26.10.2012 Views

2010 - UCSF School of Dentistry - University of California, San ...

2010 - UCSF School of Dentistry - University of California, San ...

2010 - UCSF School of Dentistry - University of California, San ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

<strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>California</strong>, <strong>San</strong> Francisco<br />

<strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong><br />

magazine<br />

Volume 5 / <strong>2010</strong><br />

CA N D O<br />

Tackles<br />

Tooth<br />

Decay<br />

ALSO INSIDE:<br />

Message from<br />

Dean John D.B.<br />

Featherstone<br />

Pre-Clinical<br />

Laboratory<br />

Dedicated<br />

Research<br />

Faculty<br />

Pr<strong>of</strong>iles<br />

New Associate<br />

Dean for<br />

Research<br />

Class<br />

<strong>of</strong> 1959<br />

Notes


<strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>California</strong>, <strong>San</strong> Francisco<br />

<strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong><br />

Editorial Advisory Board:<br />

John D.B. Featherstone<br />

Dean<br />

Susan Schultz<br />

Associate Dean for Administration and Finance<br />

Dorothy A. Perry<br />

Associate Dean for Education and Student Affairs<br />

Chris Ruetz<br />

Senior Director <strong>of</strong> Development and Alumni Relations<br />

Mission Statement<br />

The <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> seeks to improve<br />

public health through excellence in teaching,<br />

research, patient care and public service in<br />

the dental and crani<strong>of</strong>acial sciences. We foster<br />

an inspired environment where individuals<br />

identify themselves as scholars and realize<br />

their scholarship through service as clinicians,<br />

educators and scientists.<br />

The goal <strong>of</strong> the <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> Magazine is to<br />

advance the mission <strong>of</strong> the <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>.<br />

The magazine is published annually for the alumni,<br />

students, faculty, staff and friends <strong>of</strong> the <strong>UCSF</strong><br />

<strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>.<br />

The <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> Magazine is produced by:<br />

<strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong><br />

513 Parnassus Avenue, Room S-630<br />

<strong>San</strong> Francisco, CA 94143-0430<br />

Editor/Writer: David Hand<br />

Contributing Writers: Jeffrey Norris,<br />

Mary Sornborger Porteous<br />

Design: Laura Myers Design<br />

Photography: Elisabeth Fall, David Hand,<br />

Carmen Hipona<br />

© <strong>2010</strong> The Regents <strong>of</strong> the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>California</strong><br />

dentistry.ucsf.edu<br />

magazine<br />

VOLUME 5 / <strong>2010</strong><br />

news<br />

> DEAn’S CoUnCIL REACHES oUT FoR SUPPoRT / PAGE 2<br />

> CLASS STATS 2008 & 2009 / PAGE 2<br />

> MASTER’S In DEnTAL HYGIEnE UPDATE / PAGE 3<br />

> PRE-CLInICAL SIMULATIon LABoRAToRY DEDICATED / PAGE 3<br />

faculty pr<strong>of</strong>iles<br />

> STEFAn HABELITz — Investigating the secrets <strong>of</strong> enamel and dentin<br />

collaboratively at <strong>Dentistry</strong>’s Marshall Lab / PAGE 4<br />

> SUSAn HYDE — Engaging an interdisciplinary approach to making<br />

knowledge and care more broadly available / PAGE 6<br />

> oPHIR KLEIn — Seeking the role <strong>of</strong> oral stem cells in regenerative<br />

medicine and possible clinical applications / PAGE 8<br />

features<br />

CAn Do<br />

Jane Weintraub and the CAN DO team break new ground and win<br />

support in the cause <strong>of</strong> children’s oral health / PAGE 10<br />

new Associate Dean for Research<br />

Richard Jordan – from excellence in oral medicine to research<br />

leadership / PAGE 15<br />

alumni update<br />

> BEAR BASH 2009 / PAGE 16<br />

> SCIEnTIFIC SESSIonS / PAGE 16<br />

> CLASS noTES / PAGE 17<br />

> ALUMnI PRoFILES / PAGE 19<br />

> In MEMoRIAM / PAGE 20<br />

on THE CoVER: Kaitlin Jennison (Class <strong>of</strong> 2013) <strong>of</strong>fers child-<br />

friendly dental hygiene information during the Hayes Valley Fair at<br />

<strong>San</strong> Francisco’s John Muir Elementary <strong>School</strong>. (See story, page 10)


Message from the Dean<br />

Dear Alumni and<br />

Friends <strong>of</strong> the <strong>UCSF</strong><br />

<strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>:<br />

2009 was a year <strong>of</strong> challenge and<br />

transformation at the school, from<br />

which we’ve emerged strong –<br />

retaining our leadership and<br />

dedication to excellence in the<br />

teaching <strong>of</strong> clinical dentistry,<br />

research and patient care.<br />

With ideas and input from across the school<br />

community, we made tough decisions and worked<br />

together to significantly increase clinical and operational<br />

efficiency, and with outstanding support from generous<br />

donors we’ve moved forward on key projects,<br />

including the implementation <strong>of</strong> digital radiography,<br />

the ongoing renovation <strong>of</strong> patient reception areas,<br />

and the floor-up modernization and rededication <strong>of</strong><br />

the Fleming Pre-Clinical Simulation Laboratory,<br />

named for <strong>Dentistry</strong> Dean and <strong>UCSF</strong> Chancellor<br />

Willard C. Fleming, DDS ’23.<br />

At the gala dedication in November, we were<br />

honored by the presence <strong>of</strong> <strong>UCSF</strong>’s dynamic new<br />

chancellor, Sue Desmond-Hellmann, who has proven<br />

to be a great friend <strong>of</strong> the school and a powerful<br />

advocate for our mission.<br />

Look for the story <strong>of</strong> the new Fleming Lab in this<br />

magazine, along with an in-depth look at the widely<br />

applauded work <strong>of</strong> CAN DO, recognized in 2008 with<br />

a National Institutes <strong>of</strong> Health grant <strong>of</strong> more than<br />

$1.3 million; pr<strong>of</strong>iles <strong>of</strong> three members <strong>of</strong> our faculty<br />

who are redefining the frontiers <strong>of</strong> dentistry and<br />

oral-crani<strong>of</strong>acial science; and a pr<strong>of</strong>ile <strong>of</strong> our new<br />

associate dean for research, among other features.<br />

I’d like to invite you to stay in touch by visiting<br />

the school and our sites on the Web, including<br />

Facebook (facebook.com/ucsfdentistry) and Twitter<br />

(twitter.com/ucsfdentistry).<br />

As a new decade dawns, much exciting work and<br />

discovery await. Please join us!<br />

John D.B. Featherstone, MSc, PhD<br />

Dean, <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong><br />

Why We Give<br />

Continued from back cover<br />

“One who had a pr<strong>of</strong>ound effect<br />

on my pr<strong>of</strong>essional development was<br />

Dr. Perry Ratcliff, chair <strong>of</strong> the Division<br />

<strong>of</strong> Periodontology at the time,” he<br />

added, detailing efforts to establish<br />

an endowed chair<br />

in his name (see<br />

story, page 20).<br />

“It should become<br />

a goal to have<br />

an endowed<br />

chair for every<br />

faculty position.<br />

Those sorts <strong>of</strong><br />

tributes last.”<br />

In the Otago<br />

editorial, Armitage<br />

distilled his<br />

thoughts about giving into three<br />

focused objectives:<br />

“The culture<br />

<strong>of</strong> giving is<br />

now part <strong>of</strong><br />

our pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />

fabric<br />

as graduates<br />

from <strong>UCSF</strong>.”<br />

– Gary C. Armitage,<br />

DDS, MS<br />

n The majority <strong>of</strong> graduates should<br />

become donors.<br />

n Establish endowment funds for<br />

specific educational programs in the<br />

names <strong>of</strong> widely respected mentors<br />

and teachers.<br />

n Recruit and cultivate major donors<br />

in order to form the financial base for<br />

named distinguished pr<strong>of</strong>essorships<br />

and endowed chairs.<br />

“The culture <strong>of</strong> giving is now part<br />

<strong>of</strong> our pr<strong>of</strong>essional fabric as<br />

graduates from <strong>UCSF</strong>,” Armitage said.<br />

“We give because we firmly believe<br />

that it is essential for the future<br />

existence <strong>of</strong> the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>California</strong> as a first-rate institution <strong>of</strong><br />

higher learning. As <strong>University</strong><br />

graduates, it is our responsibility to<br />

support the schools we attended to<br />

make sure future generations have<br />

the same opportunities we had.<br />

“We have been recipients <strong>of</strong> the<br />

many benefits that come with a<br />

<strong>University</strong> education, and it is our<br />

obligation to pay back the system so<br />

it is still there for our grandchildren.<br />

The <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> cannot<br />

maintain its position as a premier<br />

institution without strong alumni<br />

support on a continuing basis.” n<br />

1


news<br />

Dean’s Council Reaches out for Support<br />

2<br />

In summer 2009, Dean<br />

Featherstone announced the<br />

formation <strong>of</strong> a new volunteer<br />

advisory board with the mission <strong>of</strong><br />

supporting the fundraising efforts<br />

<strong>of</strong> the <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>.<br />

The Dean’s Council, comprising<br />

community and industry leaders<br />

in addition to faculty, administration<br />

and alumni, assists in the identification,<br />

cultivation, solicitation and<br />

stewardship <strong>of</strong> individual, corporate<br />

and foundation donors who will<br />

financially support the projects<br />

and programs <strong>of</strong> the school.<br />

“I am pleased to have<br />

assembled such a dedicated<br />

team committed to raising the<br />

financial resources so urgently<br />

needed to support our school,”<br />

said Featherstone. “With the<br />

continued engagement <strong>of</strong> faithful<br />

alumni, faculty, grateful patients<br />

and friends, the <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>Dentistry</strong> will continue to maintain<br />

its ranking as one <strong>of</strong> the top<br />

dental schools in the nation.”<br />

Quarterly Dean’s Council<br />

gatherings have included serious<br />

conversation and strategic<br />

planning as well as fun social<br />

activities, including a champagne<br />

brunch at the dean’s residence,<br />

an alumni-hosted wine tasting<br />

and a reception at the dean’s<br />

Lake Tahoe home.<br />

Looking ahead, Featherstone<br />

welcomes the participation <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Class Stats: Graduating Seniors Surveyed<br />

CLASS oF 2008<br />

Postgraduate Studies Plans<br />

Advanced Education<br />

in General <strong>Dentistry</strong> 5<br />

Dental Public Health 1<br />

Endodontics 1<br />

General Practice Residency 13<br />

Oral & Maxill<strong>of</strong>acial Surgery 4<br />

Oral Pathology 0<br />

Oral Radiology 0<br />

Orthodontics 3<br />

Pediatric <strong>Dentistry</strong> 2<br />

Prosthodontics 0<br />

Other Graduate Program<br />

Not Listed 5<br />

None 59<br />

Postgraduate Practice Plans<br />

Solo private practice, full-time 17<br />

Solo private practice, part-time 3<br />

Group practice, full-time 48<br />

Group practice, part-time 10<br />

Not going into general<br />

dental practice at this time 13<br />

Source: <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> Educational Services<br />

Graduating DDS and IDP Seniors Survey<br />

CLASS oF 2009<br />

Postgraduate Studies Plans<br />

Advanced Education<br />

in General <strong>Dentistry</strong> 10<br />

Dental Public Health 0<br />

Endodontics 3<br />

General Practice Residency 12<br />

Oral & Maxill<strong>of</strong>acial Surgery 4<br />

Oral Pathology 0<br />

Oral Radiology 0<br />

Orthodontics 6<br />

Pediatric <strong>Dentistry</strong> 7<br />

Prosthodontics 0<br />

Other Graduate Program<br />

Not Listed 4<br />

None 53<br />

Postgraduate Practice Plans<br />

Solo private practice, full-time 13<br />

Solo private practice, part-time 1<br />

Group practice, full-time 45<br />

Group practice, part-time 11<br />

Not going into general<br />

dental practice at this time 23<br />

school’s extended family to help<br />

increase sources <strong>of</strong> new funding.<br />

“As dean, I am determined to<br />

maintain the relevance and<br />

academic significance <strong>of</strong> the<br />

<strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> degree,<br />

but I cannot do that alone,” he<br />

said. “We at <strong>UCSF</strong> are a proud<br />

family, and when opportunities are<br />

presented, families come together<br />

and lend a helping hand.”<br />

For more information about<br />

the Dean’s Council and to<br />

make a contribution to the <strong>UCSF</strong><br />

<strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>, contact<br />

Chris Ruetz, Senior Director,<br />

Development and Alumni<br />

Relations, at 415/476-3645 or<br />

cruetz@support.ucsf.edu. n<br />

Educational Debt Comparisons<br />

Average debt <strong>of</strong> dental students upon<br />

graduation (2008 graduates)<br />

$170,367<br />

All US<br />

Dental<br />

<strong>School</strong>s<br />

$142,671<br />

Public<br />

Dental<br />

<strong>School</strong>s<br />

$204,734<br />

Private<br />

Dental<br />

<strong>School</strong>s<br />

$139,390<br />

<strong>UCSF</strong><br />

<strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>Dentistry</strong><br />

