of a dentist, going to dental
school was far from a birthright. It meant not just hard work for
him, but hard choices for everyone in his family.
Gonzalez was born in Colombia, where his father, Guillermo, was a dentist,
and his mother, Patricia, a social worker. When he was still a boy, his parents
decided to immigrate to the United States. His mother, who was born in Boston
and had studied there, moved first. Soon after, Daniel and his younger brother,
Nicolas, joined her. But 11-year-old Danny
was not happy about it.
“I did not want to come,” he says. “I was
leaving the comfort of my friends and family, even my culture, and going into something that I had no idea about. It was a completely alien world.”
School was especially frustrating. He
Daniel Gonzalez,
D15, with his
parents, Guillermo
and Patricia.
photo: alonso nichols
32392p33-43.indd 33
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 3 3
4/29/13 4:51 PM
on campus
knew he was good at science and math, but
his undeveloped English skills hid what he
was capable of. Being a social worker, his
mother knew to tap into the support systems available. She signed him up for Big
Brothers, the Boy Scouts, soccer leagues
and a program called Summerbridge
(now Breakthrough Cambridge), where
high school and college student volunteers helped him improve his English and
his study skills. His middle school grades
improved so much that he was accepted to a
private high school, Noble and Greenough.
He still struggled with English, and he
had an hour-and-a-half commute each
morning, but in the end, he graduated
with honors, winning the most-improved
student award.
“Danny is goal-oriented,” says his
mother. Whether it was getting into a private school or becoming an Eagle Scout,
“he wanted to really succeed in whatever
he did.”
While Gonzalez was in high school, his
father joined his family in Cambridge and
took a position as a dispensary assistant in
the oral surgery clinic at Tufts School of
Dental Medicine. He had practiced dentistry for 25 years in Colombia, and hoped
to go back to dental school for the degree he
would need to practice in the United States.
But that would mean loans and debt.
He knew that his sons would be applying to college soon. After much thinking,
Guillermo made a decision: he would retire
from dental practice and help support his
family so his sons could have a good start
on their own careers.
So with help from his family—not to
mention several part-time jobs of his own—
Danny Gonzalez attended the College of
the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.
“I didn’t know exactly what I wanted
to do,” he says. “With my dad when I
was little, I was in his dental office many
times. I knew it was a great profession;
you had a lot of autonomy. But medicine was also a little intriguing.” His
grandfather had been a neurologist, and
Gonzalez had gone with him when he visited patients in the Colombian countryside. “I was a little undecided, like most
college students,” he says.
The two years after graduation would
help guide him. He took a job at the Dana
Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where
he was involved in several cancer therapy
research projects. He worked closely with
a dentist who treated patients with head
and neck cancer, and saw how vital dentistry was during treatment.
“I was able to meet with patients, and
they said one of their biggest complaints
was losing their teeth while undergoing
their therapy,” Gonzalez says, explaining
that patients might lose the ability to produce saliva because of radiation or multiple chemotherapy drugs, and their teeth
would begin to decalcify. “Not only is it an
important medical component to be able
to chew and eat food, but socially and psychologically, to be able to smile and display
your teeth to other people was very important for the patients.”
Gonzalez started to think seriously
about dentistry. He talked to his dad (who
tried to stay objective), but also other dentists. He shadowed faculty in the Tufts
dental clinics and did research under the
guidance of Aidee Herman, associate clinical professor of periodontology.
By the time he was accepted into the
Tufts Dental class of 2015, Gonzalez was
already a familiar face at One Kneeland
Street. He has since become president-elect
of the Tufts student chapter of the national
Hispanic Dental Association, participated
on the school’s admissions committee and
organized a school soccer team.
Guillermo feels only pride at what his
son has accomplished and doesn’t mind
being a retired dentist. “I have no regret
about my decision,” he says. He is now a
case manager for Somerville-Cambridge
Elder Services. “I love what I am doing
right now. I love my elders.”
Of course, should his son need help
studying for a perio exam, he always
makes himself available to, say, explain the
boundaries of a free gingival margin and
biological width. “I have another resource
whenever I don’t understand something,”
Gonzalez says of his father. “He’s been a
great help.”
Julie Flaherty, a senior health sciences writer
in Tufts’ Office of Publications, can be
reached at julie.flaherty@tufts.edu.
2020 Vision
Strategic planning initiative
charts a course for the dental
school by Helene Ragovin
for the past year, tufts school of dental
Medicine has been looking ahead, developing a strategic plan, known as 2020
Vision!, which will chart a future direction for the school. A 14-member committee of faculty and staff from across
the school—basic science, preclinical and
clinical—along with a student from the
class of 2014, has been gathering information and soliciting feedback from those
who work and study at One Kneeland
Street, as well as alumni and leaders in
oral health care and policy.
The Tufts Dental community has been
eager to respond: More than 500 people
have participated in the process in some
way. From this feedback, the committee
will develop a series of short- and longterm recommendations.
A long w ith the school ’s strategic
plan, several working groups have been
involved in a curriculum revision project, looking at how to integrate the basic
and clinical sciences, how to use more
technology for teaching and learning and
how to get students involved in clinical
care earlier in their training, says Nadeem
Karimbux, associate dean for academic
affairs. Although revision of the curriculum has already started in some areas, the
new 2020 Tufts Oral Health Curriculum
will be fully implemented in the 2014-15
academic year.
Those leading the strategic-planning
process say inclusiveness has been paramount. “Whatever we do, we like to be
transparent and to make sure that everybody understands what we are doing,”
says Roya Zandparsa, clinical professor
of prosthodontics and operative dentistry and chair of the school’s Strategic
Planning Steering Committee. “We want
to make sure we work as a team, as part
of the university, to reach to a higher
level.” Tufts Dental Medicine talked with
Zandparsa about the strategic plan.
34 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p33-43.indd 34
4/29/13 4:51 PM
Why is the school developing a
strategic plan now?
Roya Zandparsa: Many things are changing
at our school—we have a new dean and administration; technology is improving very
fast; we have completed the expansion that
added five floors to our building. There are
new opportunities and challenges, and we
want to be able to move to a higher level of
prominence as a leader in dental education, not only locally and nationally, but
globally. So we have turned our attention to strategic planning. We want to
be innovators in developing opportunities for our students to become outstanding leaders in oral health.
key enabler for success in all those areas.
What is the timeline for rolling out the
strategic plan?
We want to have short-term, mid-term and
long-terms goals and be able to implement
them little by little. This is a living document—it will require constant revision. We
will constantly look to it to see how we’re
doing. It’s a process. The name is 2020
Who did you talk to beyond
One Kneeland Street?
Our consultants, Karl Haden of Academy for Academic Leadership in Atlanta
and Joshua Mintz of Cavanaugh, Hagan,
Pierson & Mintz in Washington, D.C.,
interviewed leaders in dental and health
care and public health to gain perspective on what challenges and opportunities lay ahead for the profession and
dental education. We also interviewed
members of the Chinatown community, in which our school and clinics are
located, and representatives from the
Tufts Dental Alumni Association.
What has taken place with the
strategic-planning process over the
past year?
You always want to establish a baseline,
so we started gathering information
and reviewing existing documents:
the annual surveys of our alumni, the
unit assessments, the senior student
exit survey, patient satisfaction surveys, the dean’s annual reports. We
were already in the process of revising the curriculum, so the curriculum
revision committee was in place. We
wanted to make sure we were aligned
with that committee and that there
were no surprises. Then we came up
with issues and priorities as well as several
distinct areas of focus.
What are those priorities?
They are: Community and social responsibility. How can we ensure that the Tufts
Dental community devotes time and effort
to address access-to-care issues? Curriculum. How do we provide a comprehensive
dental education for future generations?
People. How do we engage and support
the Tufts Dental community to promote
our mission? Research. How can we foster
collaborative, interdisciplinary research
throughout the school and, by extension,
throughout the university?
Capitalizing on the benefits of technology for teaching, learning, research and
patient care was initially a priority, but technology was later incorporated into the four
other strategic directives and identified as a
photo: kelvin ma
32392p33-43.indd 35
to be heard. The focus groups were great–
some people prefer face-to-face communication. We had two rounds, with eight groups
of eight to 10 people each time of students,
staff and faculty. We met separately with the
Alumni Council to gain the perspective of
alumni who are not necessarily members of
the faculty. And we also had an anonymous
survey for people who were more comfortable providing input that way.
The university is also involved in a
strategic-planning process. How do
these two initiatives intersect?
Roya Zandparsa
Vision!, but that doesn’t mean we’re going
to wait until 2020 to begin implementing
the recommendations.
We anticipate the overall planning will
be completed this spring, and then we will
craft a document that ref lects the consensus of the Strategic Planning Steering
Committee and make that available to all
stakeholders.
How did you get people involved?
Our goal was to engage as many people as
possible. We went through a variety of focus
groups. We put everything online. We had
a poster that was displayed throughout One
Kneeland Street to reach people who do not
have access to the Internet. We tried every
way possible to approach people and try to
get them involved, to engage them and let
them know their opinion really matters. We
wanted to be sure everybody had a chance
We talked to Tufts President Anthony
Monaco and Provost David Harris. We
wanted to make sure we were aligned
with their vision, and that our plan and the
university plan were in sync. Dean Huw
Thomas is part of the university strategic
planning group, and he gives us updates on
that process. We want to make sure we're
all on the same page and whatever we do is
under the Tufts umbrella.
