On December 20, GSDM held a faculty and staff meeting which provided many important updates on things happening at the Dental School. Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter started the afternoon meeting off by welcoming the audience and presenting Dental Radiology Technologist Mary Ellen Sholes with the Boston University Henry M. Goldman Award for Distinguished Service.

 

“Mary Ellen truly embodies the ideal of excellence that is fundamental to our Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine and she is most deserving of the Boston University Henry M. Goldman Award for Distinguished Service,” said Dean Hutter. “Her career at GSDM has spanned decades and we are truly fortunate to have benefitted from her expertise for so long. Mary Ellen supports and advances the mission of our School every day by ensuring that excellent patient care and dental education are delivered.”

 

Attendees also heard from Dr. Chris Shanahan, BUSM Department of Internal Medicine and Faculty Lead on the BU Profiles Initiative, on the new social networking tool led by CTSI called BU Profiles which will enable researchers to work together across disciplines with the goal being to take research from the bench to the bed (or bench to chair-side) quicker.

Next up were BUMC Director of Public Safety Constance Packard and Sargent Daniel Healy who spoke about public safety, reminded attendees about the alert system, and talked about when to call Public Safety at 414-4444—which is pretty much any time there is an emergency. “Ask a lot and expect a lot from BU police and Public Safety,” said Packard.

 

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Dr. Cataldo Leone shared some very positive statistics on retention and graduation rates, mean GPA, National Board Part 1 results, post-doctoral placements, and clinical instruction and course evaluation results among the pre-doctoral students. He said that many of these positive trends “speak volumes on the high quality of instruction in the pre-doctoral program.”

 

Clinical Administrative Manager for the AEGD Program and the Dental Health Center at 100 E. Newton Street Joann Beer gave a nice presentation, complete with a fashion show, on the new look that Patient Coordinators will be sporting early this year. 

 

Executive Director of Finance and Operations Tim McDonough and Associate Director for Facilities & Operations Andy Burke gave an overview of upcoming projects. The most noteworthy of which was access to the clinical areas of the Dental School, which beginning February 1, will be restricted to students, faculty, and staff with authorized BU “proxy” ID cards. If you currently have an older ID that requires you to “swipe” the card through a card reader device versus “touching” the card to the card reader then you will need to have your ID replaced. Please visit the Dental School Cafeteria either Thursday, January 12, or Friday, January 13, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. to receive your new “proxy” card. 

 

Dean Hutter wrapped things up with updates on the Applied Strategic Plan implementation process, accreditation, and facility master plan. He then wished everyone a happy holiday season and restful Intersession break and adjourned the meeting.

ASDA continued their tradition of making the holidays more joyful for Boston children in need by once again hosting their toy drive prior to Intersession. Assisting ASDA with the drive this year were students from the GSDM chapter of USSDA.

 

The groups collected 119 new, unwrapped toys, as well as $50, which they donated to the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots initiative. This is more than double the amount of donations that were collected last year.

On December 16, a group of ASDA and USSDA members brought the donations to a local collection site where they were happily received by members of the U.S. Marine Corps. The toys were then distributed throughout Boston during the holiday season.

 

“I am very proud of the students who organized this year’s toy drive,” said Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter. “Their hard work and generosity were rewarded with a record number of donations, and I know they made many local children happy this holiday season.”

GSDM students, faculty, and staff streamed into the Hiebert Lounge on the evening of December 14, to celebrate the holiday season with their colleagues, mentors, and friends.

 

Guests enjoyed live music performed by Scarlet Jazz Ensemble from the BU College of Fine Arts, a delicious assortment of food, and the opportunity to win great raffle prizes including gift certificates to local restaurants, a Kindle Fire, and an iPad 2. Prizes were claimed by students, faculty, and staff.

 

"Kathy and I had a wonderful time at the annual GSDM holiday party,” said Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter. “We were once again delighted to host our School community at this festive celebration. We hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season and well-deserved Intersession break."

 

Photos are available on facebook and flickr.

Shivali Gohel DMD 12 presented her Grand Rounds case titled, “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth,” on December 14, to a packed auditorium of students, faculty, and staff. The presentation focused on a 24 year-old female patient that she treated during her externship at Blackstone Valley Community Health Care from July 25 to September 30. Her preceptor was Dr. Lalita Bhatticharya.

 

Gohel’s patient was suffering from a case of aggressive periodontitis, which is very rare and affects only 2% of the African American population, 1% of the Hispanic population, and 0.1% of the Caucasian population. Gohel’s patient was Hispanic and likely had a genetic predisposition to aggressive periodontitis, as others in her family suffered from the same disease. 

 

Said moderator Dr. Carl McManama, “Shivali’s presentation has real value, as it is about a problem you don’t see very often as a general dentist. I’ve personally only seen one significant case of aggressive periodontitis, when I was a senior in dental school, and I haven’t seen another case since.”