Source: Graduating Seniors Survey,<br />

<strong>UCSF</strong> Office <strong>of</strong> Student Financial Aid;<br />

ADEA Survey <strong>of</strong> Dental <strong>School</strong> Seniors,<br />

2008 Graduating Class


Update: Master’s<br />

in Dental Hygiene<br />

Dean Featherstone and the <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>Dentistry</strong> are committed to including a<br />

Master’s Degree Program in Dental<br />

Hygiene on the <strong>UCSF</strong> campus.<br />

The <strong>UCSF</strong> Graduate Council approved<br />

the proposal for the Master’s Degree<br />

Program in Dental Hygiene, citing it as one<br />

<strong>of</strong> the best-developed curricula presented<br />

for a master’s program. The approval on<br />

March 7, 2008, was another successful<br />

stride among the many steps involved<br />

in the new program’s approval process.<br />

The <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> Faculty Council<br />

approved the Master’s Degree Program<br />

in Dental Hygiene proposal on October<br />

18, 2007, followed by the approval <strong>of</strong><br />

the Educational Policy Committee.<br />

Margaret Walsh, with<br />

the help <strong>of</strong> William Bird<br />

and Jane Weintraub, has<br />

devoted considerable time to<br />

surmounting each hurdle in<br />

the long approval process.<br />

The Master’s Degree<br />

Program in Dental Hygiene,<br />

self-funded through tuition<br />

Margaret<br />

Walsh<br />

fees, received approval from<br />

the Office <strong>of</strong> Budget and<br />

the Academic Senate at<br />

<strong>UCSF</strong>, and has now been<br />

approved by the systemwide Graduate<br />

Council. All that remains is the signature<br />

from the UC Office <strong>of</strong> the President.<br />

Committed to the preservation<br />

<strong>of</strong> the dental hygiene program, Dean<br />

Featherstone and the Faculty Council<br />

continue to bolster support for the<br />

master’s program.<br />

Hygienists interested in applying<br />

to the Master’s Degree Program in<br />

Dental Hygiene are encouraged to<br />

continue checking the <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>Dentistry</strong> website, or to contact communication<br />

liaison Mary Porteous at mary.<br />

porteous@comcast.net for program<br />

status and updates. n<br />

— Mary Sornborger Porteous, DH ’75<br />

Willard C. Fleming Pre-Clinical<br />

Simulation Laboratory Dedicated<br />

Located on the fourth floor <strong>of</strong> the Dental Clinics Building at<br />

707 Parnassus Ave., the pre-clinical simulation laboratory space<br />

has been a major part <strong>of</strong> the education <strong>of</strong> generations <strong>of</strong><br />

dental students since it opened in 1980. Over the intervening<br />

decades, the lab has been incrementally upgraded with the aim <strong>of</strong><br />

keeping the technology current and creating ever-more-realistic<br />

simulations <strong>of</strong> what students will face in working with real patients,<br />

beginning in their third year. But the<br />

2009 renovation <strong>of</strong> the lab, thanks<br />

to the overwhelming generosity <strong>of</strong><br />

alumni, including a single donor <strong>of</strong><br />

$1 million, was a floor-up redesign<br />

resulting in a completely new,<br />

state-<strong>of</strong>-the-art facility.<br />

The months-long renovation<br />

completes the third phase <strong>of</strong> a<br />

four-phase project, according to<br />

Department <strong>of</strong> Preventive and<br />

Restorative Dental Sciences Interim Read more about Willard C. Fleming at<br />

history.library.ucsf.edu/fleming.html.<br />

Chair William Bird, DDS, DPH, who<br />

oversaw the renovation. Bird described the new simulation<br />

environment as providing not only a more accurate approximation <strong>of</strong><br />

“the real mouth,” but also an enhanced ergonomic simulation –<br />

increasingly emphasized as an aspect <strong>of</strong> dental practice. The fourth<br />

phase <strong>of</strong> the project, for which planning is complete and funding is<br />

currently being organized, is the renovation <strong>of</strong> the smaller, adjacent<br />

support lab.<br />

The Willard C. Fleming Pre-Clinical Simulation Laboratory was<br />

formally dedicated on November 2, 2009, at a gala evening that<br />

included words from Bird, Dean Featherstone and <strong>UCSF</strong> Chancellor<br />

Susan Desmond-Hellmann, as well as recorded words from Fleming<br />

himself. Many <strong>of</strong> those present expressed the view that Fleming, who<br />

passed away in 1972, would have been honored to see his name<br />

attached to a facility so central to the training <strong>of</strong> <strong>UCSF</strong> dental<br />

students.<br />

Willard Corwin Fleming (pictured on computer screens above)<br />

was an influential presence on Parnassus Heights for decades: as a<br />

dental student at the UC College <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>, as it was then known,<br />

from 1918 to 1923; as a member <strong>of</strong> the faculty from 1924 to 1939;<br />

and as dean from 1939 until 1966, during which time the college<br />

became the <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>. Fleming was appointed<br />

chancellor <strong>of</strong> <strong>UCSF</strong> in 1966 and served through tumultuous years<br />

on campus until 1969. His leadership was widely applauded for his<br />

characteristic thoughtfulness, openness and academic innovations,<br />

including groundbreaking efforts to open paths to the health<br />

pr<strong>of</strong>essions for the socioeconomically disadvantaged.<br />

“He was beloved by students, staff, faculty, alumni,” says<br />

Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Emeritus Sol Silverman, DDS, a faculty member since 1954.<br />

“I thought the world <strong>of</strong> him.” n<br />

3


4<br />

faculty pr<strong>of</strong>ile > > > STEFAn HABELITz<br />

Nature’s Crowning Achievement<br />

Nature favors the fittest, and tooth<br />

enamel is one <strong>of</strong> evolution’s<br />

success stories. Dinosaurs and<br />

ancient sharks sported enamel on their<br />

big choppers eons ago, as have newly<br />

evolved creatures ever since. Treated<br />

right, enamel lasts a lifetime.<br />

“Enamel is the best crown material<br />

there is,” asserts German-born Stefan<br />

Habelitz, PhD, engineer and materials<br />

scientist. Habelitz ought to know. He<br />

worked on high-tech bio-ceramics for<br />

bone implants and tooth restorations<br />

for a decade before coming to <strong>UCSF</strong><br />

in 1999 to blaze a new research trail.<br />

Now he’s investigating enamel at the<br />

<strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>’s Marshall Lab,<br />

where researchers fruitfully focus on<br />

every facet <strong>of</strong> teeth, knowing they’re<br />

nothing to take for granted.<br />

When enamel breaks down due to<br />

tooth decay or trauma, dentists do an<br />

admirable job <strong>of</strong> patching things up<br />

with gold crowns and ceramic caps<br />

or composites. But no man-made<br />

material can compare to enamel,<br />

Habelitz says. Enamel is designed to<br />

crack at the sites <strong>of</strong> specific microstructures<br />

within it, and normally over<br />

time it does. But enamel rarely cracks<br />

all the way through or fails, as<br />

ceramics <strong>of</strong>ten do. And better than<br />

gold or composites, enamel remains<br />

integrally attached to the underlying<br />

dentin upon which it first forms.<br />

With the aid <strong>of</strong> state-<strong>of</strong>-the-art<br />

electron scanning, atomic force<br />

and optical microscopes, Habelitz<br />

at last is glimpsing the hidden secrets<br />

<strong>of</strong> enamel.<br />

Microscopic Engineers<br />

This crowning achievement is the<br />

work <strong>of</strong> a type <strong>of</strong> living cell called an<br />

ameloblast. Ameloblasts make a<br />

variety <strong>of</strong> specialized proteins that<br />

guide different steps in enamel<br />

production. Enamel buzzes with<br />

cellular and biochemical activity as it<br />

is being made, but within the finished<br />

product, cells, proteins and other<br />

signs <strong>of</strong> life have all but vanished.<br />

Enamel is the most mineralized<br />

substance in the body.<br />

Habelitz lectures on mineralized<br />

tissues, ceramics and composites to<br />

first-year dental students, as well as<br />

to postdoctoral fellows and to<br />

postgraduates training in prosthodontics,<br />

orthodontics and pediatric<br />

dentistry. The postgraduates joke<br />

with Habelitz about whether he soon<br />

Stefan Habelitz viewing an image <strong>of</strong> recombinant enamel matrix protein that self-assembled<br />

into nanometer-thin ribbons, as revealed by atomic force microscopy.<br />

will be growing replacement enamel<br />

in test tubes and driving them out<br />

<strong>of</strong> business.<br />

That’s not on the horizon in the<br />

near term, Habelitz concedes. Yet he<br />

aims to catch up with nature’s<br />

autopilot engineers, to steal a page<br />

from their blueprints and to match<br />

them with his own inventions.<br />

“If we can understand how<br />

proteins make enamels, we hope to<br />

be able to design our own proteins<br />

to make engineered structures,”<br />

he says. It may indeed be possible<br />

to grow enamel in vitro, or to grow<br />

new ceramic structures very precisely,<br />

at the smallest possible scale.<br />

“Well-defined nanostructures,”<br />

Habelitz calls them. Beyond dentistry,<br />

such materials could serve as longer<br />

lasting and better wearing surface<br />

coatings in a wide range <strong>of</strong> applications,<br />

including bone implants,<br />

bulletpro<strong>of</strong> materials and microcircuits,<br />

for example.<br />

With the Marshall Lab’s microscopes,<br />

Habelitz can see how enamel,<br />

like ceramic, is constructed from<br />

crystals. The crystals grow into fibers.<br />

Each fiber is about 50 nanometers<br />

across – 1,000 times finer than a


human hair. The fibers, in turn, are<br />

packed into rods, with many rods<br />

projecting from the underlying dentin<br />

to the tooth surface. These rows<br />

align into bundles, which bend into<br />

the shape <strong>of</strong> the tooth crown. It’s<br />

complicated, sophisticated and<br />

precisely controlled – a remarkable<br />

engineering feat accomplished by<br />

engineers the naked eye cannot see.<br />

Baby teeth left under the pillow<br />

for the tooth fairy might have a pearly<br />

shine, but enamel really is more<br />

similar in its crystalline regularity to<br />

the shells that enclose pearls. Enamel<br />

is composed <strong>of</strong> the mineral calcium<br />

phosphate, arranged in a crystal<br />

structure known as hydroxyapatite.<br />

Seashells are made from calcium<br />

carbonate. Both teeth and seashells<br />

are more complex than they might<br />

first appear. To Habelitz, these<br />

structures represent the pinnacle <strong>of</strong><br />

materials science in nature.<br />

“I was fascinated to learn that<br />

Mother Nature can organize and<br />

control the formation and crystallization<br />

<strong>of</strong> materials on a level that<br />

we cannot,” he says. “The research<br />

now is mainly aimed at understanding<br />

the principles <strong>of</strong> protein-guided<br />

growth <strong>of</strong> crystals.” Habelitz is<br />

singling out various proteins in<br />

enamel for closer study. The main<br />

protein present in enamel as it grows<br />

and mineralizes is called amelogenin.<br />

Already, Habelitz and his lab group<br />

have discovered that amelogenin<br />

makes protein sheets that slowly<br />

elongate and that may guide the<br />

growth <strong>of</strong> hydroxyapatite crystals.<br />

It’s a Blast!<br />

Habelitz also is looking at the<br />

structure and formation <strong>of</strong> dentin,<br />

the s<strong>of</strong>ter underlying material that<br />

supports the enamel tooth crown.<br />

“Dentin is another really fascinating<br />

tissue,” he enthuses.<br />

The biochemical events that give<br />

rise to dentin are better understood<br />

than those that contribute to enamel<br />

formation. Dentin also consists largely<br />

<strong>of</strong> hydroxyapatite, but dentin is more<br />

similar to bone in that it contains the<br />

structural protein collagen and other<br />

organic materials. Compared with<br />

enamel, dentin is more amenable to<br />

study in humans because the cells<br />

that give rise to dentin – called<br />

odontoblasts – are long-lived, unlike<br />

ameloblasts, which disappear once<br />

tooth formation is complete.<br />

Still, the more heterogeneous<br />

structure <strong>of</strong> dentin and the cellular<br />

arrangements that give rise to new<br />

dentin within the tooth pulp are<br />

extraordinarily complex, Habelitz<br />

notes. Many mysteries remain,<br />

despite decades <strong>of</strong> study.<br />

In an effort to grow dentin in<br />

vitro, Habelitz has partnered with<br />

Tejal Desai, PhD, a bioengineer<br />

with the <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> Medicine. They<br />