How can alumni get involved?
Everything is online, and we’re not going
to stop asking for opinions. At any point, if
you decide you want to get involved, send
an email to me (roya.zandparsa@tufts.
edu), Dean Thomas (huw.thomas@tufts.
edu) or Executive Associate Dean Mark
Gonthier (mark.gonthier@tufts.edu). Or
go to our website, http://dental.tufts.edu/
strategicplan.
Helene Ragovin, the editor of this magazine,
can be reached at helene.ragovin@tufts.edu.
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 3 5
4/29/13 4:51 PM
on campus
Revolution Afoot
21st-century challenges will transform dental schools by Jacqueline Mitchell
ith major population
shifts and a rapidly evolving health-care landscape,
dental education is about
to undergo significant changes, according to
Richard Valachovic, executive director of the
American Dental Education Association.
The inaugural presenter in the Dean’s
Distinguished Speaker Series, which brings
outside experts to the School of Dental
Medicine to talk about issues in health sciences education and practice, Valachovic
touched on the “drivers of change” that
will affect dentistry and dental education
in the next 10 years.
Overall, the future looks bright for dentistry, he said. Public perception of the profession continues to be positive, as people
recognize the importance of oral health.
“With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
up to 35 percent of the troops from some
battalions didn’t have the dental status that
allowed them to be deployed to the field,”
Valachovic said during his talk in November.
The fact that so many military person-
States—already on the decline since the
1990s—is poised to dip precipitously.
“I graduated in 1977. Half of my class is
retired or working only part time now,”
said Valachovic.
Today about 12,000 applicants vie for
approximately 5,000 spots in U.S. dental schools, making this the first time it’s
been harder to get into dental school than
into medical school, Valachovic said. “We
are getting some of the best and brightest
we’ve ever had,” he said, but 5,000 new dentists a year won’t be enough to address the
impending nationwide shortage of providers. The solution, he said, is to rethink the
existing model for dental education.
“The standard predoctoral curriculum
as we now know it, and that we’ve been so
successful at for so many years, will prove
inadequate,” he said. Dental education
eventually will look more like medical education, he said, with an increasing emphasis
on clinical training in community settings.
In fact, educating dentists alongside
physicians, nurses and other health-care
“The standard predoctoral curriculum as
we now know it, and that we’ve been so
successful at for so many years,
will prove inadequate.” —Richard Valachovic, adea
nel could not be deployed because of poor
oral health underscores the need for more
dental-care providers, said Valachovic,
who serves on the dental school’s Board of
Advisors. In 2000, 28 million Americans
lived in federally designated dental health
professional shortage areas, meaning
there was less than one dentist for every
5,000 patients. By 2008, that number had
climbed to 48 million Americans.
With two-thirds of the nation’s 186,000
practicing dentists age 50 or older, the
dentist-to-patient ratio in the United
providers–a concept known as interprofessional education (IPE)–could prove a workable solution to solving access-to-care issues
across the health professions, Valachovic
said. IPE has been endorsed by the World
Health Organization as a means of creating a more flexible and efficient health-care
workforce. Many U.S. medical schools—
including Nova Southeastern University’s
College of Osteopathic Medicine, which
opened a dental program in 1997—have
adopted some versions of IPE.
Likewise, some new dental schools have
been launched in existing academic health
centers in a bid to expand the education
they offer to students and the services they
offer to patients. These new dental programs—tend to be located in economically stagnant regions where access-to-care
issues are already acute.
In addition to being able to share
resources with other health and science
educators on campus, these new schools
will pioneer innovative ways to deliver dental education via the Internet, Valachovic
said. “Does every school really need to have
every department? Or can we find ways to
collaborate through massive open online
courses,” known as MOOCs.
No discussion of the future of dentistry
would be complete without mention of the
ongoing debate about a new kind of dental
health provider, sometimes called a dental
therapist.
Some advocate the use of these mid-level
providers as a means of broadening access
to care—a model akin to the way physician
assistants and nurse practitioners operate
in medicine. (Minnesota became the first
state to license dental therapists in 2009.)
But others say the access-to-care problem
can be solved more easily by expanding the
scope of hygienists and dental assistants.
Opponents also worry that there are yet no
official standards or accreditation processes
for programs of dental therapy as there are
for hygienists and assistants.
The issue is likely to come to a head
in the next few years, said Valachovic, as
proponents in at least 15 other states are
pushing their legislatures to license midlevel providers. In 2011, Oregon decided to
allow the limited use of midlevel providers in a pilot program to test the viability of that care model, and legislators in
Washington state are considering a measure to allow midlevel providers.
“There’s a lot of strength of conviction on
both sides without really a lot of data yet,”
Valachovic said. “We’re going to be hearing
about it a lot more.”
36 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p33-43.indd 36
5/2/13 11:07 AM
Jenny Citrin, D14, works with
students at the Josiah Quincy
Upper School to develop iSmile,
an educational video game app.
Education with Byte
Jenny Citrin, D14, invents a computer game that helps kids teach
kids about oral health by Julie Flaherty
he weapons on his utility
belt are a toothbrush and floss.
Cookies and candy are the enemies. And should his strength
start to ebb, f luoride makes him all but
invincible. His name is Tom; he is a gradeschool superhero, and he is coming soon to
a video game near you.
Tom is the main character of iSmile, a
kind of third-person-flosser app that educates children about proper dental care.
Jenny Citrin, D14, a Schweitzer Fellow,
conceived iSmile as an offbeat way to head
off oral disease in the next generation. She
is creating the game with a group of teenagers at the Josiah Quincy Upper School
in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood. The
students will eventually use iSmile, with
its message of good oral health, to teach
elementary school students. The idea is to
hit young kids where they live: video games,
mobile devices and looking up to cool highschoolers (“peer-to-peer learning,” as the
education experts call it).
photos: alonso nichols
32392p33-43.indd 37
“Education is the way we’re going to
address preventative oral health, which is
the most important aspect of oral health
and dentistry as I see it,” Citrin says.
Conventional dental education hasn’t made
a big enough impact, she says, perhaps
because it “isn’t that much fun.”
The team meets Tuesday afternoons in
a computer lab at the high school. While
snacking on pretzel rods and cheese sticks,
Citrin and a half dozen teens talk about
Closeup of the game in development.
how Tom will have to navigate the game’s
food obstacles. “Nutrition is one of the very
overlooked aspects of dental health,” Citrin
says. Tom will have to pick the good foods
and avoid the bad ones—dentally speaking,
that is. And not just the obvious ones, such
as opting for apples over gummy bears. As
the player reaches higher levels, the choice
becomes more nuanced: apple or…banana?
They have a storyboard, but there is
still much to decide. Will the game be
like Temple Run, or have more of a Mario
Brothers vibe? “I think we moved away from
Pac Man,” Citrin reminds the team.
After some voting, all agree that players
can earn points by completing minigames
that show how to brush and floss properly.
The ending is still uncertain. If Tom does
poorly, does he get a mouth full of cavities?
The team breaks up into groups to work
on details before heading over to the dental
school for a tour. Some of the students are
interested in going into health fields; others
just like video games or art.
While things are going well, Citrin has
to admit that getting high school students
excited about oral health can be a hard
sell, especially when she is competing with
homework and college applications for their
attention. Citrin didn’t grow up as a gamer
herself (she plans to subcontract the coding
to an outside programmer), and her primary
teaching experience has been as a gymnastics instructor (she was a competitive gymnast for many years). Keeping things on
track can be as difficult as connecting back
handsprings on the balance beam.
Still, her mentors at the Schweitzer
Fellowship Program, which encourages
graduate students to address the health
needs of the underserved, warned her that
these endeavors rarely go exactly as planned.
“They tell you, ‘You are never going to finish
a project the way you started it,’ ” she says.
For now, she is enjoying hearing all the
silly and sometimes-inspired suggestions
that the students offer. “They have so many
creative ideas,” she says. “I don’t know where
they come up with all of them.”
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 3 7
4/29/13 4:51 PM
on campus
onekneeland
In case you hadn’t heard...
students share their match
news with each other and with
charles rankin, d79, dg86,
interim chair of diagnosis and
health promotion.
make me a match
the dental school hosted its first
National Match Day celebration on January
28 for members of the Class of 2013.
“Match Day represents the hopes and
aspirations of thousands of students who
wish to pursue residency or specialty training,” said Nadeem Karimbux, associate dean
for academic affairs. “These students apply
roxanna Khajavi, d13, hugs caitlin coleman, d13.
38 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p33-43.indd 38
to highly competitive programs across the
country, and Match Day often times has
the same effect as a lottery—you open your
email and find out where you are going to
spend the next one to six years.”
At Tufts, approximately 50 percent of the
graduating class applies to and is accepted
into specialty residency training programs.