 

The patient’s chief complaint was that she wanted her front teeth to look better. She was reluctant to smile and had been for some time. The patient was completely healthy except for the aggressive periodontitis—she had good oral hygiene, showed up regularly for appointments, and never had a cavity. However, as a result of the disease she suffered from severe bone loss and recession, impacted mandibular molars, anterior crowding, cross bite issues, and poor esthetics.

 

A very composed Gohel explained to the audience that her accepted treatment plan included diagnostic procedures, addressing the emergent problems, scaling and root planning on four quadrants, extractions of the effected teeth, immediate transitional partial dentures, and then cast partial dentures. Another treatment plan that she devised ended with placing implants instead of cast partial dentures. The patient selected the cast partial dentures plan based on concerns related to finance, time, and compliance.

 

“As a dental student I felt good about treating this patient, however I can’t say I felt great about extracting so many teeth from a 24-year-old,” said Gohel. “But the patient healed nicely and was smiling more after receiving the immediate partial dentures.”

 

The patient is currently saving up for her cast partial dentures and Gohel is cautiously confident that she will continue to comply with her accepted treatment plan and follow-up visits.

 

Aggressive periodontitis is rare and therefore not widely documented. As a topic for Grand Rounds it generated a great deal of discussion among the audience on the risk vs. reward of potentially placing implants in this patient, as well as the treatment of the disease itself. 

Patient Financial Services including Finance and the Division of Dental Records have relocated to the ground floor. Finance is located in room G-02 and Records is in G-16C. All related staff have moved to these locations with the exception of Cashier/Billing Assistant Isabel Canas, who remains on the fourth floor until February and Laboratory/Gold Coordinator Laila Irqsusi who will remain on the 6th floor.

 

The contact numbers for these offices remain the same. For the Records dial 84710 and for Finance dial 84705.

At a reception held on November 29, Chair of Periodontology & Oral Biology and Director of the Advanced Specialty Education Program in Periodontics Dr. Serge Dibart welcomed new students to the MSD, DSC, and PhD degree programs in Periodontology & Oral Biology. The reception was held at the BU Castle and recognized Mishali Alshareif, Vani Bhatnagar, Gabriel Blumenkranz, Vianca Cabrera, Drew Czernick, Jason Ehrenman, Lea El Hachem, Andres Jimenez Wolf, and Jess Liu of the MSD program; Abeer Alasmari and Mohammed Badri of the DSC program, and Debora Heller and Shiqian Shen of the PhD program.

 

The honored students hail from a variety of national and international universities and will be mentored by Drs. Dibart, Philip Trackman, Eva Helmerhorst, Erdjan Salih, Yoshiyuki Mochida, and Frank Oppenheim.

 

Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter started the night off with brief remarks and an introduction of Dr. Dibart. He said, “I wish you the best of success in your education here at the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine. During the next few years you will have the privilege of being taught and mentored by our excellent faculty, including Chair Dr. Serge Dibart, Director of Oral Biology Research Dr. Philip Trackman, Clinical Director of the Advanced Specialty Education Program in Periodontics Dr. Oreste Zanni, and the first Henry M. Goldman Distinguished Scientist Dr. Frank Oppenheim.”

 

Added Dr. Dibart, “It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the program of Periodontology & Oral Biology at the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine. You have been carefully selected from a pool of 122 worthy applicants. As your Chairman and Program Director, I can promise you a great education and a very exciting experience during the years that you will spend with us.”

 

Also at the event, Associate Dean for Advanced Education & International Programs Dr. Thomas Kilgore presented Clinical Assistant Professor Dr. Sandra Morin with the Faculty Teaching Award.

 

Photos are available on facebook and flickr.

GSDM volunteers got involved at D.W. Counts Down to Kindergarten, a 30 minute play with audience participation, held at Project Hope in Roxbury on November 16. Volunteers included Elizabeth Ponder DMD 13, Rakshith Arakotaran Ravikumar DMD 13, Sahar Abtahi DMD 12, CHP Oral Health Promotion Director Kathy Lituri and Pre-dental intern Devin McClintock.

 

This event was part of ongoing Count Down to Kindergarten/School Readiness Events held throughout the year in the Boston-area. Sponsored by Project Hope and Family Child Care Business Enterprise (FCCBE), the event was designed to prepare Boston area pre-kindergarten children and their families for kindergarten by enjoying the play and meeting vendors and representatives from local resources. The play was geared toward 3-5 year-old children and starred popular PBS children’s character D.W., younger sister of Arthur (the aardvark).

 

GSDM volunteers promoted oral health; engaged children in age-appropriate, interactive, dental-related activities; and provided dental screenings. Before and after the play families were able to visit vendor and partner tables to gather information and engage in health screenings.