are not simply mixing the right<br />

chemicals in a test tube. They are<br />

working with living cells, positioning<br />

odontoblasts on a microscopic<br />

scaffolding, or matrix. The goal is to<br />

re-create the structure <strong>of</strong> newly<br />

formed dentin by mimicking the<br />

natural configuration <strong>of</strong> odontoblasts<br />

and the structures to which they<br />

give rise within the tooth pulp.<br />

A major focus is on the crucial<br />

interface between odontoblasts and<br />

ameloblasts – the junction where<br />

dentin and enamel normally meet and<br />

become tightly bound to each other.<br />

The ultimate goal is to grow an entire<br />

tooth, de novo.<br />

“I think the engineering mind is<br />

strong in me,” Habelitz says. “I want<br />

to produce or create something. But I<br />

also have a fascination about science,<br />

and how things actually work in<br />

living systems. I really enjoy bringing<br />

the two together – to understand the<br />

science and then to apply it.<br />

“It’s a very collaborative<br />

environment at <strong>UCSF</strong>, and that’s<br />

very important to me,” he says. “It’s<br />

impossible to do this kind <strong>of</strong> research<br />

by yourself. You need to develop<br />

many collaborations, and you need<br />

input from different angles – biology,<br />

engineering, chemistry. We have all<br />

<strong>of</strong> that here.” n<br />

5


6<br />

faculty pr<strong>of</strong>ile > > > SUSAn HYDE<br />

Oral Health for a Lifetime<br />

“<br />

I<br />

have a passion for quality <strong>of</strong> life,”<br />

says Susan Hyde, DDS, MPH, PhD,<br />

an award-winning teacher and<br />

population scientist. Hyde knows<br />

firsthand how seemingly small health<br />

issues can become disabling over<br />

time, threatening life quality. In all her<br />

career endeavors, she promotes<br />

practices that preserve oral health<br />

and quality <strong>of</strong> life – not only for<br />

patients, but for practitioners as well.<br />

Hyde has a special interest in<br />

populations that are underserved,<br />

including minority children and the<br />

homebound elderly. Her research on<br />

health practices that prevent cavities<br />

confirms that these groups fare<br />

poorly; her research also probes for<br />

reasons and remedies.<br />

When Hyde, born and raised in<br />

Canada, first came to the United<br />

States as a recent college graduate,<br />

she found satisfying employment in<br />

cancer research. Yet she had always<br />

wanted to be a dentist. Her father<br />

was a pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> dentistry at the<br />

<strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> British Columbia, and<br />

Hyde got a taste for private dental<br />

practice while working as his <strong>of</strong>fice<br />

assistant. When she decided to stay<br />

in the United States, she enrolled in<br />

dental school at <strong>UCSF</strong>. Upon graduation,<br />

Hyde made a smooth and<br />

happy transition into private practice.<br />

Then she hit a roadblock. “My<br />

body ergonomics were not well<br />

suited to it,” she says, “and I became<br />

disabled after only four years.”<br />

Hyde soon came to see this setback<br />

as an opportunity to return to<br />

research, this time from a public<br />

health perspective, while remaining<br />

connected to dentistry.<br />

Individuals to<br />

Populations<br />

She earned a doctoral degree in<br />

epidemiology at UC Berkeley,<br />

completing original research as part<br />

<strong>of</strong> a US Department <strong>of</strong> Health and<br />

Human Services program. Hyde<br />

worked with welfare recipients, who<br />

<strong>of</strong>ten have oral health problems that<br />

affect appearance and quality <strong>of</strong> life,<br />

as well as limited resources for<br />

obtaining dental care.<br />

Hyde developed new survey and<br />

clinical data, and found that oral<br />

health and use <strong>of</strong> dental care services<br />

were positively associated with the<br />

likelihood that study participants<br />

From left: Susan Hyde (right) with Shauna Woody (Class <strong>of</strong> 2012) and Shirin Mullen (Class <strong>of</strong> 2011) at the Hayes Valley Fair;<br />

learning to thread floss with Dan Nguyen (Class <strong>of</strong> 2012).<br />

would obtain employment. People<br />

who actually used the dental services<br />

provided through the program were<br />

more successful in obtaining work,<br />

she found.<br />

Hyde then completed a fellowship<br />

in geriatric dentistry at the <strong>San</strong><br />

Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical<br />

Center, and joined the Department <strong>of</strong><br />

Preventive and Restorative Dental<br />

Sciences in the <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>Dentistry</strong> in 2005. She soon signed<br />

on with the Center to Address<br />

Disparities in Children’s Oral Health<br />

(CAN DO) project that sought to<br />

prevent early childhood tooth decay,<br />

which is on the rise and is worse<br />

among minority and low-income<br />

populations (see page 10).<br />

In a study she co-led with <strong>School</strong><br />

<strong>of</strong> Medicine researcher Sally Adams,<br />

RN, PhD, Hyde informed and<br />

surveyed Hispanic and African<br />

American mothers in <strong>San</strong> Francisco<br />

about preventive treatments. The<br />

treatments included three that were<br />

targeted to children: brushing with<br />

fluoride toothpaste, application <strong>of</strong><br />

fluoride varnish and having a child<br />

eat foods that contain caries-fighting<br />

xylitol sugar.


However, the bacteria that colonize<br />

the mouth and cause caries are<br />

frequently transmitted from parent<br />

to <strong>of</strong>fspring, so two additional<br />

treatments were targeted to mothers:<br />

use <strong>of</strong> antimicrobial chlorhexidine<br />

rinse and chewing xylitol gum.<br />

“For the Hispanic population,<br />

fluoride varnish and brushing with<br />

fluoridated toothpaste ranked highest,”<br />

Hyde reports. “They perceived<br />

fluoride varnish to be very effective<br />

and perceived brushing to positively<br />

promote lifelong healthy habits.”<br />

African Americans in the study<br />

similarly valued toothbrushing, but<br />

were more likely to express concerns<br />

about other treatments. “If we were to<br />

stage an intervention with African<br />

Americans at the community level, we<br />

would want to target respected elders<br />

and spokespeople who could vouch<br />

for the safety and efficacy <strong>of</strong> these<br />

treatments.”<br />

In another CAN DO-related project,<br />

Hyde, working with <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>Dentistry</strong> colleague Jane Weintraub,<br />

DDS, MPH, has been evaluating oral<br />

health-related quality <strong>of</strong> life among<br />

agricultural workers and their families<br />

in Mendota, <strong>California</strong>, a Hispanic<br />

community. The researchers found<br />

that workers who were the least<br />

acculturated and those with the lowest<br />

wages had the worst oral health, and<br />

that oral health problems that arise in<br />

early childhood continue to have an<br />

impact later in life.<br />

Public health measures to improve<br />

oral health might include making<br />

dental treatment available at federally<br />

qualified health centers, or improving<br />

the acceptance and availability <strong>of</strong><br />

fluoridated water, Hyde suggests.<br />

Interpr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />

Education<br />

“I love CAN DO because it is so<br />

interdisciplinary,” Hyde says. At<br />

<strong>UCSF</strong>, she advocates the same<br />

interdisciplinary collaborations that<br />

mark her own research. She is an<br />

active organizer <strong>of</strong> interpr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />

education initiatives, including classes<br />

open to students and faculty from<br />

all four <strong>of</strong> <strong>UCSF</strong>’s pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />

schools. For example, Hyde, who<br />

remains committed to research on<br />

oral health and quality <strong>of</strong> life across<br />

the life span, recently organized an<br />

interdisciplinary “training <strong>of</strong> trainers”<br />

program called “Oral Health and<br />

Aging: Focus on Long-Term Care.”<br />

“No matter what your practice is,<br />

patients – especially older patients –<br />

don’t usually have health issues<br />

pertaining only to one organ system,”<br />

Hyde says. “We’re not just mechanics<br />

for the mouth. Oral health is intimately<br />

tied to systemic health.”<br />

A dentist might be the first to<br />

observe that a middle-aged patient<br />

has diabetes symptoms, for instance,<br />

and in the first years <strong>of</strong> life, a<br />

pediatrician may be the first to observe<br />

early tooth decay.<br />

In recognition <strong>of</strong> her exceptional<br />

and innovative teaching, Hyde has<br />

received the Dugoni Faculty Award<br />

from the <strong>California</strong> Dental Association,<br />

an Excellence in Teaching Award from<br />

the <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> and a Junior<br />

Faculty Award from the American<br />

Dental Education Association.<br />

“Ergonomics is a big issue in<br />

dentistry,” she says. “Dentists are<br />

perfectionists by training or personality.<br />

But you have to use the mirrors and<br />

develop your indirect vision because it<br />

will serve you in the long run. Dentists<br />

also must learn to take breaks and to<br />

work effectively with assistants.” n<br />

7


8<br />

faculty pr<strong>of</strong>ile > > > oPHIR KLEIn<br />

Teeth Star in Stem Cell Studies<br />

By the time kids begin school,<br />

most have learned that if they<br />

lose any <strong>of</strong> their new, permanent<br />

teeth, those teeth will be lost<br />

forever. But did you know that some<br />

mammals – mice, for instance –<br />

have teeth that grow continuously?<br />

In Greek mythology, sowing the<br />

teeth <strong>of</strong> a fierce dragon caused<br />

fully armed warriors to spring forth<br />

and fight. Today, it’s no myth to say<br />

that studies <strong>of</strong> the much meeker<br />

mouse might guide researchers to<br />

a more constructive harvest that<br />

benefits humans.<br />

Lessons learned about where,<br />

when and how teeth grow throughout<br />

life in mice may lead to strategies for<br />

regrowing teeth and treating or<br />

preventing human developmental<br />

anomalies that impact the face and<br />

dentition. These crani<strong>of</strong>acial<br />

anomalies, the best known <strong>of</strong> which<br />

are cleft lip and palate, are among the<br />

most common <strong>of</strong> all birth defects.<br />

Teeth recently have earned a starring<br />

role in the field <strong>of</strong> regenerative<br />

medicine, and at <strong>UCSF</strong>, Ophir Klein,<br />

MD, PhD, is a leading light. His lab is<br />

a beacon for promising postdoctoral<br />

fellows and graduate students who<br />

want to explore how stem cells gener-<br />

ate new teeth and how development<br />

goes awry in crani<strong>of</strong>acial disorders.<br />

Klein recently received a major<br />

grant from the <strong>California</strong> Institute for<br />

Regenerative Medicine. This $3 million<br />

state grant funds a research proposal,<br />

entitled “Laying the Groundwork for<br />

Building a Tooth: Analysis <strong>of</strong> Dental<br />

Epithelial Stem Cells.”<br />

Humans and animals possess very<br />

small, self-renewing populations <strong>of</strong><br />

stem cells. These vary in potential and<br />

potency, depending on the developmental<br />

stage. At one extreme are<br />

embryonic stem cells, which are only<br />

obtainable at a certain time, a few cell<br />

divisions after fertilization. These cells<br />

can give rise to virtually any cell type<br />

in the body. Other stem cells are<br />

organ- or tissue-specific. Stem cells<br />

are rare. The vast majority <strong>of</strong> our cells<br />

are specialized and mature, and have<br />

no stem cell capabilities whatsoever.<br />

“We are not yet sure if these<br />

particular stem cells in mice also exist<br />

in humans,” Klein says. “There are<br />

reasons to think that some <strong>of</strong> them<br />

might. But what we really want to<br />

understand are the mechanisms by<br />

which stem cells can contribute to<br />

dental renewal.”<br />

This past August, Klein became<br />

the director <strong>of</strong> the Crani<strong>of</strong>acial and<br />

Mesenchymal Biology (CMB) program<br />

at <strong>UCSF</strong>. “CMB is a relatively new<br />

program that we are trying to build,”<br />

Klein says. “Our goal is to have a<br />

translational program that spans basic<br />

research similar to my own and that<br />

extends to clinical work.<br />

“Probably half the basic researchers<br />

in my lab are focused on trying to<br />

understand the genes and cellular<br />

behaviors that underlie the continuous<br />

growth <strong>of</strong> the incisor in the mouse,”<br />

he says. “The rest investigate the role<br />

<strong>of</strong> different growth factor signaling<br />

pathways in the development <strong>of</strong><br />

structures within the embryo.”<br />

Klein wants to use stem cells to<br />

grow new teeth. He views teeth as a<br />

convenient starting point and proving<br />

ground for all <strong>of</strong> regenerative<br />

medicine. Teeth and the oral cavity<br />

are very accessible in comparison<br />

with the large, vital organs; yet what<br />

Klein learns about teeth is bound to<br />

apply to growing these other tissues.<br />

“There are a lot <strong>of</strong> sophisticated<br />

aspects <strong>of</strong> tooth function,” he says,<br />

“but you might not have to form a<br />

tooth as perfectly as a heart or kidney<br />

in order for it to function adequately.”<br />

Still, growing teeth is an ambitious<br />

Ophir Klein consulting with Kerstin Seidel, PhD.