The dental match occurs in two phases:
Phase I results were released in November
for students who applied to orthodontics
or dental anesthesiology programs. Phase
II results, for students who applied to programs in oral and maxillofacial surgery,
pediatric dentistry, advanced education in
general dentistry and general practice residencies, were announced on January 28. As
of mid-March, more than 70 members of the
class of 2013 had been accepted to specialty
programs, general practice residencies and
advanced education in general dentistry programs and residencies in the U.S. military.
congratulations
all around
tufts school of Dental medicine and its
students have received several awards
and marks of distinction recently:
dIversIty the dental school is a
recipient of the first higher education
excellence in Diversity award from
INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the
largest diversity-focused publication
in higher education. the school was
featured along with other recipients in
the magazine’s December 2012 issue.
tufts was selected for such initiatives as
its faculty development seminar series
on diversity; efforts to increase minority
student representation and retention;
diverse student groups and outreach to
promote oral health and access to care
for underserved populations.
research For the second consecutive
year, tufts was ranked number one by
the american association for Dental
Research national student Research
Group for having the most student
abstracts accepted (60) for the annual
session of the american, international
and Canadian associations of Dental
Research, which took place in seattle
in march. the school’s student
research group will receive $300 for
the achievement.
debate Competing against students
from the dental schools at harvard and
Boston University, the team from tufts
won the fourth annual american student
Dental association District i debate, held
at the dental school on February 23.
tufts was represented by andrew tonelli,
D14, Claire mcCarthy, D15, Christopher
paolino, D16, and saad Butt, D15.
student group the tufts student
chapter of the american Dental education
association (aDea) was recognized at
aDea’s 2013 annual session, held in
march in seattle, with the Distinguished
Chapter award and outstanding
activities award.
photos: kelvin ma
5/2/13 11:08 AM
Food bank
Frank Chow, assistant
clinical professor of prosthodontics and operative
dentistry, and his wife,
Eva (kneeling, front), are
sharing their enthusiasm
for volunteering at the
Greater boston Food bank
with others from Tufts dental
School. on March 16, a
group of 20 volunteers, which
included students, faculty,
family and friends, sorted
more than 8,000 pounds of
food—the equivalent of 277
meals per volunteer. The
Chows hope to make this
an annual event.
celebrating persian new year
back at fenway
Former Red Sox pitcher Jim Lonborg,
d83, who now practices dentistry
instead of hurling fastballs, greeted
fellow Tufts alumni and dental grads
from other boston area schools at an
alpha omega event at Fenway Park in
december. “Gentleman Jim,” as he was
known during his days on the mound,
practices in Hanover, Mass.
norouz, the persian new year, begins
on the first day of spring. At the dental
school, student groups have arranged
Norou z celebrat ions si nce 1996.
This year, the Persian Association
of Student Dentists and Doctors of
Tufts University enjoyed a dinner at
the Sackler Center on March 12, with
110 in attendance, and performances
by the Aftab dance group of Boston.
“Most importantly, each year we set
up a Haft Seen table on which symbolic objects are placed, such as apples,
sib, symbolizing health,” said Serena
Kankash, D13, vice president of the
Tufts Persian group.
Students enjoy the
Persian new Year meal.
Jim Lonborg,
d83
The aftab dance Group performs.
photos: Fenway, Matthew Modoono; persian, eMily zilM
32392p33-43.indd 39
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 3 9
4/30/13 8:28 AM
on campus
1
2
The Most Valuable Tool
Good research is the foundation of good practice, aDa exec says by Julie Flaherty
athleen o’loughlin, d81, the
executive director and chief
operating officer of the American
Dental Association, tells a story
about an observation that her husband,
an HVAC mechanic, once made about one
of her dental instruments. “I have one of
those,” he said. “It’s just bigger.”
The tools may be similar, O’Loughlin
said, but there is one important thing that
keeps dentists from being perceived as glorified fix-it guys: evidence-based research.
“That is what preserves us as a profession,”
she said. “Without it, we are nothing more
than a trade.”
O’Loughlin emphasized just how crucial research is to the future of dentistry
when she gave the keynote address in
March at Bates-Andrews Day, the annual
showcase of research by Tuf ts dental
students.
Dentistry, she said, has come far from the
40 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p33-43.indd 40
days when dentists learned by apprenticeship. “You hung around for a couple years;
you went out and practiced your own way;
there was no scientific basis for the profession,” she said. It has taken about 150 years
for dentistry to achieve its current status as a
medical profession, she said. “So we cannot
risk losing our reputation . . . by focusing on
things that are not based in sound science
and research. We just can’t risk it.”
She encouraged students to follow in
the footsteps of the creators of Novocain,
nitrous oxide and modern composites. She
pointed out that Rafael Bowen, the dentist who invented resin composites in the
1960s, isn’t resting on his laurels; he is currently working on new restorative materials at the ADA Foundation’s Paffenbarger
Research Center.
Caries is a global public health issue,
and more professional resources need to be
devoted to risk assessment and prevention,
O’Loughlin said. Oral health research needs
to refocus on disease management related to
both oral and general health outcomes. To
address current environmental concerns,
O’Loughlin said, we need to find suitable
restorative materials to phase down the use
of materials with chemicals such as mercury
and lead, for instance.
“We need better, easier-to-use, more utility-driven restorative materials. If you are
interested in this field of research,” she told
the students in the audience, “get going.”
Yet, O’Loughlin also pointed out that
by focusing on research and taking a disease-management approach, including
increasing awareness of the importance of
oral health to overall health and how to
prevent dental diseases, dentists worldwide can help decrease the need for all
restorative materials.
Dentistry needs more and better studies
vaLUabLe , continued on page 42
photos: kelvin ma
4/29/13 4:51 PM
Bates Day awarD winners
Best Postgraduate Poster
Presentation
omicron KaPPa uPsilon (oKu)
hilde tillman award
(cash prize donated by Jess Kane, David Tesini
and Nancy Jo, Soporowski): Eileen Saunders,
“General Pediatricians’ Knowledge and
Involvement in Oral Health Promotion in New
England: A Survey”; faculty mentor: Cheen Loo
(cash prize donated by OKU): Jaskaren
Randhawa, “Analyzing the Trends and
Associated Management Outcomes of Oral
Lesions and Medication Regimens among
the HIV-positive Patient Population at Tufts
University School of Dental Medicine”; faculty
mentors: Kanchan Ganda and diana Esshaki
Best scientific research
Presentation By a senior,
andrews society award
(cash prize donated by Jess Kane, David Tesini
and Nancy Jo Soporowski): Julianna Bair,
“Shear Bond Strength of Resin Cements to
Dentin and Enamel”; faculty mentors: Ronald
Perry and Gerard Kugel
ada/dentsPly student clinician
award for Best overall
PREdoCtoRaL taBLE CLiniC (travel to
present research at 2013 ADA annual session): amanda Merikas, “Contact Angle and
Shear Bond Strength Tests of Silane Primers”
second-Place award for
Predoctoral taBle clinic
3
1 Claire McCarthy, d15,
presents her research to tufts
School of dental Medicine
dean Huw thomas at Batesandrews Research day.
2 Jenna Hubacz, d15,
discusses her research
with Paul Leavis, associate
professor of physiology.
3 the ada’s Kathleen
o’Loughlin, d81, says the
future of dentistry depends on
a quality research enterprise.
Procter & gamBle traveling
fellowshiP award
(award donated by Procter & Gamble):
Chase Larsen, “Fracture Toughness of
Provisional Dental Materials”; faculty mentors:
Ronald Perry and Masly Harsono
dr. chad anderson family award
for innovative methodology and
research design
(cash prize donated by Chad Anderson):
Lindsay Fox, “Marginal/Internal Fit of e.Max
Impulse versus e.Max CAD All-ceramic
Crowns”; faculty mentors: Gerard Kugel and
Masly Harsono
(cash prize donated by Jess Kane, David
Tesini and Nancy Jo Soporowski, and present
research at Greater New York Dental Meeting):
Kyler McEwen, “Dentin Shear Bond Strength
of RMGI Cements”; faculty mentors: Masly
Harsono and Gerard Kugel
multicultural award for the
advancement of dental research
third-Place award for
Predoctoral taBle clinic
oral health disParities award
(cash prize donated by Jess Kane, David
Tesini and Nancy Jo Soporowski, and present
research at Greater New York Dental Meeting):
Saad Butt, “Functional Characterization of alk8
in Zebrafish Mineralized Tissue Development”;
faculty mentor: Pamela Yelick
research committee award for
Basic science research
Shruti Pore, “E-Cadherin Suppression Alters
Dab2-mediated Endocytosis in Squamous
Cell Carcinoma Cells”; faculty mentor:
addy alt-Holland
massachusetts dental society
and asda PuBlic health award
(cash prize donated by the Massachusetts
Dental Society): Erica Stutius, “Developmentally Disabled Adults Treated under
General Anesthesia: Periodontitis and
Correlates”; faculty mentor: John Morgan
(travel award donated by Kistama Naidu):
Errol Ramos, “Effect of Loupes on Ocular Blue
Light Hazard: Indirect Viewing”; faculty mentor:
Ronald Perry
natalie McClain, “Oral Health and Body
Mass Index of Intellectually/Developmentally
Disabled Adults”; faculty mentor: John Morgan
Bates student research grouP
Peer-reviewed award
nick Freda, “Comparison of Polymerization
Stress using RMGI Bond and Resin Adhesive”;
faculty mentors: Ronald Perry and
Gerard Kugel
adea student grouP educational
research award
dave Cho, “The Relationship between
Performance on Perceptual Ability Test Section
of DAT and Clinical Success in Dental School”;
faculty mentor: Yun Saksena
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 4 1
32392p33-43.indd 41
5/2/13 11:08 AM
on campus
vaLUabLe , continued from page 40
on best practices, she said. Too often, answers
to such questions as “Should you premedicate
patients who have had joint replacements?”
are hard to come by, because existing studies
have not produced clear-cut results.