project. Klein is optimistic about<br />

success, but it will require many years<br />

to achieve, he says.<br />

Late Bloomer<br />

Given his credentials and relatively<br />

young age, it’s odd to hear Klein<br />

describe himself as a late bloomer.<br />

But the Bay Area native initially<br />

shunned the career path advocated<br />

by his father, who was trained as a<br />

scientist. However, even though Klein<br />

earned his degree at UC Berkeley in<br />

Spanish, an introductory chemistry<br />

course led to an interest in biochemistry<br />

and eventually to a job in the<br />

UC Berkeley lab <strong>of</strong> Daniel Koshland<br />

Jr., PhD, a pr<strong>of</strong>essor and luminary in<br />

the field.<br />

That experience, in turn, led Klein to<br />

Yale <strong>University</strong>, where he completed a<br />

combined MD-PhD program and then<br />

a residency in pediatrics. He came to<br />

<strong>UCSF</strong> for a postdoctoral fellowship<br />

with developmental biologist Gail<br />

Martin, PhD, and for training in medical<br />

genetics, and before long was viewed<br />

as a promising faculty candidate.<br />

Today, Klein is an assistant<br />

pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> or<strong>of</strong>acial sciences and<br />

pediatrics, with a primary appointment<br />

in the <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> and a<br />

secondary appointment in the <strong>School</strong><br />

<strong>of</strong> Medicine. He is also a member <strong>of</strong><br />

the Institute for Human Genetics and<br />

the Eli and Edythe Broad Center <strong>of</strong><br />

Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell<br />

Research at <strong>UCSF</strong>.<br />

Much <strong>of</strong> Klein’s clinical practice<br />

as a medical geneticist is based<br />

at the <strong>UCSF</strong> Center for Crani<strong>of</strong>acial<br />

Anomalies, where he handles<br />

diagnostics, risk counseling and case<br />

management as part <strong>of</strong> a medical<br />

team that also includes plastic<br />

surgeons, orthodontists, pediatricians,<br />

pediatric dentists, pediatric<br />

neurosurgeons, dermatologists,<br />

otolaryngologists, speech pathologists,<br />

nurses and social workers.<br />

Many medical students, dental<br />

students, and doctors and dentists<br />

Mouse embryos prepared for dissection.<br />

training for specialties spend time at<br />

the Center for Crani<strong>of</strong>acial Anomalies,<br />

and Klein has an opportunity to<br />

share ideas with many colleagues<br />

and students. “People in the clinic<br />

are fantastic at providing patient care,<br />

but they may not always have the<br />

inclination to think <strong>of</strong> ways to integrate<br />

basic science into clinical practice,”<br />

he says. “I think people who<br />

do research can add value to clinical<br />

medicine when they inject underlying<br />

ideas about biological mechanisms<br />

into diagnosis and therapy.”<br />

Klein leads clinical as well as<br />

basic research. “We are trying both<br />

to understand tooth and crani<strong>of</strong>acial<br />

malformations in a variety <strong>of</strong><br />

syndromes, and to look for the<br />

genes responsible for isolated tooth<br />

malformations in humans,” he says.<br />

Many patients’ parents are more than<br />

happy to have Klein and his research<br />

team learn more about the conditions<br />

affecting their young children.<br />

“If you happen to be a physician<br />

interested in crani<strong>of</strong>acial anomalies,<br />

and you’re lucky enough to be at a<br />

place that has both a great dental<br />

school and a great medical school,<br />

then it’s a perfect job,” he says. “I<br />

feel really happy to be a part <strong>of</strong> the<br />

<strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>. I believe they<br />

really understand what I am interested<br />

in, and they have been really<br />

supportive.” n<br />

9


10<br />

feature > > > CEnTER To ADDRESS DISPARITIES In CHILDREn’S oRAL HEALTH<br />

CAN DO<br />

Counters Early Childhood Caries Trend<br />

With advances in dental<br />

practice, kids today are<br />

getting fewer cavities, right?<br />

Not true, unfortunately. Tooth decay<br />

among the youngest children is on the<br />

rise, according to the US Centers for<br />

Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).<br />

Poor and minority populations have<br />

been burdened disproportionately.<br />

CDC data collected from 1999 to 2004<br />

reveal that 42 percent <strong>of</strong> Mexican<br />

American and 32 percent <strong>of</strong> African<br />

American children ages 2 to 5 have<br />

decayed or filled teeth, compared<br />

with 24 percent <strong>of</strong> white children.<br />

Limited access to dental care, lack <strong>of</strong><br />

knowledge and even cultural norms<br />

in certain disadvantaged populations<br />

may contribute to these disparities.<br />

With an expanding network <strong>of</strong><br />

colleagues in <strong>California</strong> and beyond,<br />

<strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> researchers,<br />

led by public health dentist Jane<br />

Weintraub, DDS, MPH, are guiding<br />

efforts to counter the trend through<br />

research and innovation. A major<br />

aim <strong>of</strong> the group, organized as the<br />

Center to Address Disparities in<br />

Children’s Oral Health (CAN DO),<br />

is to identify and evaluate additional<br />

preventive strategies and the best<br />

means for making these treatments<br />

available to the disadvantaged who<br />

need them most.<br />

The first series <strong>of</strong> CAN DO studies,<br />

which demonstrated successful<br />

interventions to prevent and lessen<br />

the impact <strong>of</strong> tooth decay, already<br />

has led to large-scale dental public<br />

health policy changes in <strong>California</strong><br />

and across the country. The second<br />

round <strong>of</strong> studies has just begun.<br />

Last fall, the <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong><br />

received $24.4 million in new funding<br />

for CAN DO from the National Institute<br />

<strong>of</strong> Dental and Crani<strong>of</strong>acial Research<br />

(NIDCR), the largest grant in the<br />

school’s history. CAN DO began in<br />

2001, and the new grant is projected<br />

to fund research through 2015.<br />

CAN DO started with a few<br />

researchers and now includes dozens.<br />

“We’re not just dentists and oral<br />

health experts,” Weintraub says.<br />

“We have many kinds <strong>of</strong> expertise,<br />

and studies range from basic<br />

research to clinical and behavioral


public health interventions. We’re<br />

trying to be a resource for the<br />

state – and for the whole country.”<br />

Primary Teeth Are <strong>of</strong><br />

Primary Importance<br />

In the same way that being “just a<br />

baby” may excuse a tot’s incon-<br />

venient behaviors, soon to be<br />

outgrown, parents may think <strong>of</strong><br />

primary teeth as “just baby teeth”<br />

– similarly transient and not worth<br />

worrying about. But nothing could<br />

be further from the truth. Although<br />

primary teeth are meant to be lost,<br />

it is still important to avoid making<br />

them a home for tooth decay. One<br />

reason is that young children afflicted<br />

with tooth decay in primary teeth are<br />

more likely to develop cavities in<br />

permanent teeth as they grow older.<br />

“The biggest risk factor for future<br />

tooth decay is prior tooth decay,”<br />

Weintraub says.<br />

It’s not sweets alone that cause<br />

cavities. The process <strong>of</strong> tooth decay,<br />

called caries, is driven by certain<br />

bacteria species that thrive on some<br />

<strong>of</strong> the carbohydrates in our diets,<br />

and we all know how food can stick<br />

to teeth. But not everyone knows<br />

that bacteria cause cavities, and<br />

even those who do may be unaware<br />

that the bacteria are infectious,<br />

spreading from parent to child or<br />

from child to child.<br />

“An infection anywhere in the body<br />

is not good, and dental caries is an<br />

infection that has implications far<br />

beyond the mouth,” Weintraub says.<br />

The disease can result in deterioration<br />

<strong>of</strong> not only teeth, but quality <strong>of</strong> life for<br />

both children and their parents, in<br />

many ways and for years to come.<br />

Advanced dental caries can lead to<br />

painful toothaches. Premature loss <strong>of</strong><br />

primary teeth to decay can result in<br />

misaligned secondary teeth. Afflicted<br />

children may find it more difficult to<br />

eat, to concentrate and learn, to<br />

sleep, and to develop language skills.<br />

Self-esteem may suffer.<br />

“A toothache that is not treated is<br />

an infection that can spread,”<br />

Weintraub says. It can spread not only<br />

from person to person and from<br />

primary teeth to secondary teeth,<br />

but also beyond the mouth. In a case<br />

that made news headlines in 2007,<br />

a Maryland boy died because cariescausing<br />

bacteria from his untreated<br />

tooth decay caused an abscess that<br />

spread to his brain.<br />

Mom and Dad may unknowingly<br />

spread infection. “Parents should not<br />

do some <strong>of</strong> the things they might be<br />

doing routinely, like cleaning a baby’s<br />

pacifier in the mouth and returning it<br />

to the baby’s mouth, or sharing eating<br />

utensils,” Weintraub says.<br />

As soon as teeth erupt, usually by<br />

age 1, they are susceptible to dental<br />

caries, <strong>of</strong>ten called baby bottle tooth<br />

decay. A sugary baby bottle drink may<br />

help keep an infant calm and quiet for<br />

hours on end, but it also is a major<br />

contributor to tooth decay. Public<br />

health agencies now favor the term<br />

early childhood caries (ECC). ECC is<br />

by far the most common chronic<br />

disease condition <strong>of</strong> early childhood,<br />

five times more common than asthma,<br />

the runner-up.<br />

Given how quickly ECC can take<br />

hold, it’s no surprise that the<br />

American Dental Association (ADA)<br />

recently shifted the recommended<br />

age for a child’s first dental exam<br />

to 1 year instead <strong>of</strong> 3 years. But<br />

many health care providers remain<br />

unaware <strong>of</strong> the revised recommendation,<br />

Weintraub says. In addition,<br />

in rural areas especially, finding a<br />

dentist to treat young children may<br />

not be easy. CAN DO researchers<br />

are exploring alternative strategies to<br />

provide preventive dental care for<br />

young children.<br />

Fluoride Varnish<br />

Weintraub initially teamed up with<br />

fellow <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> faculty<br />

members Stuart Gansky, DrPH, a<br />

biostatistician, and Francisco Ramos-<br />

Gomez, DDS, MPH, a pediatric dentist<br />

who grew alarmed after seeing a<br />

steady stream <strong>of</strong> kids with cavities at<br />

the <strong>UCSF</strong>-run family dental clinic at<br />

<strong>San</strong> Francisco General Hospital<br />

(SFGH).<br />

“Early childhood caries is<br />

preventable, and I felt strongly that<br />

we needed to do something about it,”<br />

Ramos-Gomez says. “We needed to<br />

move away from being reactive – to<br />

rely less on treatment and acute<br />

care and to move toward effective<br />

preventive strategies.”<br />

Ramos-Gomez proposed<br />

counseling parents and using an<br />

inexpensive, easy-to-brush-on<br />

varnish containing a 5 percent sodium<br />

fluoride resin on their children’s<br />

teeth to strengthen tooth enamel.<br />

While the treatment was <strong>of</strong>ten used<br />

in Europe and had been tested on<br />

older children with permanent teeth,<br />

its value had not been established<br />

for protecting primary teeth,<br />

Ramos-Gomez recounts.<br />

Ramos-Gomez, Weintraub and<br />

Gansky conducted their groundbreaking<br />

study on primary teeth in<br />

376 children averaging just under<br />

2 years old when first enrolled in the<br />

study. The children, seen at SFGH and<br />

at the <strong>San</strong> Francisco Department <strong>of</strong><br />

Public Health’s Chinatown Health<br />

Center, were mostly low-income and<br />

Chinese or Hispanic. Parents were<br />

counseled on preventing tooth decay,<br />

and children were randomly assigned<br />

to receive fluoride varnish once or<br />

twice a year, or not at all.<br />

With two years <strong>of</strong> follow-up, the<br />

result was clear. Children randomly<br />

assigned to receive varnish twice<br />

yearly were nearly four times less likely<br />

to develop tooth decay, compared with<br />

untreated children, and children who<br />

received varnish once yearly were half<br />

as likely as untreated children to<br />

develop tooth decay.<br />

The published results had great<br />

impact. For children up to age 6,<br />

Denti-Cal, the <strong>California</strong> Medicaid<br />

11


12<br />

program, began to cover fluoride<br />

varnish application – reimbursing<br />

not only dentists, but also physicians<br />

as well as trained personnel in their<br />

medical practices. Nationally, the<br />

ADA now recommends the varnish<br />

for the youngest children at high<br />

risk <strong>of</strong> developing ECC.<br />

Costly Lack <strong>of</strong><br />

Knowledge<br />

During the first phase <strong>of</strong> CAN DO<br />

research, investigators also began<br />

exploring why disadvantaged kids<br />

were so prone to cavities.<br />

Judith Barker, PhD, a medical<br />

anthropologist in the <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

Medicine and CAN DO associate<br />

director, led an ethnographic study<br />

in Mendota, a rural, largely Hispanic<br />

farm town in <strong>California</strong>’s Central<br />

Valley, and in an ethnically similar,<br />

low-income neighborhood in urban<br />

<strong>San</strong> Jose. One <strong>of</strong> the researchers<br />

lived in Mendota for nine months,<br />

establishing relationships in the<br />

community. The researchers hired<br />

local residents as interviewers<br />

and sometimes even provided<br />

transportation to clinics. Mothers<br />

were more accessible, as fathers<br />

<strong>of</strong>ten were at work.<br />

Study results point to a need for<br />

better oral health education, for<br />

better prevention practices and for<br />

better access to care, Barker says.<br />

“We found that a majority <strong>of</strong> mothers<br />

had a poor understanding <strong>of</strong> the<br />

mechanisms that drive caries and a<br />

poor understanding <strong>of</strong> when they<br />

should be taking their children to<br />

the dentist,” she explains. “Many<br />

parents would not visit a dentist until<br />

a child was 3 or 4 years old, and<br />

<strong>of</strong>ten not until a child’s teeth were<br />

extensively damaged and the child<br />

complained <strong>of</strong> pain. The mothers<br />

generally do not recognize early signs<br />

<strong>of</strong> caries in children.”<br />

Parents were shocked to learn that<br />

what they thought were dark stains<br />

that could be cleaned away by the<br />

dentist were, in fact, cavities.<br />

As with childhood obesity, sugary<br />

drinks play an insidious role, but <strong>of</strong>ten<br />

seem to fly under the radar. Barker<br />

Community meeting at the Mendota<br />

Rotary Club.<br />

“Many parents would<br />

not visit a dentist<br />

until a child was 3 or<br />

4 years old, and <strong>of</strong>ten<br />

not until a child’s<br />

teeth were extensively<br />

damaged and the child<br />

complained <strong>of</strong> pain.”<br />

– Judith Barker<br />

recounts an interviewer’s tale <strong>of</strong> a<br />

mother and grandmother <strong>of</strong> a cavityafflicted<br />

3-year-old discussing at<br />

length their rationing <strong>of</strong> candy and<br />

cookies, even as the child was<br />

walking around the entire time<br />

drinking from a bottle <strong>of</strong> chocolate<br />

milk. “Neither the mother nor the<br />

grandmother understood how much<br />

sugar was in the milk,” Barker says.<br />

Children <strong>of</strong>ten were put to bed<br />

with a bottle <strong>of</strong> juice. Toothbrushing<br />

was rarely supervised after age 3,<br />

and some parents did not believe<br />

brushing was merited until the child<br />

had all <strong>of</strong> his or her primary teeth or<br />

was eating an adult diet.<br />

In the rural areas, dentists were<br />

few and far between; the closest<br />

pediatric dentists were in Fresno.<br />

Furthermore, dentists in both rural<br />

and urban areas <strong>of</strong>ten were unwilling<br />

to treat children less than 6 years old,<br />

largely because they had never<br />

rotated through a pediatrics clinic<br />

during their training and they felt<br />

unprepared as a consequence. Many<br />

dentists did not accept Denti-Cal.<br />

Even where municipal water<br />

supplies were fluoridated, most<br />

Hispanic residents in the study<br />

preferred to drink bottled water, which<br />

usually does not contain fluoride,<br />

believing it to be safer than tap water.<br />

In new, related research, Barker<br />

will gauge parents’ acceptance <strong>of</strong><br />

various measures – including<br />

fluoridation <strong>of</strong> water or food supplies<br />

– for preventing tooth decay in<br />

Hispanic communities. Similarly,<br />

Susan Hyde, DDS, MPH, PhD, from<br />

the <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>, and Sally<br />

Adams, RN, PhD, from the <strong>School</strong><br />

<strong>of</strong> Medicine, earlier explored<br />

attitudes toward caries prevention<br />

activities among mothers <strong>of</strong> young<br />

children in urban minority populations<br />

(see page 6).<br />

Community-Based,<br />

Participatory<br />

Research<br />

Like Barker, Ramos-Gomez knows<br />

the importance <strong>of</strong> engaging the<br />

community to achieve the success <strong>of</strong><br />

local research and health initiatives.<br />

Ramos-Gomez, who recently joined<br />

the faculty at UCLA but remains a<br />

CAN DO project leader, launched<br />

another clinical trial, this time at the<br />

<strong>San</strong> Ysidro Health Center near the<br />

<strong>California</strong>-Mexico border, with more<br />

than 500 pregnant women.<br />

The research team provided<br />

counseling to all the mothers-to-be,<br />

educating them about mother-tochild<br />

bacterial transmission. In<br />

addition, once the children were born,<br />

the researchers randomly assigned<br />

half the women to use chlorhexidine<br />

mouth rinse twice daily to kill<br />

bacteria, and assigned the infants <strong>of</strong><br />

these same women to twice-yearly<br />

fluoride varnish treatments starting<br />

at age 1. The data for children up to<br />

age 3 are now being analyzed.<br />

Enrollment in the study proceeded<br />

quickly, thanks to the community<br />

connections nurtured by the research<br />

team. An understanding <strong>of</strong> family<br />

traditions and community social<br />

structures and sensitivity toward<br />

them are crucial, Ramos-Gomez<br />

says, as is an active community<br />

advisory board.<br />

“Community-based, participatory<br />

research is not business as usual,”<br />

Ramos-Gomez says. “You really<br />

have to establish links and relate to


the community. We felt strongly<br />

that we had to start by engaging<br />

pregnant women.”<br />

The researcher recruited bilingual,<br />

culturally competent promotoras,<br />

women from the community who<br />

serve as health communicators and<br />

as links between the community on<br />

one hand and researchers and health<br />

care providers on the other. “You<br />

need to have the personal touch,<br />

and these women really connected,”<br />

Ramos-Gomez says. There were few<br />

dropouts. “For a border population,<br />

the high retention rate in the study<br />

is unheard <strong>of</strong>,” he says.<br />

CAN DO, Round Two<br />

<strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> researcher<br />

Lisa Chung, DDS, MPH, also believes<br />

in the importance <strong>of</strong> reaching out<br />

early to pregnant women. Chung is<br />

project director <strong>of</strong> a new, two-year<br />

Bay Area study led by Adams. The<br />

researchers will develop and test an<br />

intervention aimed at promoting oral<br />

health by changing behaviors. The<br />

intervention will be integrated into<br />

the CenteringPregnancy ® curriculum,<br />

a group prenatal care model.<br />

“Pregnancy is an opportune time<br />

for health messages because women<br />

are more receptive to behavior<br />

change,” Chung says. “We hope<br />

that the women will see a dentist<br />

and become more inclined to<br />

bring their babies to see a dentist.”<br />

As it stands, only a small fraction <strong>of</strong><br />

low-income women see a dentist<br />

during pregnancy.<br />

For the most recent round <strong>of</strong><br />

CAN DO studies, the research team<br />

has obtained a new clinical trials<br />

management s<strong>of</strong>tware system,<br />

says Gansky, who heads the Data<br />

Coordinating Center. The new s<strong>of</strong>tware<br />

will initially be used to manage six<br />

randomized, controlled clinical trials.<br />

“We’re trying to be a resource for the state – and for the whole country.”<br />

– Jane Weintraub (below center with, from left, Margaret Walsh, Stuart Gansky, Francisco Ramos-Gomez and Judith Barker)<br />

13


14<br />

Oral health education in Mendota.<br />

“Low-income children<br />

have better access<br />

to primary medical<br />

care and to federally<br />

funded nutrition<br />

programs than they<br />

have to dental care,<br />

especially at age 1.”<br />

– Margaret Walsh<br />

These include not only NIDCR-funded<br />

<strong>UCSF</strong> CAN DO trials, but also studies<br />

led by Centers for Research to<br />

Reduce Disparities in Oral Health at<br />

Boston <strong>University</strong> and the <strong>University</strong><br />

<strong>of</strong> Colorado Denver.<br />

Both <strong>of</strong> the large clinical trials in<br />

the second round <strong>of</strong> CAN DO<br />

research build on the success <strong>of</strong><br />

the initial fluoride varnish clinical trial.<br />

In one <strong>of</strong> the new clinical trials, led by<br />

Ramos-Gomez, half <strong>of</strong> the participating<br />

children ages 3 to 6 will be given<br />

not only twice-yearly fluoride varnish,<br />

but also an additional preventive<br />

treatment – a new kind <strong>of</strong> fluoridecontaining<br />

sealant that will protect the<br />

biting surfaces <strong>of</strong> primary molars.<br />

Called a glass ionomer, the sealant<br />

can adhere better to these rough<br />

surfaces and is much easier to apply<br />

than earlier generations <strong>of</strong> sealants.<br />

All parents in the study will receive<br />

preventive oral health counseling.<br />

Treatment will be provided by dental<br />

and other health care providers<br />

at the <strong>San</strong> Ysidro Health Center –<br />

as in the earlier study – and at<br />

Comprehensive Health Center, also<br />

in <strong>San</strong> Diego County.<br />

Researchers guiding the second<br />

CAN DO clinical trial will try to identify<br />

the most effective means <strong>of</strong> disseminating<br />

fluoride varnish treatment to<br />

children ages 1 to 3 who are at high<br />

risk for ECC.<br />

The <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>’s Margaret<br />

Walsh, MS, EdD, leads the project.<br />

Walsh has many years <strong>of</strong> experience<br />

in conducting large-scale, communitybased<br />

public health interventions<br />

to prevent periodontal disease and<br />

cancer. Walsh and other CAN DO<br />

researchers have established<br />

partnerships across Northern and<br />

Central <strong>California</strong> with primary care<br />

medical clinics and sites that provide<br />

food through the Women, Infants, and<br />

Children program (WIC).<br />

“Low-income children have better<br />

access to primary medical care and to<br />

federally funded nutrition programs<br />

than they have to dental care,<br />

especially at age 1,” Walsh says.<br />

“Therefore, we are comparing<br />

application <strong>of</strong> fluoride varnish at<br />

primary care settings or at WIC centers<br />

to referral <strong>of</strong> children in those same<br />

settings to dentists for fluoride varnish<br />

application. The idea is to see how<br />

we can reach the most children who<br />

can benefit from this procedure,<br />

especially given the fact that many<br />

dentists will not see infants and do<br />

not accept Medicaid.<br />

“Actually,” Walsh says, “we are<br />

testing a one-two punch: strategies<br />

for delivering fluoride varnish and<br />

strategies for educating the parents<br />

and other caregivers about things they<br />

can do at home to help their young<br />

children have healthy teeth.”<br />

When prevention is neglected,<br />

tooth decay in infants can become a<br />

heavy burden, Weintraub emphasizes.<br />

“You can’t get a 1-year-old to sit still<br />

in a dental chair,” she says. “Often<br />

when they need dental care, they<br />

have to be treated using general<br />

anesthesia in a hospital. That makes<br />

it expensive and traumatic for the<br />

family, and <strong>of</strong>ten those services are<br />

not even locally available.<br />

“We want to give parents and<br />

health care providers tools to improve<br />

the oral health <strong>of</strong> children,” Weintraub<br />

adds. “Dentists can’t do it all by<br />

themselves; there aren’t enough <strong>of</strong><br />

them to treat all the tooth decay that’s<br />

out there.”<br />

While the current budget picture<br />

for dental public health programs<br />

may appear daunting, that’s nothing<br />

new to Weintraub, who launched<br />

her career during another recession<br />

in the early 1980s. At such times,<br />

she says, “the need for preventive<br />

measures does not diminish. It<br />

becomes greater.” n


promotion > > > RICHARD joRDAn<br />

new Associate Dean for Research<br />

Richard Jordan, DDS, PhD,<br />

FRCPath, a leader in diagnostic<br />

pathology and a <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> faculty member since<br />