“Until you have a significant pool of
papers … that are high-quality research
papers with good design with good controls . . . sometimes, frustratingly, we don’t
have the answers,” she said.
Un for t u nately, good re se a rch i s
Rajvir Jutla, D14, presents his research
to Tufts President anthony Monaco at the
bates-andrews Research Day
hindered by many obstacles, including
lack of funding.
The federal budget sequestration cuts
that went into effect in March meant
that the National Institute of Dental and
Craniofacial Research, which supports
more than 1,000 research projects, lost $21
million off its books overnight.
“Speak up to your policymakers,” urged
O’Loughlin, “because they undervalue
oral health in general, and they certainly
don’t understand the value of research in
the dental profession.”
Practicing dentists, themselves, sometimes need a push toward appreciating
evidence-based research. To make knowledge more accessible, the ADA’s Center
for Evidence-Based Dentistry conducts
systematic reviews of the scientific literature to help dentists integrate up-to-date
evidence into patient care. “So that you
don’t have to read 200 papers and figure
that out,” O’Loughlin said, “we will do
that for you.”
4
5
4 John Lee, D14,
presents his project
to Sung M. Chi, DG14,
from the postgraduate
prosthodontics program.
5 aundrea vereen, D11,
a student in the postgraduate prosthodontics
program, and Michael
Thompson, professor
of diagnosis and health
promotion.
42 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p33-43.indd 42
photos: kelvin ma
4/29/13 4:51 PM
university news
the wider world of tufts
Tufts researcher Sam
Telford collects ticks for
study on the grounds of
the Cummings School in
North Grafton, Mass.
New Tick-borne
Disease Found
What looks like Lyme could be a different illness transmitted
by the same bug by Lindsey Konkel
U
nder the microscope, sam telford surveyed the tiny, spiral
bacteria floating in spinal fluid taken from an 80-year-old woman.
They looked very similar to the spirochete bacteria that can cause
Lyme disease. But in fact, he had discovered yet another public
health threat—a brand new disease that people can get from the same ticks that
transmit the Lyme bacteria.
“We’ve known that this bacteria existed in the Northeast in deer ticks, but
there was little data linking it to human disease” until now, says Telford, an
expert on tick-borne diseases and a professor in the Department of Infectious
Diseases and Global Health at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at
Tufts. “We just needed the right patient to confirm the presence of the disease.”
That patient was the elderly woman, who lived on a farm in New Jersey.
Over four months, she had become increasingly confused. Her gait grew
wobbly, and she didn’t have much of an appetite. Her immune system was
compromised from a previous bout with cancer, so her doctors drew spinal
fluid in the hopes of finding out what was going on.
When technicians at a commercial diagnostic laboratory saw the mysterious spiral bacteria, they sent the sample for further testing to Telford,
whose laboratory serves as a reference center for unusual zoonotic infections, those that pass between animals and humans.
Telford and Heidi Goethert, J93, a microbiologist at the Cummings
School, sequenced the spirochete DNA,
and identified it as Borrelia miyamotoi,
which was first found in ticks in Japan
in 1995 and is closely related to the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Previous
human cases of B. miyamotoi infections
were found in Russia in 2011.
The Tufts scientists reported the first
U.S. case of human B. miyamotoi infection
in the New England Journal of Medicine
in January. (The woman was treated with
antibiotics and has since recovered.)
The B. miyamotoi bacteria may be an
underrecognized source of human disease,
especially in regions such as the northeastern United States, where Lyme disease is
prevalent, say Telford and his coauthors.
There’s controversy in the scientific and
medical communities about whether a
person can test negative for Lyme and still
have Lyme, says Telford. This latest research
raises the question of whether patients with
atypical Lyme disease—those who have
symptoms but whose blood doesn’t test positive for Lyme—may actually be infected
with B. miyamotoi, he says. Both are treated
with the same course of antibiotics.
While an estimated 12 to 18 percent of
coastal New Englanders have been infected
with the Lyme bacteria, called Borrelia burgdorferi, only between 1 and 3 percent of people have likely been infected with its lesserknown cousin, B. miyamotoi, researchers
at Yale reported in a correspondence that
accompanied the Tufts study in NEJM.
This new disease, which has yet to
be named, is the fifth known human
infection to come from deer ticks in
the Northeast, after Lyme, babesiosis,
ehrlichiosis and deer tick virus.
Ticks are notorious transmitters of
infectious disease around the globe. Their
indiscriminate dining habits (they don’t
seem to care what animals they feed on)
and the relatively large amount of blood
they consume (200 times their own body
weight) make ticks great at picking up
pathogens and spreading them.
“Lyme disease alone is enough of an
argument to take action to reduce risks, let
alone four other infections,” says Telford.
Lindsey Konkel is a freelance writer based in
Worcester, Mass.
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 4 3
32392p33-43.indd 43
5/2/13 11:08 AM
a dva nce m e nt
giving. growth. gratitude.
Justin Altshuler, D46,
on his boat in Florida.
All Hands on Deck
To encourage young alumni to donate, Justin Altshuler, D46, issues second fundraising challenge
by Heather Stephenson
T
he call came at 6 a.m. fire had broken out in the boston
building where Justin Altshuler, D46, operated his bustling
dental practice. When Altshuler and his wife arrived at the
scene, they found students from the apartments upstairs huddled in blankets provided by the Salvation Army. Snow covered the ground,
and flames leapt from the upper windows.
Once the smoke cleared, at least some of the office was salvageable. The
records, fortunately, were in fireproof containers. But the appointment book
was ashes. “Who was coming in tomorrow?” Altshuler recalls wondering.
“How could we call them?”
He and his wife, Bunny, who ran the office, got down to reclaiming—and
ultimately redefining—their business. They quickly reconfigured the practice from a staff of 18 with five chairs for patients to just the two of them, a
hygienist and two chairs.
44 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p44-45.indd 44
Now an 89-year-old widower who lives
in Tampa, Fla., Altshuler says the downsizing triggered an epiphany. “We went home
the first calendar year with more net profit
with the small situation, and I didn’t have
to worry about the management of the
enterprise,” he says. “Small was better.”
That kind of business insight, optimism
and roll-up-your-sleeves effort has served
Altshuler well. Born in Dorchester, Mass.,
he completed his undergraduate courses at
what is now the University of Massachusetts
in two years because of World War II and his
Tufts dental degree in three. He married and
photo: brian tietz
4/26/13 10:59 PM
served in the Air Force in Puerto Rico and
Trinidad for two years before returning to
Boston to practice dentistry with his father
in Kenmore Square.
Eventually, he joined the faculty at
the Goldman School of Dental Medicine
at Boston University as a clinical professor. Henry Goldman, the former dean for
whom the school is named, invited him to
teach students about business practice in
the dental office, but “without mentioning
money,” he says.
Mone y — e a r n i ng it, ma nag i ng it
and giving it away—is a key theme for
Altshuler. One of his two daughters, a sonin-law and his two grandchildren work in
fundraising. “We were always brought up
to be charitable,” he says.
He made a significant donation to Tufts
University School of Dental Medicine
last year in honor of his classmates.
Understanding the need to boost leadership-level gifts—that is, donations of more
than $1,000—he issued this challenge: If
300 alumni, parents or friends made a gift
of $1,000 or more, he would donate $50,000.
The response was tremendous and the
challenge a success: Nearly 400 alumni,
parents and friends gave a record amount,
more than $773,000, to the Tufts Dental
Fund. More than half of those donors
increased their gifts to $1,000 or more to
meet the challenge.
Now Altshuler has issued a new challenge, this one for young alumni, designed
to increase participation at any level of
giving. With the GOLD Challenge (for
graduates of the last decade), Altshuler
will match dollar-for-dollar, up to $50,000,
gifts that alumni from the classes of 2002 to
2012 make to the Tufts Dental Fund before
June 30, 2013. This time, his money will go
to scholarships to help deserving students.
“The f irst cha llenge worked out,”
Altshuler says. “I wanted to try something
creative this time to assist even more young
people in giving to Tufts.”
The giving Tree
Minna Kim, D03, doesn’t need to visit campus to stay connected. Two
other dentists in the Marlborough, Mass., practice where she works are
also alumnae: classmate Ina Daci, D03, and Margarita Panajoti, DI94.
Her daughter’s orthodontist, James “Jess” Kane, D74, DG76, G78, DG79,
D04P, DG06P, is an active volunteer
and advocate for Tufts University
School of Dental Medicine.
These connections weren’t the
only factor in Kim’s decision to join
the practice, or her choice of an
orthodontist for her child. But knowing that a dentist was educated
at Tufts gives her confidence in
that person’s skills, she says. “The
quality is just top-notch. It’s highcaliber dentistry.”
Grateful for her own Tufts dental education, Kim was one of hundreds
of alumni who participated in the first Justin Altshuler, D46, fundraising
challenge to encourage donations at the leadership-giving level, making
her donation just before Christmas 2012. Although she had never contributed at the $1,000 level before, the challenge inspired her.
“It may sound cliché, but Tufts gave me the opportunity to pursue
a career that I’m passionate about,” she says. “I enjoy going to work
every day. I feel like every day I do something positive. It’s a good feeling, having the skills and knowledge to do that.”
Soon after making her gift to Tufts, Kim decided to run the Boston
Marathon to raise money for a nonprofit group that helps students
navigate the college financial aid process. “I got a great education,
so I want to give that back to students,” she says.
As a 2003 graduate, Kim qualifies for Altshuler’s new GOLD Challenge,
for graduates of the last decade, and says she will give to the Tufts Dental
Fund again this year, encouraged once more by his offer of a $50,000
For more inFormation about participating in the
matching gift. Altshuler’s challenges have inspired her to imagine increas-
altshuler golD challenge, contact maria gove
ing her philanthropy, she says: “I just hope someday I can honor Tufts with
tringale, senior Director oF Dental Development anD alumni relations, at 617.636.2783
a challenge like this.”
—heather stephenson
or maria.tringale@tuFts.eDu or visit bit.ly/
altshulerchallenge.
photo: alonso nichols
32392p44-45.indd 45
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 4 5
5/3/13 9:26 AM
alumni news
staying connected
Changes on the horizon
your dental alumni association board has been
extremely busy. We started the year by creating
a strategic plan to help guide us through the next
five years and have begun implementing changes to
existing programs, planning new ones and achieving new records.
At our annual Tufts Wide Open Golf and Tennis
Tournament last September, we had our highest
attendance in more than a decade and we raised
$28,000 for the Student Loan Fund, a record for the
event. This is greatly needed and appreciated by our students.
We have decided on a change of location for the annual reunion weekend.
Starting in 2014, we will hold the event at the Four Seasons Boston, within
walking distance of the dental school. It requires a great deal of work to move a
complex event, and Susan Ahearn, senior associate director of alumni relations,
did a wonderful job handling the process.
Another new component of reunion weekend in 2014 will be the inaugural
Tufts University Dental Alumni Association Educational Symposium, a full day
of continuing education held on Friday of reunion weekend. The symposium will
be open to reunioners as well as nonreunion-year alumni who want to attend.
Our budget and our ability to create
programming is a direct result of our duespaying members, and we thank them. If you
are not a dues-paying member, please join
us and help us shape the Dental Alumni
Association experience.
I had the opportunity to meet with
many of you during our receptions in San
Francisco, New York and at Yankee Dental
Congress. Thank you for all you shared with
me during these visits. It has been a great
honor to serve as your president.
john j. millette, d91, a15p
president, tufts university
dental alumni association
jmilldmd@gmail.com
j
j
The Perks of
MeMbershi
Me
MbershiP
P
Did You Know?
It is time to renew your mem-
Dues support the Tufts Dental Alumni Association,
bership in the Tufts University
Dental Alumni Association.
With so many organizations
seeking your membership,
why should you join this one?
This is your organization,
and it represents your school.
We speak with pride when we
say we are graduates of Tufts
University School of Dental
Medicine. We are proud of its
reputation as a world leader
in research, education and
patient care. A Tufts diploma
is a mark of excellence.
46 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p46-51.indd 46
which has raised more than $325,000 for student loan funds. Dues
subsidize Homecoming & Reunion Weekend. Dues help
produce the award-winning Tufts Dental Medicine magazine. Dues
sponsor the Student/Alumni Networking Event every
March, as well as other student/alumni programming. Dues support
regional receptions and activities in New York, Boston, California and
Florida. Dues payers receive a $75 credit toward a Tufts
j
Continuing Education course.
Annual Dues
Annual
Dues for July 1, 2012, through
June 30, 2013, are $125.
To pAy onlIne : http://dental.tufts.edu/dues.
or, pleASe SenD checkS pAyAble To :
Tufts University Dental Alumni Association:
Tufts Dental Alumni Relations
136 Harrison Avenue
Boston, MA 02111
j
j
j
j
j
pHoTo: kelvin MA
4/29/13 12:55 PM
calendar
Alumni
Together, we begin...
de-loVely. This work by the Massachusetts abstract painter Amy Maas hangs outside the
14th-floor conference room at one kneeland Street. Maas works in acrylic media to create
textured paintings that combine feelings of chaos and calm.
MAy 19
Tufts University’s
157th Commencement
Academic Quad
Medford/Somerville Campus
9 a.m.
Commencement.tufts.edu
MAy 25
Alumni reception in
conjunction with the annual
session of the American
Academy of pediatric
Dentistry
Walt Disney World
Swan & Dolphin Hotel
Orlando, Florida
J U ne 5
Alumni reunion and
continuing education program in conjunction with the
Quintessence Symposium
on periodontics and
Restorative Dentistry
Tufts University School of
Dental Medicine
Boston, Massachusetts
Se p Te Mb e r 23
Wide open Golf and
Tennis Tournament
Wellesley Country Club
Wellesley, Massachusetts
11 a.m. shotgun start; tennis
tourney, 2-4 p.m., followed
by reception and awards
dinner
Se p Te Mb e r 28 –
ocTob e r 1
Alumni reception in
conjunction with the annual
session of the American
Academy of periodontology
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania
ocTob e r 7–1 2
Alumni reception in
conjunction with the annual
session of the American
Association of oral and
Maxillofacial Surgeons
Orlando, Florida
ocTob e r 9 –1 2
Alumni reception in
conjunction with the
annual session of the
American College of
prosthodontists
Las Vegas, Nevada
ocTob e r 31 –
noVe Mb e r 3
Alumni reception in
conjunction with the annual
session of the American
Dental Association
New Orleans, Louisiana
noVe Mb e r 29 –
Dece Mb e r 4
Alumni reception in
conjunction with the Greater
new York Dental Meeting
New York City
For more information about
alumni events in your area, contact the office of Dental Alumni
relations at 617.636.6773;
During a time of transition
and expanding horizons for
the university, Tufts Alumni is
pleased to invite you to meet
with Tufts President Anthony P.
Monaco to hear about his plan
for developing a road map for
where Tufts aspires to be in the
next 10 years.
During the first year of his
tenure, Tufts Alumni hosted
15 receptions to introduce the
university’s 13th president to
alumni and friends around
the world. This year, President
Monaco will be visiting a number
of European cities as well as
cities in Arizona, Colorado,
Connecticut, Maine, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
All members of the Tufts
community are invited to attend
any of these special events to
meet President Monaco and hear
his thoughts on Tufts today and
his vision for the future.
As the president’s itinerary
is developed, you can find
event dates and locations at
tuftsalumni.org/president.
email dental-alumni@tufts.edu or
visit go.tufts.edu/dentalalums.
pHoTo: AMY MAAS pAinTinG CURATeD BY JUleS plACe GAlleRY, BoSTon, MA
32392p46-51.indd 47
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 4 7
4/29/13 12:55 PM
alumni news
Above: Derek Wolkowicz, D97, DG00, and
bob harelick, e69, D73, A05p, D10p. below:
Mira Zinger, D92; Virginia Shahinian, D77,
DG79, D12p; and Sandra cove, D92.
yankee dental dandy
Senior class gift will support work of Tufts dental students at free clinic in boston
ean huw f. thomas, john millette, d91, a15,
president of the Tufts University Dental Alumni
Association, and staff from the Office of Dental
Development and Alumni Relations welcomed
more than 1,000 alumni, family and friends to the Westin
Boston Waterfront hotel on February 1 for a reception that
took place in conjunction with Yankee Dental Congress
2013. Many alumni visited the Tufts Alumni Lounge,
located on the exhibit floor, during New England’s largest
dental meeting.
That same day, the school was host to its annual reception for
the senior class. Class President Kevin Burke and Vice President
Ellen Hoffman announced that graduating seniors will direct
their class gift to support dental students who provide services
48 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p46-51.indd 48
at the Bridge Over Troubled Waters dental clinic in Boston.
In keeping with the spirit of active citizenship that is a hallmark of a Tufts education, more than 50 members of the class
of 2013 and others from the dental school offer free services
to youth ages 14 to 24 through the Project Bridge program.
Jess Kane, D74, DG76, G78, DG79, D04P, DG06P, and
Mary Jane Hanlon, D97, cochairs of the Dental M Club executive committee, and Abi Manter, D10, reminded the fourthyear students about the importance of staying engaged with
Tufts, volunteering as a reunion cochair, joining the Dental
Alumni Association or volunteering as faculty.