2000, is the school’s new associate<br />

dean for research, an appointment<br />

effective since May 1, 2009.<br />

Jordan succeeded John Greenspan,<br />

BDS, PhD, FRCPath, who stepped<br />

down after years <strong>of</strong> outstanding<br />

service in the same role. Jordan has<br />

retained his current faculty appointments<br />

as pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> oral pathology<br />

and <strong>of</strong> pathology, chair <strong>of</strong> the Division<br />

<strong>of</strong> Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology<br />

and Oral Radiology, and vice chair <strong>of</strong><br />

the Department <strong>of</strong> Or<strong>of</strong>acial Sciences.<br />

He also directs the largest universitybased<br />

oral pathology diagnostic<br />

laboratory on the West Coast.<br />

Jordan has taken on the challenge<br />

<strong>of</strong> maintaining and improving<br />

research excellence within the school,<br />

which has ranked number one among<br />

dental schools in research for nearly<br />

two decades. Jordan, a research<br />

scientist who is also trained in two<br />

clinical specialties, has gained a<br />

strong reputation for excellence in his<br />

research focused on molecular techniques<br />

for early oral cancer detection.<br />

Born and raised in Canada,<br />

Jordan received his clinical training in<br />

dentistry, oral pathology and oral<br />

medicine at the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> Toronto.<br />

He completed work on his doctoral<br />

degree at the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> London, in<br />

the laboratories <strong>of</strong> Paul Speight, BDS,<br />

PhD, and Peter Isaacson, MB, ChB.<br />

“I was able to work on a newly<br />

identified form <strong>of</strong> lymphoma, developing<br />

a test to detect malignant white<br />

blood cells prior to symptoms, at the<br />

earliest stage <strong>of</strong> the disease,” he says.<br />

“It was a very exciting time.” Jordan<br />

continued in the same line <strong>of</strong> research<br />

upon returning to North America,<br />

shifting his emphasis to oral cancers.<br />

Jordan helped develop a useful<br />

technique for gauging which genes<br />

had been switched on, or expressed,<br />

in the vast majority <strong>of</strong> oral biopsy or<br />

surgical specimens preserved in<br />

formalin. Recently, he was honored<br />

with membership in the Royal<br />

College <strong>of</strong> Pathologists <strong>of</strong> the United<br />

Kingdom, in recognition <strong>of</strong> his<br />

distinguished scientific achievements.<br />

Maintaining research excellence<br />

is his highest priority, Jordan says.<br />

He views stem cell science, early<br />

disease detection, materials science<br />

and research on health disparities<br />

as being among the areas in<br />

which opportunities are greatest<br />

for continued advances and<br />

programmatic development.<br />

Jordan knows the bar is set high<br />

in his new post. “We need to think<br />

<strong>of</strong> ways to make ourselves more<br />

competitive in a very competitive<br />

environment, and <strong>of</strong> ways to become<br />

more nimble and responsive,” he<br />

says. “Our greatest strength is our<br />

people. The pipeline for our future<br />

success is to train the best people<br />

we can – both dentists and dental<br />

scientists.”<br />

Jordan has worked to update<br />

training opportunities in recent years,<br />

partnering with Greenspan and<br />

colleagues from <strong>UCSF</strong>’s Clinical and<br />

Translational Science Institute to<br />

develop the Training in Clinical<br />

Research curriculum.<br />

“Within the setting <strong>of</strong> team science,<br />

we want to be better in communicating<br />

with one another, and we want to be<br />

better in coordinating our activities,”<br />

Jordan says. “Within the <strong>University</strong>,<br />

the <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> is part <strong>of</strong> a<br />

comprehensive scientific and health<br />

care enterprise that also encompasses<br />

the schools <strong>of</strong> medicine, pharmacy<br />

and nursing, as well as the <strong>UCSF</strong><br />

Medical Center. At <strong>UCSF</strong> and<br />

beyond, I think there is still room for<br />

us to become better integrated into<br />

the broader world <strong>of</strong> science and<br />

health care.”<br />

Interdisciplinary communication<br />

and collaboration contribute to<br />

improved dissemination <strong>of</strong> new<br />

scientific knowledge and the<br />

translation <strong>of</strong> new discoveries into<br />

public benefit, Jordan says. n<br />

“I see the aim <strong>of</strong> science<br />

as accomplishments that<br />

help people.”<br />

15


alumni<br />

update<br />

16<br />

Bear Bash Night 2009<br />

On Friday, October 9, 2009, the Dental Alumni Association held<br />

its sixth annual Bear Bash Night. A popular and overwhelming<br />

success, this is an event where students, dental and hygiene<br />

alumni, faculty, and administration gather together to develop relationships<br />

and share excellent food, wine, beer and an assortment <strong>of</strong> gifts.<br />

This year’s Bear Bash, an unlimited pasta buffet, was extremely<br />

well attended by students and new alumni. The Faculty-Alumni House<br />

was filled to capacity. Students made every effort to meet most <strong>of</strong> the<br />

alumni present, not only to gain fruitful information, but also to secure a<br />

raffle ticket for the coveted A-Dec handpiece.<br />

Many guests left with great door prizes donated by dental companies,<br />

faculty and alumni. Lucky students won: dinner with Dean Featherstone;<br />

lunch with Tony Ragadio, D ’76; dinner with Michael Lopez, D ’74, and<br />

wife, Susan, DH ’72; Enzo wine from the cellars <strong>of</strong> Frank Casanova, D ’73;<br />

dental products; assorted wine; and a variety <strong>of</strong> gift certificates.<br />

Special thanks to Event Chair Carmen Hipona, D ’96, and husband,<br />

Eduardo Castro, D ’96, for their time and energy in organizing such an<br />

enjoyable event each year for the dental students.<br />

Nurturing alma mater cohesion, the alumni association looks forward to<br />

meeting and mentoring our new and upcoming colleagues. The Dental<br />

Alumni Association Executive Council invites all alumni interested in<br />

mentoring our students to join us on Friday evening, October 15, <strong>2010</strong>, at<br />

the Faculty-Alumni House for our seventh annual Bear Bash. All interested<br />

alumni are welcome! For more information, please contact <strong>UCSF</strong> Alumni/<br />

Student Liaison Carmen Hipona at teethfirst@aol.com.<br />

Special thanks also to the following additional alumni for their<br />

donations and participation: Doug Cowden, DDS; Christine Hayashi, DDS;<br />

Herman Chang, DDS; Phoenix Sinclair, DDS; and Mary Porteous, DH.<br />

Special thanks to A-Dec, Inc., and Waterpik Technologies, Inc. for their<br />

generous donations that help make these events possible. n<br />

— Mary Sornborger Porteous, DH ’75<br />

Revelry at Bear Bash 2009, <strong>UCSF</strong> Faculty-<br />

Alumni House: Dean John D.B. Featherstone<br />

(at left, center) with <strong>UCSF</strong> Dental Alumni<br />

Association Executive Council organizers and<br />

student participants.<br />

114th Scientific<br />

Session<br />

Joining Chancellor Susan<br />

Desmond-Hellmann for the 114th<br />

Scientific Session “Homecoming”<br />

in mid-January were new DAA<br />

President Douglas Cowden (D’65),<br />

the Class <strong>of</strong> 1960, and Japanese-<br />

American dental students who were<br />

World War II internees, as honored<br />

guests <strong>of</strong> the Alumni Association.<br />

Save the Date:<br />

115th Scientific Session<br />

January 14-15, 2011<br />

<strong>San</strong> Francisco Marriott Marquis<br />

Confirmed SpeakerS:<br />

Arun Sharma, BDS, MSC,<br />

and Craig Yonemura, DDS<br />

n Integrating Periodontics and Implants<br />

into Comprehensive Dental Treatment<br />

Christopher Marchak, DDS<br />

n Implants: Guided Surgery, Immediate<br />

Loading and CAD-CAM Technology<br />

Ann Eshenaur Spolarich, RDH, PhD<br />

n Prescription Drugs and Herbal<br />

Therapies: Practice Management<br />

Considerations for Dental<br />

Pr<strong>of</strong>essionals<br />

n Women and Medications: Health<br />

Issues and Related Pharmacotherapies<br />

n Commonly Prescribed Medications<br />

and Managing the Oral Side Effects<br />

<strong>of</strong> Medication Use<br />

See you next year!


1959 Class notes<br />

Don Hermansen, D ’73, chair <strong>of</strong><br />

the 50-Year Reunion Committee,<br />

presented the following “Class<br />

notes” recognizing the Half-<br />

Century Club graduates honored<br />

at the 114th Annual Scientific<br />

Session Luncheon.<br />

Karen Ulrich, RDH – is still working<br />

one day per week. She plays golf<br />

and bridge and works out regularly.<br />

She has two sons and seven grandchildren.<br />

She travels occasionally<br />

with her good friend Ann Kerr,<br />

a fellow dental hygiene graduate.<br />

Last summer, they spent three<br />

weeks in France.<br />

norman Abrahams, DDS – has<br />

been married 58 years to the same<br />

wife. He has two daughters and four<br />

grandchildren. Norman retired in 1995<br />

after having been president <strong>of</strong> his<br />

local dental organization. He served<br />

nine years on the CDA Ethics Council<br />

and five years on the CDA Peer<br />

Review Council. He was president <strong>of</strong><br />

the <strong>San</strong>ta Clara County Health<br />

Systems Agency and is a current<br />

member <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong>ta Clara County<br />

Human Relations Council.<br />

Karen olson, RDH – practiced dental<br />

hygiene part-time for 35 years and<br />

raised three children. She retired in<br />

1997 and earned a master’s degree<br />

in nutrition in 1999, exactly 40 years<br />

after her BS in dental hygiene. She is<br />

now fully retired and volunteers with<br />

outreach programs for her church.<br />

Billie L. Hays, RDH (Billie E. Rutt-<br />

Lingo) – started her practice <strong>of</strong> dental<br />

hygiene in Germany doing volunteer<br />

work on an Air Force base. She<br />

returned to work for Dr. Jack H<strong>of</strong>fman<br />

for eight years in <strong>San</strong>ta Clara. She<br />

then worked for Dr. Burt Press in<br />

Contra Costa County. Her present<br />

<strong>of</strong>fice is in Cupertino with Dr. Prusa,<br />

where she has been in general<br />

practice for 38 years. She works four<br />

days a week. She feels privileged to<br />

have become close to many <strong>of</strong> her<br />

patients over the years. Her most<br />

motivated patient is her granddaughter<br />

Raquel, who brushes,<br />

flosses, rubber tips and uses a tongue<br />

scraper every day, all at the age <strong>of</strong> 5.<br />

She likes to travel and deep-sea fish<br />

with her husband, Mikkl. Her favorite<br />

scalers are still UC #3 and #4.<br />

Cliff Horrell, DDS – practiced as<br />

a general dentist in Sacramento<br />

for 41 years, retiring in 2000 with his<br />

wife, Sharon. They have 10 children,<br />

23 grandchildren and 16 greatgrandchildren.<br />

They have traveled<br />

throughout the United States,<br />

numerous European countries, Japan<br />

and the Caribbean. Cliff’s hobby<br />

is stamp collecting, and he was a<br />

part-time stamp dealer for many<br />

years. He and Sharon enjoy family<br />

activities, gardening and traveling.<br />

Allen Short, DDS – has been in the<br />

same location for 50 years, and<br />

continues to practice 28 hours per<br />

week. He was past Rotary president,<br />

city councilman and volunteer<br />

fireman. He still belongs to Rotary<br />

and is a member <strong>of</strong> the Duck Club.<br />

john Derdivanis, DDS – started<br />

general practice in Alameda, then<br />

went back to specialize in periodontics,<br />

completing the program at<br />

<strong>UCSF</strong> in 1967. Since that time, he has<br />

been practicing at the same location<br />

in <strong>San</strong> Lorenzo. His dental hygienist,<br />

Lillian Yee, has been with him since<br />

1971, lasting longer than his marriage.<br />

He is a member <strong>of</strong> several dental<br />

associations and has been in the<br />

OKU dental honor society since 1974.<br />

He was a clinical instructor at <strong>UCSF</strong><br />

from 1961 to 1964, then a pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />

in the postgraduate and undergraduate<br />

Division <strong>of</strong> Periodontology<br />

from 1964 to 2000. He has been<br />

vice president and president-elect<br />

<strong>of</strong> the Northern <strong>California</strong> Society<br />

<strong>of</strong> Periodontology and chairman <strong>of</strong><br />

the Western Society, 1971-1974.<br />

Charles Soderstrom, DDS –<br />

followed his father and brother to<br />

<strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>. In 1953,<br />

he self-diagnosed type 1 diabetes<br />

that made him 4F in the military<br />

draft, and has had daily insulin<br />

shots for 54 years. Marrying his wife,<br />

Ruby, a nursing student at <strong>UCSF</strong>, in<br />

1958, was the wisest thing Charles<br />

ever did. After graduating, he worked<br />

for pedodontists in <strong>San</strong> Jose before<br />

moving to Chico in 1961. There,<br />

Charles practiced as a pediatric<br />

dentist until selling his practice in<br />

1991. He and Ruby have three<br />

children and four grandsons.<br />

Kenneth Fletcher, DDS – says that<br />

life has been good, even with its ups<br />

and downs. He is married with two<br />

children and three grandchildren.<br />

He practiced in Honolulu, and found<br />

it wonderful. When he retired, his<br />

fulfilled his dream to live in Europe<br />

and travel, which he and his wife,<br />

Jennifer, did for approximately 10<br />

years. Kenneth then bought a motor<br />

coach and traveled across the USA.<br />

He now lives in Los Angeles.<br />

joaquin Madrigal jr., DDS –<br />

practiced for three years in <strong>San</strong> Jose,<br />

then 40 years in Fresno. He retired<br />

seven years ago and is enjoying<br />

retirement. He is healthy, thanks to<br />

God. He and his wife, Louise, have four<br />

sons and 10 grandchildren. It’s great!<br />

Lynda nicol Trowbridge, RDH –<br />

moved back to <strong>California</strong> when her<br />

husband, Hank, retired as chair <strong>of</strong><br />

the Department <strong>of</strong> Pathology at the<br />

<strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> Pennsylvania <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

Dental Medicine. Since they have<br />

always been associated with a<br />

university, they decided to make Davis<br />

their home. Performances at the<br />

Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts<br />

in Davis have been an important part <strong>of</strong><br />

their lives, and they both volunteer for<br />

the Arts Education Program. Although<br />

they are no longer involved in dentistry,<br />

they stay very busy in retirement.<br />

joAnn Greenway, RDH – has three<br />

roles in life: wife, mother and hygienist.<br />

She has been married for over 47<br />

years to Lyle Greenway, a UOP dental<br />

graduate. They have four children.<br />

She manages her husband’s dental<br />

<strong>of</strong>fice in Fountain Valley, Orange<br />

County. She loves to travel (Beijing,<br />

Tibet, St. Petersburg, Istanbul,<br />

among other places) and to share<br />

good food and wine.<br />

Mike Heon, DDS – appreciated his<br />

dental education at <strong>UCSF</strong> that allowed<br />

him to help others obtain a healthier<br />

dental life. He met and married Jan,<br />

his life’s partner, who transitioned into<br />

a wonderful mother <strong>of</strong> four energetic<br />

children. He spent two years in an<br />

Air Force hospital that gave him the<br />

opportunity to increase his skills in oral<br />

surgery and general dentistry. Mike<br />

completed five years as a senior dental<br />

<strong>of</strong>ficer in the Air Force hospital dental<br />

clinic. He started a dental practice in<br />

north <strong>San</strong> Rafael, expanding and<br />

Continued on next page<br />

17


18<br />

Continued from previous page<br />

adding two associates over 15 years.<br />

Mike then worked in a VA hospital<br />

dental clinic, retiring in 1997 with<br />

23 years <strong>of</strong> government service.<br />

He feels that there is no other group<br />

more deserving than those who have<br />

served our country.<br />

Evelyn Loo, RDH – says that her only<br />

claim to fame might be as a dental<br />

hygienist who owned an ice cream<br />

parlor. A patient saw her there and<br />

accused her <strong>of</strong> working both sides <strong>of</strong><br />

the fence. She practiced hygiene for<br />

40 years, all for <strong>UCSF</strong> dental alumni:<br />

Ken Mar, Lyle Tyler and Richard<br />

Naismith. She is married to Edward<br />

and has one daughter and one<br />

granddaughter. They became political<br />

activists in 2006 when the BART<br />

headquarters in Oakland, where<br />

seniors practiced tai chi, was slated<br />

for demolition. They reclaimed<br />

Madison Park that was previously<br />

occupied by the homeless. Now, in<br />

Madison Park, every morning between<br />

7:30 and 9:30, hundreds <strong>of</strong> seniors<br />

can again practice their morning<br />

exercises, including tai chi and chi gong.<br />

Gail Wiegmann Metcalf, RDH –<br />

lives in Albany. She enjoyed being<br />

a dental hygienist for 13 years. She<br />

has one daughter and one grandson.<br />

She is very grateful to the dedicated<br />

faculty her class enjoyed and for<br />

her wonderful classmates.<br />

Linda Chamberlain, RDH – loved<br />

the dental hygiene program and<br />

<strong>San</strong> Francisco. She knows that she<br />

received a wonderful education at<br />

<strong>UCSF</strong>, and had fun in the process.<br />

She worked for several dentists in<br />

both general practice and periodontics<br />

for 12 years. She thought she<br />

would work forever, but rheumatoid<br />

arthritis ended her career. If she could<br />

do it all over again, she would stay in<br />

<strong>San</strong> Francisco and get an advanced<br />

degree that would grant her an<br />

opportunity to teach or do research.<br />

She is married to Alan.<br />

Ann Kerr, RDH – resides in the<br />

East Bay, where she has practiced<br />

continually for 45 years. She feels<br />

privileged and honored to be part <strong>of</strong><br />

Dr. Gil Oliver’s periodontal practice in<br />

Pinole. She works in the <strong>of</strong>fice now<br />

with new owner Dr. Kourosh Harandi<br />

three days per week. She has three<br />

children and five grandchildren.<br />

Robert Diamond, DDS – is still<br />

practicing dentistry part-time. He also<br />

works for a charitable foundation to<br />

assist retired patients with dental<br />

illness. He taught physical diagnosis<br />

and oral pathology for 30 years at<br />

UCLA. Robert is married to Vivian,<br />

and has two children and three<br />

grandchildren. He loves and<br />

participates in skiing, boating, hiking<br />

and restoration <strong>of</strong> classic cars.<br />

jack Hockel, DDS – retired from<br />

practice nine years ago, when his<br />

son Brian (Class <strong>of</strong> 1989) took over.<br />

Jack continues as editor <strong>of</strong> a quarterly<br />

journal for dentists who use the<br />

Crozat appliance in their practice<br />

<strong>of</strong> orthodontics. He published his<br />

second book on the subject in<br />

2008; his first was in 1983. Jack<br />

and Judie, his wife <strong>of</strong> 49 years, are<br />

expecting their 25th grandchild.<br />

Stephen Dean, DDS – retired from<br />

practice in 1993 and moved to<br />

Camas, Washington. His wife, Sue,<br />

died in 2005 after a long illness.<br />

Stephen has excellent neighbors,<br />

but misses the Bay Area, and enjoys<br />

keeping in touch with friends.<br />

Susan Havlina, RDH – retired from<br />

the New Mexico State Dental Health<br />

Department 20 years ago and has<br />

been a yoga instructor ever since.<br />

She lives in Idaho.<br />

Donald Dal Porto, DDS – retired<br />

in February, 1991. He moved to<br />

La Quinta from Discovery Bay in<br />

June 2008. He has two sons<br />

(one a pediatric dentist) and five<br />

grandchildren. Donald travels, plays<br />

golf and enjoys the desert.<br />

Leona Young, RDH – worked<br />

as a dental hygienist in Berkeley<br />

for 10 years. She has been raising<br />

beef cattle in Acampo since 1970.<br />

She still works part-time in<br />

Cattlemen’s Livestock Market in<br />

Galt, and enjoys country life.<br />

R. Dean Robinson, DDS – moved<br />

with his wife, Ramona, and their<br />

three children to <strong>San</strong> Luis Obispo<br />

after graduation, where he practiced<br />

general dentistry until 1990. He was<br />

active as president <strong>of</strong> the Boy Scouts<br />

Council and served as bishop, stake<br />

president and regional representative<br />

<strong>of</strong> the twelve for the Church <strong>of</strong> Jesus<br />

Christ <strong>of</strong> Latter Day Saints. He<br />

learned to speak French when he<br />

served for three years as mission<br />

president <strong>of</strong> the Paris Mission.<br />

After retirement, Dean moved to<br />

Orem, Utah, where he manages his<br />

family ranch in Star Valley. For the<br />

past 18 years, he has been an<br />

advocate for individuals with<br />

disabilities, establishing an oral<br />

health clinic for those who cannot<br />

otherwise access quality dental care.<br />

jim Starr, DDS – with his wife,<br />

Pam, moved to Vail, Colorado, where<br />

they are deeply involved in skiing.<br />

He worked with his son Jeff<br />

(Class <strong>of</strong> 1989) at their practice in<br />

Palo Alto before retiring in 1999.<br />

Jim and Pam have three children.<br />

Carl Schrieve, DDS – retired in<br />

July 1997. He is 79 years old<br />

and has some health problems.<br />

He and his wife, Marlys, celebrated<br />

their 50th wedding anniversary<br />

this year. They have three children<br />

and two granddaughters.<br />

Ruben Burrell, DDS – enjoys sunny<br />

Arizona with his wife and family (four<br />

children, 12 grandchildren and six<br />

great-grandchildren). Ruben is in the<br />

process <strong>of</strong> selling his practice, but<br />

loves being a dentist, and worked<br />

part-time until October 2009, so that<br />

he could complete his full 50 years!<br />

At age 81, he works out four days a<br />

week, and enjoys hiking, hunting,<br />

fishing, dune buggying and water<br />

skiing with his family. His family<br />

expects him to live past 100.<br />

Don Swatman, DDS – retired in<br />

2002. He and his wife, Mary, have<br />

enjoyed their extra time by traveling,<br />

playing tennis, running their antique<br />

business, gardening, houseboating<br />

and managing real estate in Modesto<br />

and Maui. They also enjoy time with<br />

their children and grandchildren.<br />

George Payne, DDS – has been<br />

married to Marilyn (RDH ’56) for 53<br />

years. They have four children, all<br />

graduates <strong>of</strong> the UC system. He<br />

taught part-time in the Division <strong>of</strong><br />

Orthodontics for 20 years, practiced<br />

for 35 years and transitioned his<br />

practice to his son Brian (<strong>UCSF</strong><br />

orthodontics class <strong>of</strong> 1988) in 1995.<br />

He was CDA president in 1988-89,<br />

ADA trustee from 1990 to 1994<br />

and a TDIC board member from<br />

1980 to 1986. He loves his pr<strong>of</strong>ession<br />

and can think <strong>of</strong> none better to<br />

provide a necessary and rewarding<br />

service to patients. n


alumni pr<strong>of</strong>iles > > > SERVICE To THE nATIon<br />

PrOFILE:<br />

William Metzler, DH’ 75<br />

William Metzler (Metz) was the first<br />

male hygienist to attend <strong>UCSF</strong>.<br />

Juggling his education, s<strong>of</strong>tball games<br />

and work at a bar that he co-owned<br />

in downtown <strong>San</strong> Francisco, Metz<br />

was a very colorful classmate.<br />

Metz is an involved member <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Hygiene Class <strong>of</strong> 1975. Each year, the<br />