Save the date for Yankee Dental Congress 2014, which is
scheduled for January 29 to February 2, 2014, at the Boston
Convention and Exhibition Center.
pHoToS: MATTHeW MoDoono
4/29/13 12:55 PM
Members of the class of 2013 spend
some time with Jess kane, fourth
from left, cochair of the M club. From
left: yen Tran, christopher rohe, Matt
elston, kane, brian beck, Arpan Desai,
Victor Mai and christine lee.
register now!
Tufts Dental
Career
Link
Above, From left: natalia hoffmann, D02,
DG04; Abdullaibrahim Abdulwaheed, e97,
D02; and Stanislav Moline, D02. below,
Senior class Vice president ellen hoffman
and president kevin burke address their
classmates at the reception.
• Search job openings and
practices for sale or rent.
(Searches can only be made by
members of the Tufts Dental
community. Postings are available
to nonalumni and multiple
members of an office.)
• Use the Alumni Advisors
Network, an opt-in directory
that connects Tufts students
and alumni for advising,
networking, referrals or
just keeping in touch.
• Create or enhance
résumés with templates
from Resume Builder.
From left: caitlin coleman, Georgia Dellas, rita estephan,
Damion cooper and Julie Williams, all D13.
dental.tufts.edu/careerlink
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 4 9
32392p46-51.indd 49
4/29/13 12:56 PM
out&about
&
alumni news
Golden Gate GatherinG
More than 100 alumni attended a Tufts reception on October 19, held in
San Francisco in conjunction with the annual session of the American Dental
Association. Alumni were able to visit with classmates and friends and spend
time with Dean Huw F. Thomas.
From left: Mark Gonthier, executive associate dean;
Jin-Por Tsai, D13P; Cheng-Ho Tsai, DI87, D13P;
Michael Lee, D96; and Dean Huw Thomas.
dinner
with the deans
Dean Huw F. Thomas and Executive Associate
Dean Mark Gonthier invited alumni, parents and
friends of the dental school from the Los Angeles
area to attend a dinner at Spago in Beverly Hills on
November 8. The event, “Conversations with the
Deans,” gave Thomas and Gonthier an opportunity
to share their vision for the school’s future.
From left: Richard Harold, D80; Hugh Phillis, D80,
DG82, D13P; Joanne Falzone, D80; Robert Chideckel,
D80; Tom Green, D80; Desiree Palmer, D80;
Bruce Verrill, D80; and Pamela DiTomasso, D80.
surGeons
in san dieGo
More than 30 alumni and
friends who were in San Diego
for the annual session of the
American Association of Oral
and Maxillofacial Surgeons
mingled at a reception at the
Hilton San Diego Bayfront
on September 11. Maria
Papageorge, D82, DG86,
DG89, A12P, professor and
chair of oral and maxillofacial
surgery, welcomed the group
and updated them about
news from the department.
From left: Jaubin Nguyen, D99; Myhanh Tran; Mark Gonthier;
Emad Bassali, D97; and Clark Martin, D79, DG83, D15P.
From left: Pushka Mehra, Richard
D’Innocenzo, Laurie Manthos, D87, DG91,
Kalpakam Shastri, DG05, Michael Hunter
and Maria Papageorge, professor and chair
of oral and maxillofacial surgery.
Scott Wolpin, D89; Astrid Soegaard,
D89; and Ron Zeidler, D89.
50 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p46-51.indd 50
5/2/13 11:13 AM
Periodontists
in l.a.
Alumni and friends gathered at the JW Marriott at
lA live in los Angeles on october 1 for a reception held in conjunction with the annual meeting of
the American Academy of periodontology. James
Hanley, D75A, DG79, associate dean for clinical
affairs and interim chair of periodontology welcomed the group and provided an update on the
search for the next department chair.
new york state of Mind
The Greater new York Dental Alumni Chapter held its fall meeting in
conjunction with the Greater new York Dental Meeting on november 27
at the Marriott Marquis. Dean Huw F. Thomas and Mark Gonthier, executive associate dean, hosted a discussion on the changing face of dental
education. Alumni shared their thoughts on curriculum, technology in
dentistry and interprofessional education.
hiroshi kimura, D93, DG95, and
Duke yau-Fwu huang, DG82.
MeetinG in BaltiMore
Above, from left: evan
Schwarz, D03; Steve
rubin, D75; rob berg,
D03; Julia Sivitz, D05,
DG08; and Jordan
lissauer, D08.
left, from left: Dean
huw F. Thomas, Debbie
lee, D94, and Steven
Tunick, D73.
Hiroshi Hirayama, DG90, Di93, DG94, professor of
prosthodontics and operative dentistry, hosted alumni
at a reception at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront on
november 1. More than 50 alumni, who were in town
for the annual meeting of the American College of
prosthodontists, gathered poolside to reconnect with
colleagues and classmates.
Above: betina yuen and
Aundrea Vereen, D11, DG16.
From left: Moftah
el-Ghadi, DG08;
holly Shepherd,
DG13; and hamilton
le, D05, DG08.
From left: e.J. bartolazo, D92; Mauro perdomo, D12; Marjorie baptiste,
D08, DG11; nirmol chandhoke, D12; and omar hassani, D12.
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 5 1
32392p46-51.indd 51
4/29/13 12:56 PM
alumni news
D61
Stephen M. Bank
is working as a
part-time librarian in Cary, N.C.
Edwin N. Galkin made New
Jersey Magazine’s “Top Dentists”
list, chosen by his peers for the
second consecutive year.
D63
Jack L.
Appelbaum is
the national meeting chair for
the American Academy of Oral
Medicine and an investigator for
the Medicare Fraud Division for
the state of Nevada.
D65
After 47 years of
running a solo
practice that served the D.C.
suburbs in Maryland, Allan C.
Johnson is retiring to Bethany
Beach, Del., with his wife of 41
years, Jan Johnson. He says he
will be seeking a new puppy and
beach and golf time.
Stephen V. McLaughlin, DG78,
DG03P, D11P, still practices
four days a week. He has 10
children, three of whom are
dentists (Ian, D11, Caitlin,
NYU Dental, and Brendan,
DG03, NYU Dental.). He has 49
grandchildren and is expecting
two more. His daughter Cara
is a graduate of Johns Hopkins
Medical School.
D66
D72
Angelo G.
Boncore, see D85.
Daniel G. Davidson
has served as
president of the California Dental
Association. This year he is chair
of Cal DPAC, the state dental
PAC of California. He continues
to practice general dentistry in
San Francisco and lives in Marin
County with his wife, Leslie.
D73
Steven J. Tunick,
an oral surgeon
class notes
who practices in New York
City, was tapped by New York
State Health Commissioner
Nirav Shah to serve on the
new I-STOP (Internet System
for Tracking Over-Prescribing)
Advisory Committee. The I-STOP
Committee is expected to play
a major role in developing educational programs for healthcare providers on helping their
patients avoid prescription drug
abuse through the new I-STOP
controlled-substance prescription registry. Committee efforts
will be aided by new electronic
prescribing standards for New
York State. Tunick is a clinical
assistant professor of oral and
maxillofacial surgery at Weill
Cornell Medical College, assistant attending oral surgeon at
New York Presbyterian Hospital
and clinical assistant dentist
at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center. He is a past
president of the New York State
Society of Oral and Maxillofacial
Surgeons and currently serves
on the organization’s board of
directors. He is a member of
the New York County Dental
Society board of directors and
chairs the group’s Professional
Liability Claims Committee.
D75a
Paul J.
Desjardins
retired in 2011 and now heads
Desjardins Associates, a drug
and medical device consulting
company. He also chairs the
School of Dental Medicine’s
Board of Advisors. He can be
reached at paul.j.desjardins@
gmail.com.
D79
Alan W. James
and his wife,
Joanne, became first-time
grandparents when their daughter, Kelsey, gave birth to a baby
girl, Hope Maya, on March 6,
2012.
D80
D81
William A. Kropa, Kevin F.
Toomey, D80, and Katharine
A. Burton, D10, have opened
the Wellfleet Dental Group in
Wellfleet, Mass.
Jeffrey R. Prinsell was the
invited chair and lecturer at a
surgery symposium in Rome at
the World Congress on Sleep
Apnea. He gave presentations
on maxillomandibular advancement and other extrapharyngeal surgery for the treatment
of obstructive sleep apnea.
Prinsell is the founding president of the American Board of
Dental Sleep Medicine, past
president and Distinguished
Service Award recipient of
the American Academy of
Dental Sleep Medicine and
past chair of the Obstructive
Sleep Apnea Section of the
American Association of Oral
and Maxillofacial Surgeons
(AAOMS). He served on the
American Academy of Sleep
Medicine Standards of Practice
Committee Task Force to
update practice parameters
for obstructuve sleep apnea
surgery. He authored a chapter
in the textbook Current Therapy
in OMS (Elsevier 2011). Prinsell
is a diplomate of the AAOMS,
treasurer of the Georgia Society
of OMS; a visiting lecturer at
Emory University and Vanderbilt
University and a surgical consultant at several Atlanta area
sleep centers. He maintains a
private practice in Marietta, Ga.,
where he resides with his wife,
Kim, and sons Jeffrey and Eric.
Kevin F. Toomey,
see D79.
After a 30-year
career in the U.S.
Army, most recently serving at
Fort Jackson, S.C., Michael F.
Cuenin retired from the U.S.
Army Dental Corps in 2011 at
the rank of colonel. A board-certified periodontist, he joined the
Carolina Center for Restorative
Dentistry (www.ccrdonline.com)
in Mount Pleasant, S.C.
Joseph Kenneally has been
elected vice president of the
International College of Dentists
for 2013, and will serve as
president in 2015. Kenneally, of
Biddeford, Maine, has received
numerous leadership awards
from the American Dental
Association, the Maine Dental
Association, Yankee Dental
Congress and the University of
New England. His ICD activities
have been numerous at the
New England District, the USA
section and the international
level. He chaired the Information
Technology Committee for many
years and helped guide the ICD’s
electronic communications and
web media efforts.
Paul Shamirian, D16P, writes
that his son, Paul R. Shamirian,
began his dental education at
Tufts in September 2012.
D83
Nancy H. Starr
writes that her
oldest son, Zachary, is in his
second year of dental school
Follow Tufts Dental alumni
facebook.com/tuftsdentalalumni
@tuftsdental
52 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p52-55.indd 52
4/29/13 10:12 AM
Dino Man
Stanley Alexander, D75A, was just 4 when his parents first
took him to a place known for its drama and majesty, the
American Museum of Natural History in New York City. On the
museum’s fourth floor, he stood amazed as he gazed at the
Tyrannosaurus skeleton. That instant the young Alexander
fell in love with dinosaurs—a passion that continues to this
day. In fact, he jokes, were it not for creature comforts, he
might have become a field paleontologist.
Alexander’s own children have met the museum dinosaurs,
including the skeleton of a long-necked Barosaurus rearing up
to protect its young from an Allosaurus, a predator with gnashing teeth and sharp claws, both holding court in the grand
entrance.
As professor and chair of pediatric dentistry at Tufts School
of Dental Medicine, Alexander has an office that is a dinosaur
fan’s treasure trove. Children on their way to be treated in the
pediatric dental clinic often wander in and play with one of his
fossils or dinosaur toys. Some he has collected himself; others
are gifts from patients, colleagues, family and friends.
The saber-tooth cat jaw on his desk is especially fearsome,
with its 11-inch pair of canines and rows of tiny, sharp teeth.
“They attacked mammals,” he notes, matter-of-factly, “and
ripped them apart.”
On the floor is a plaster footprint of a Dilophosaurus made
at Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill, Conn., which has 2,000
dinosaur tracks. Alexander lugged 50 pounds of material into
the park to make the cast. There are also dinosaur cartoons,
a Tyrannosaurus rex made out of leaded glass, a tie pin in
the shape of an Apatosaurus and fuzzy dice shaped like
a Triceratops. Even his business card has a picture of an
Allosaurus dashing to a dental appointment.
When Alexander taught orthodontics at Long Island’s Stony
Brook University, where he was a professor for 28 years, he had
his students participate in a scavenger hunt at the American
at the University of Maryland.
He plans to join his mother in
practice in Massachusetts when
he graduates.
D85
Fern E. SelesnickFrisch, took over
the dental office of Angelo G.
Boncore, D66, in January 2010,
and renamed it Marblehead
Dental.
PHOTO: ALONSO NICHOLS
32392p52-55.indd 53
D89
David J. Ward
received his associate fellowship in the American
Academy of Implant Dentistry
in 2011.
DG89
Lyon
Hamburg
has completed his 20th year
as the staff endodontist at
Children’s Hospital of Eastern
Children on their way to be treated in the pediatric dental
clinic often wander in and play with one of Stanley Alexander’s
fossils or dinosaur toys.
Museum of Natural History. After all, he says, the skulls, jaws
and teeth they had to search for are related to dentistry and
orthodontics. He has yet to assign his Massachusetts students
to a similar scavenger hunt, as the nearest place with fossils,
Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, doesn’t quite live
up to his beloved Manhattan institution.
He’s been teaching at Tufts for six years now, and sometimes wonders what would have happened had he taken a different path. During his own dental education at Tufts, he nearly
left to pursue a doctorate in paleontology, a field perhaps less
practical than the one he chose. What changed his mind? It
wasn’t just the lack of a comfortable bed and a hot shower.
“My parents talked me out of it,” he says.
—marjorie howard
Ontario. He also recently served
with the Dental Volunteers
for Israel in Jerusalem, which
provides free dental services to
impoverished Jewish, Christian
and Muslim children.
D91
Steven A. Brown
is serving as president of the Rhode Island Dental
Association for 2012–13.
Michelle M. Dorsey was
installed as president of the
Brevard County Dental Society
in Florida in September 2012.
Nishan A. Odabashian was
named president of the
California State Association
of Endodontists at its biannual meeting on Oct. 26, 2012.
Odabashian and his wife, Lilit,
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 5 3
4/29/13 10:12 AM
alumni news
have three children, Galia, 7;
Serge, 5; and Noah, 2. He practices restorative endodontics in
Glendale, Calif.
Peiman Mahdavi, see D98.
D95
Robert E. Lane
and his wife welcomed twins Jason Blake Lane
and Samantha Emily Lane on
August 20, 2012.
D94
D96
Di94
Di97
D98
Chris B.
Theodorou and
his wife announce the birth
of their second daughter,
Panagiota Basil Pandora, on
October 9, 2012.
Ejaz Ali, DI94,
A11P, D15P
and Femina Ali, DI97, A11P,
D15P, received a record amount
of donated Halloween candy
in response to the Wellesley
Dental Group’s fifth annual candy
drive to donate treats, accompanied by handwritten notes,
to troops serving overseas in
Iraq and Afghanistan. More than
20 schools and organizations
donated.
Finn T. Esrason
sold his practice
in Randolph, Mass., and is moving to Hawaii to be near his sons
and grandchildren.
Femina Ali, see
DI94.
John A. Pavlo,
A94, DG00,
has been practicing in his
hometown of Peabody,
Mass., with a satellite office
in Newburyport since 2000.
Married to Vickie, they have two
sons, Thanos and Yianno. Pavlo
is excited to take the reins from
fellow Tufts alumnus Peiman
Mahdavi, D91, DG94, as
president of the Massachusetts
Association of Orthodontists.
D03
Gina R. MarcusMelnick and
her husband, Ilan Melnick,
welcomed their second child,
Jordan Myles, on May 26,
2012. She has been appointed
director of the board of the
Sandy B. Muller Breast Cancer
Foundation.
D04
Charley Cheney
joined the
advisory board of The New
Dentist journal. Shortly after
graduating from Tufts, he was
deployed to Baghdad for a year
as a U.S. Army dentist. Since
then, he has completed a fouryear active-duty tour. He notes
that his tour in Iraq was an
excellent opportunity to obtain
experience.
D09
Whitney C.
Mitchell has
been working as an associate
with Morgan, Morgan & Morgan
D.D.S. in Jacksonville, N.C.
since October 2012. She was
expecting a second son in
January. He will join older brother
Wyatt Carter Mitchell.
Jane Saltman Osofsky and
her husband, Max Osofsky,
welcomed a girl, Eliza Osofsky,
on April 24, 2012.
D10
Katharine A.
Burton, see D79.
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM yOu. Send your Class Note information
to Susan Ahearn, Tufts Dental Alumni Relations, 1 Kneeland St.,
Floor 7, Boston, MA 02111 you can also email dental-alumni@tufts.
edu or fax 617.636.4052
Trav el To
T o exT r
raor
wi T h excepT ional p eop le
Travel
aor dinary places wiT
Adventures Above And beyond
From Peru to Provence, from
Myanmar to the Mediterranean,
our lineup features classic and
traditional to undiscovered and
r
Visit ou e
e to se
it
s
b
e
w
iting
the exc
2013
f
o
lineup
tions!
destina
emerging destinations, showcasing
our world’s natural beauty
and cultural diversity.
Join us!
Contact usha sellers, ed.d.,
director, at usha.sellers@tufts.edu
or 617-627-5323 for our catalog
Tuf
T
uf T s
Travel-learn
or specific brochure, or visit our
website for itineraries.
visit: www.tuftstravellearn.org
54 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 1 3
32392p52-55.indd 54
4/29/13 10:12 AM
obituaries
Norman Diamond, Longtime Faculty Member
Norman Diamond, D57, DG64, who was
on the faculty of Tufts School of Dental
Medicine for nearly half a century, died on
February 27 at the age of 80.
Diamond joined the Department of
Orthodontics in 1966 and retired as an
associate clinical professor in 2012. He
Norman Diamond
served in the U.S. Navy Dental Corps
from 1957 to 1959. A board-certified orthodontist, he held a
number of leadership roles at Tufts and in dental societies.
He was a former president of the Tufts Dental Alumni
Association and the Tufts Association of Orthodontists and
held offices in the Massachusetts Dental Society and the
Metropolitan District Dental Society, among others.
He is survived by his wife, Judith, three children, five grandchildren and a brother. Donations in his memory may be made
to the Department of Orthodontics, Tufts University School of
Dental Medicine, 1 Kneeland St. (DHS-11), Boston, MA 02111
or the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Grand
Central Station, P.O. Box 4777, New York, N.Y. 10163-4777.
IN MEMORIAM
Frederick M. Mansour, D58,
DG61, A75P, M90P
September 11, 2012
Lancaster, Massachusetts
Thomas F. Winkler III, A62, D66,
D10P, DG12P
October 20, 2012
Lexington, Massachusetts
Walter J. Leckowicz, D53,
D91P, D92P
October 28, 2012
Newington, Connecticut
Ronald E. Myers, D58
November 14, 2012
Otis, Massachusetts
Jeffrey I. Eisman, D68
January 7, 2013
Amherst, Massachusetts
Harold R. Ratchford, D53
November 7, 2012
Chicopee, Massachusetts
Morton J. Weyler, DG59
January 5, 2013
Woodbridge, Connecticut
Roger A. yurgelun, D68
November 11, 2012
Marshfield, Massachusetts
James Will, D53
November 28, 2012
Hingham, Massachusetts
Winthrop W. Harrington,
D60, J89P
October 8, 2012
Lincoln, Massachusetts
Daniel Goffred Jr., D70
September 16, 2012
Wolcott, Connecticut
G. Robert Carvelli, D43B
October 12, 2012
Waltham, Massachusetts
John R. Gould, D53
December 24, 2012
Holden, Massachusetts
Arnold H. Serow, D43B
January 12, 2013
Hamden, Connecticut
Frank X. Manganaro, D44
December 3, 2012
Woburn, Massachusetts
William J. Pendergast,
D44, DG81P
August 17, 2012
Marion, Massachusetts
Robert L. Kantor, D46
December 20, 2012
Longmeadow, Massachusetts
Robert J. Detamore, DG55
September 20, 2012
Carmel, Indiana
Arthur J. Seiler, D47
September 14, 2012
Barnegat, New Jersey
Paul R. DeLisle, D56
September 9, 2012
Leominster, Massachusetts
George V. Picard, D49
December 12, 2012
Cumberland, Rhode Island
Lewis Skeirik, D56, A76P,
D79P, J84P
January 9, 2013
Georgetown, Massachusetts
Kiva Skolnick, D62
August 4, 2012
Beverly, Massachusetts
Henry J. Heim, DG56
September 12, 2012
Bethesda, Maryland
Nicholas D. Procino, D63
November 9, 2012
Hollywood, Florida
Frederick A. Hickey, D52
November 9, 2012
Lowell, Massachusetts
John S. Miller, D52
August 12, 2012
Lowville, New York
Rene J. Leclerc, D60
November 5, 2012
West Springfield, Massachusetts
Dwane E. Brown, D72
October 8, 2012
Framingham, Massachusetts
Michael J. John, D74
October 18, 2012
Carlisle, Massachusetts
Roderick M. Goyette, D61
December 28, 2012
Barre, Vermont
Thomas F. Dorsey Jr., D77
September 19, 2012
North Weymouth, Massachusetts
Jitka M. Janicek, DI91,
DG92, DG08P
December 8, 2012
Sandwich, Massachusetts
Arthur R. Sergi Jr., D63, DG66
November 16, 2012
Duxbury, MA
s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 t u f t s d e n ta l m e d i c i n e 5 5
32392p52-55.indd 55
4/29/13 10:12 AM
Courses fill quiCkly!
register early!
For registration information and
course details, please contact us:
Online: dental.tufts.edu/ce
Email: Dentalce@tufts.edu
Phone: 617.636.6629
Fax: 617.636.0800
DiVisioN of CoNtiNuiNg eDuCatioN
tufts uNiVersity
sCHool of DeNtal MeDiCiNe
oNe kNeelaND street
BostoN, Ma 02111
continuing education
june 5
oc t ober 2
How to Take Your Direct Posterior
Restorations to the Next Level:
The Stress-reduced Protocol
Simone Deliperi, D.D.S.;
David N. Bardwell, D.M.D., M.S.
Esthetics & Gingival Concerns for
Anterior Implant Restorations
Arnold Weisgold, D.D.S., F.A.C.D.;
Paul A. Levi Jr., D.M.D.;
Eduardo Marcuschamer, D.D.S.
june 7
oc t ober 4
Eighth annual Head and Neck Cancer
Symposium: The Mouth and Beyond
Michael A. Kahn, D.D.S.; Scott Benjamin,
D.D.S.; J. Michael Hall, D.D.S.;
Nora Laver, M.D.; Adele Moreland, M.D.;
Richard O. Wein, M.D.; Sook-Bin Woo, D.M.D.
Maxillofacial Imaging Frontiers
and Applied Imaging
David C. Hatcher, D.D.S., M.Sc., M.R.C.D.
june 8
“When Can We Start?”
The Magic of Case Acceptance
Stan Michalski III, D.D.S.
nov embe r 1
Ultrasonic Instruments in Fixed
Prosthodontics: Their Use for
Anterior Tooth Preparation and
Nontraumatic Soft-tissue Retraction
Vincent Bennani, D.D.S.
nov embe r 2
sep t e mbe r 2 7– 2 8
Symposium on Oral Appliances in
Dental Sleep Medicine
Noshir R. Mehta, B.D.S.; D.M.D., M.D.S.,
M.S.; Leopoldo P. Correa, B.D.S., M.S.,
Noah Siegel, M.D.
32392p56.indd 46
Headache Consortium
of New England
Tufts University School of Dental
Medicine is an ADA CERPrecognized provider. Approval
dates: 11/11–12/15. ADA CERP
does not approve or endorse
individual courses or instructors,
nor does it imply acceptance
of credit hours by boards of
dentistry. Concerns or complaints
about a CE provider may be
directed to the provider or to
ADA CERP or ada.org/goto/cerp.
4/29/13 10:17 AM
SPORTS FOR SCHOLARSHIP
OPEN
WIDE O
PEN
Dental Alumni
Student Loan Fund
Can’t participate this year? Please consider
a $100 donation to help future students of
Tufts Dental and be listed as a tournament
sponsor in Tufts Dental Medicine magazine.
Please complete the registration form and
enclose your check, made payable to
Tufts University Dental Alumni Association,
and mail to:
Office of Alumni Relations
Tufts University
School of Dental Medicine
One Kneeland Street, 7th Floor
Boston, MA 02111
For more information:
Phone: 617.636.6773
Email: dental-alumni@tufts.edu
http://dental.tufts.edu/alumni
SPORTS FOR SCHOLARSHIP
OPEN
Join the Tufts University
Dental Alumni Association for the
31st Annual Wide Open
Golf & Tennis Tournament
Monday, September 23, 2013
Wellesley Country Club
300 Wellesley Avenue
Wellesley, Massachusetts
Tufts Dental alumni, faculty, family
and friends are invited to participate!
All proceeds benefit
the Dental Alumni Student
Loan Fund
Golf and Tennis Registration
9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Golf Tournament
11 a.m. shotgun start
Lunch included
Tennis Tournament
2 to 4 p.m.
Reception
4 p.m.
Awards Dinner
5 p.m.
Registration Fees
Golf Tournament
$375/player
$1,400/foursome if signed up together
Tennis Tournament
$200/player
Reception and Awards Dinner
$75 for guests and noncompetitors
2013 Wide Open Tournament
Registration Form
Name__________________________________________________
Graduation year or affiliation with Tufts Dental____________
Guest(s) name(s)_______________________________________
Address________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Daytime phone_________________________________________
Email__________________________________________________
My handicap is___________.
Cost includes lunch, tournament, reception and
awards dinner.
Golf Tournament
$375/player
$1,400/foursome if signed up together
My foursome will include:
2. ____________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________
4. ____________________________________________________
❒ Please check here if you would like to be placed
in a foursome.
Tennis Tournament
$200/player
Reception & Awards Dinner Only
$75 for guests and non-competitors
Payment:
_____ golfers
@$
375
each = $____________
_____ tennis
@$
200
each = $____________
_____ dinner only @ $
75
each = $____________
_____ I am unable to attend the 2013 WIDE OPEN,
but I’d be proud to be listed as a sponsor for my
$100 donation to the Student Loan Fund.
❒ My check for $__________ is enclosed.
❒ Please charge $__________ to my
❒ MasterCard
❒ VISA
❒ Discover
Card #_____________________________________ Exp._______
Billing Address:
Street __________________________________________________
City ______________________ State ______ Zip _____________
TOTAL ENCLOSED
$__________
Please mail this form and your check, payable to Tufts
University Dental Alumni Association, to Office of Alumni
Relations, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine,
One Kneeland Street, 7th Floor, Boston, MA 02111.
Registration confirmation and directions will be mailed
to you prior to the tournament.
School of Dental Medicine
NoNprofit org.
U.s. postage
136 Harrison Avenue
Boston, ma 02111
BostoN, ma
permit No. 1161
www.tufts.edu/dental
Like the other female students at Tufts’ dental
and medical schools in 1917, Erna Neumann,
front row, left, didn’t hew to a conventional path.
Getting her D.M.D. took pluck and courage.
For more on her story, turn to page 24.
32392_C1+C4.indd 4
TuFTs uNIvErsITy OFFIcE OF PuBlIcATIONs 8444 05/13
o pioneers!
pa id
5/2/13 10:14 AM