cohesive group enjoys a reunion in<br />

conjunction with the Dental Alumni<br />

Association’s Annual Scientific<br />

Session. Traditionally organized by<br />

Martha White, with restaurant and<br />

venue selection by Jeanine Cardelli,<br />

Lynda Oneto and Kathy Inouye Chu,<br />

2009’s luncheon was again hosted<br />

via the generosity <strong>of</strong> Metz and his<br />

wife, Barbara.<br />

However, this year, the classmates<br />

were surprised with a new revelation<br />

by their generous host. Not common<br />

knowledge to the classmates <strong>of</strong> 34<br />

years is the fact that Metz had served<br />

in the Vietnam War and is actively<br />

involved with improving the mental<br />

health <strong>of</strong> fellow Vietnam veterans.<br />

Metz presented each classmate<br />

in attendance with the book Back<br />

from War, written by his friend 1st Lt.<br />

Lee Alley. Metz is a contributing writer<br />

(chapter 13) for this book, which was<br />

written about events in Vietnam and is<br />

an attempt to help soldiers and their<br />

families find hope and understanding<br />

in life after combat. A heartwrenching,<br />

uplifting, warm and<br />

enlightening glimpse into a soldier’s<br />

life and emotions, this book is timely<br />

for its parallels with life experienced<br />

by our troops in the Middle East.<br />

Metz encourages current<br />

soldiers to place a roster <strong>of</strong> their<br />

unit in safekeeping, for the day that<br />

soldiers want to reunite with their<br />

old military buddies. Camaraderie<br />

is key for support with any group.<br />

Metz is secretary <strong>of</strong> the 5th<br />

Battalion, 60th Infantry Association,<br />

and maintains the association website<br />

(members.tripod.com/5thbattalion),<br />

which serves as a network for aiding<br />

Vietnam vets in finding comrades to<br />

share in postwar healing and social<br />

support. The nonpr<strong>of</strong>it association’s<br />

attendance has grown from a handful<br />

<strong>of</strong> members to almost 800 currently.<br />

Plans are underway for their sixth<br />

reunion in <strong>2010</strong>.<br />

Metz served in Vietnam in<br />

1967-1968 and received a Combat<br />

Infantryman’s Badge, a Purple Heart<br />

and a Bronze Star during his tour.<br />

Though currently retired after working<br />

in hygiene for many years with his<br />

wife, Barbara, who was also a<br />

hygienist, Metz spends time golfing,<br />

working at the local library and<br />

engaging his comrades who served<br />

in Vietnam. n<br />

PrOFILE:<br />

M. Ted Wong, D’ 84<br />

Colonel M. Ted Wong (D ’84) became<br />

the ninth commander <strong>of</strong> the US Army<br />

Dental Command on July 10, 2008.<br />

He is the senior Army <strong>of</strong>ficer<br />

responsible for the operational<br />

missions <strong>of</strong> all Army dental activities<br />

and dental clinics around the world.<br />

A Southern <strong>California</strong> native, Wong<br />

entered active duty in 1984, following<br />

graduation from the <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>Dentistry</strong>. He received a master’s<br />

degree in healthcare administration<br />

from Baylor <strong>University</strong> and a master’s<br />

degree in strategic studies from<br />

the US Army War College, and is<br />

board-certified in prosthodontics.<br />

Wong completed a General<br />

<strong>Dentistry</strong> Residency Program at<br />

Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and an Advanced<br />

Prosthodontic Residency Program<br />

at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He is<br />

a graduate <strong>of</strong> the Army Medical<br />

Department (AMEDD) Officer Basic<br />

and Advanced Courses, Combined<br />

Armed Services Staff <strong>School</strong>,<br />

Command and General Staff College,<br />

US Army War College, and Joint<br />

Medical Executive Skills Institute<br />

CAPSTONE Symposium.<br />

He has held a variety <strong>of</strong> clinical<br />

and staff assignments, including<br />

OIC, Kelley Barracks Dental Clinic,<br />

Germany; staff prosthodontist,<br />

Fort Sam Houston; chief, Dental Lab<br />

Branch, AMEDD Center & <strong>School</strong>,<br />

Fort Sam Houston; staff <strong>of</strong>ficer, HQ,<br />

US Army Dental Command, Fort Sam<br />

Houston; and dental executive fellow,<br />

Office <strong>of</strong> the Surgeon General (OTSG).<br />

Wong commanded the 665th<br />

Medical Company (DS), Korea, and the<br />

Presidio <strong>of</strong> Monterey Dental Clinic<br />

Command, <strong>California</strong>. After attending<br />

the US Army War College, Wong<br />

served as the senior dental staff <strong>of</strong>ficer,<br />

OTSG, HQDA, and as commander <strong>of</strong><br />

both the North Atlantic Regional Dental<br />

Command and Walter Reed Dental<br />

Activity, Washington, DC.<br />

Wong’s awards and decorations<br />

include the Legion <strong>of</strong> Merit, Meritorious<br />

Service Medal (6 OLC), Army<br />

Commendation Medal (2 OLC), Army<br />

Achievement Medal (3 OLC) and<br />

National Defense Service Medal with<br />

one star. He holds the Expert Field<br />

Medical Badge and Army Staff<br />

Identification Badge, and is the<br />

recipient <strong>of</strong> the Surgeon General’s<br />

“A” pr<strong>of</strong>iciency designator. Wong is a<br />

member <strong>of</strong> the Order <strong>of</strong> Military Medical<br />

Merit and American Dental Association,<br />

a diplomate <strong>of</strong> the American Board <strong>of</strong><br />

Prosthodontics and a fellow <strong>of</strong> the<br />

American College <strong>of</strong> Prosthodontists<br />

and the Pierre Fauchard Academy.<br />

A son <strong>of</strong> Po Ping Wong (D ’65),<br />

Colonel M. Ted Wong and his wife have<br />

two sons and a daughter. n<br />

19


in memoriam<br />

20<br />

Remembering Perry A. Ratcliff, DDS<br />

Perry A. Ratcliff, DDS, teacher and mentor, who served as an<br />

intellectual inspiration to residents and faculty in the Division <strong>of</strong><br />

Periodontology during his tenure as chairman <strong>of</strong> the division until he<br />

retired from the <strong>University</strong> as pr<strong>of</strong>essor emeritus, passed away on<br />

Oct. 6, 2008, in Scottsdale, AZ. He is survived by his wife, Roberta<br />

Ratcliff <strong>of</strong> Scottsdale; son, James Ratcliff (Barbara) <strong>of</strong> Pueblo, CO;<br />

brother, Harold Ratcliff (Camille) <strong>of</strong> Peoria, IL; stepsons Todd Cretors<br />

(Kellie) <strong>of</strong> Phoenix and Kurt Cretors (Sharlee) <strong>of</strong> Scottsdale; and<br />

granddaughters Jordan and Kasey Cretors.<br />

Born August 25, 1915, Ratcliff obtained his DDS degree from Indiana <strong>University</strong> in<br />

1939. During World War II, he served in the US Navy Dental Corps and was awarded the<br />

Presidential Unit Citation and five campaign Bronze Stars. A board-certified periodontist,<br />

Ratcliff was past president <strong>of</strong> the American Academy <strong>of</strong> Periodontology. He was a<br />

member <strong>of</strong> the AAP, ADA, FACD, FICD, FAAAS, the Western Society <strong>of</strong> Periodontology<br />

and the Arizona Society <strong>of</strong> Periodontists.<br />

Ratcliff had a private practice in Scottsdale for 25 years. He received many honors<br />

and awards, published hundreds <strong>of</strong> papers and several books, and led countless<br />

seminars nationally and internationally. As an inventor, he developed and formulated<br />

dental products marketed through Rowpar Pharmaceuticals.<br />

The <strong>UCSF</strong> Foundation has created a fund in Ratcliff’s name. With sufficient<br />

financial support, the fund will be used to establish an endowed chair to honor him<br />

and support a full-time faculty member in the Division <strong>of</strong> Periodontology. Memorial<br />

donations in Ratcliff’s name can be made to the <strong>UCSF</strong> Foundation, Perry A. Ratcliff<br />

Endowed Fund (S0478), and mailed to: Chris Ruetz, Senior Director, Development<br />

and Alumni Relations, <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>, 745 Parnassus Ave., Box 0970,<br />

<strong>San</strong> Francisco, CA 94143-0970. Ruetz can also be contacted at 415/476-3645 and<br />

creutz@support.ucsf.edu. n<br />

Remembering William H. Ware, DDS, MDS<br />

It is with deep regret that the <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>Dentistry</strong> notes the death on Aug. 24,<br />

2008, <strong>of</strong> William H. Ware, DDS, MDS,<br />

former pr<strong>of</strong>essor and chairman <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Division <strong>of</strong> Oral and Maxill<strong>of</strong>acial<br />

Surgery, who gave a lifetime <strong>of</strong> service<br />

to <strong>UCSF</strong>. Our sympathies extend to his<br />

wife, Carmen, and his family, including<br />

his brother, Robert, also a dentist, his<br />

sister, Betty, and children Bill, Julie and<br />

Nancy from his first marriage to Elise.<br />

Ware was a graduate <strong>of</strong> the<br />

The late Dr. William H. Ware (center) with former Dean<br />

Charles Bertolami (to the immediate left <strong>of</strong> Dr. Ware), OMFS<br />

Chair Tony Pogrel (to Dean Bertolami’s left), and OMFS<br />

faculty. Taken at the William Ware lecture in January 2007.<br />

<strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>California</strong>, Berkeley, the <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> in 1954, and the <strong>UCSF</strong><br />

Oral and Maxill<strong>of</strong>acial Surgery Program in 1957. His 51-year academic career began as<br />

instructor in dental medicine and oral surgery at <strong>UCSF</strong> in 1957, and culminated as<br />

pr<strong>of</strong>essor and chairman <strong>of</strong> the Division <strong>of</strong> Oral and Maxill<strong>of</strong>acial Surgery from 1976 to<br />

1983. He remained on the faculty as pr<strong>of</strong>essor emeritus <strong>of</strong> oral and maxill<strong>of</strong>acial surgery.<br />

Ware made many contributions to the specialty <strong>of</strong> oral and maxill<strong>of</strong>acial surgery<br />

during his distinguished career. Among the most important was his pioneering effort in<br />

the field <strong>of</strong> growth-center costochondral graft transplant for temporomandibular joint<br />

reconstruction in children. He was also an internationally recognized expert in the fields<br />

<strong>of</strong> orthognathic surgery and temporomandibular joint surgery.<br />

Throughout his career, Ware was a dedicated teacher beloved by students, residents<br />

and faculty alike. He was a recipient <strong>of</strong> the <strong>UCSF</strong> Dental Alumni Medal <strong>of</strong> Honor, and<br />

in recognition <strong>of</strong> his contributions, his former residents, patients and friends established<br />

the William Ware Visiting Pr<strong>of</strong>essorship in the Department <strong>of</strong> Oral and Maxill<strong>of</strong>acial<br />

Surgery in 1990. In 2007, when an appeal was launched to establish the William Ware<br />

Endowed Chair in Orthognathic and Reconstructive Surgery, the necessary funds were<br />

raised in a record time <strong>of</strong> three months, with many <strong>of</strong> his former students, residents<br />

and colleagues contributing. n<br />

Alumni Deceased<br />

Leonard Bellanca, ’29<br />

James H. Kleiser Jr., ’35<br />

Andrew J. Perry, ’37<br />

Alvin H. Barbanell, ’45<br />

Ralph P. <strong>San</strong>guinetti, ’47<br />

A. Irving Jacks, ’50<br />

M. Harvey Lee, ’50<br />

Fenimore Cady Jr., ’51<br />

Stanley B. Corwin, ’54<br />

Thomas L. Gross, ’54<br />

James V. Marino, ’54<br />

Donald Soo Hoo, ’54<br />

Dale A. Thompson, ’54<br />

D. Stanley Powell, ’58<br />

George S. Payne, ’59<br />

O. L. Shoemaker, ’59<br />

Park O. Stompro, ’60<br />

Mary Wheeler Barnard, ’61<br />

David M. George, ’66<br />

Arthur Allen Amos, ’69<br />

James K. Millsop, ’70<br />

Dirk Richard Payne, ’93<br />

Faculty Deceased<br />

<strong>San</strong>ford Plainfield, DDS


<strong>UCSF</strong> is grateful to the many alumni who<br />

have given back by making a legacy gift for the<br />

benefit <strong>of</strong> the <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>.<br />

“Somebody gave me a chance, and I want to<br />

give the same to others. As Ayn rand said,<br />

‘My best for your best.’”<br />

Helyn Luechauer, DDS ’66, established three charitable gift<br />

annuities with her late husband, Jarvis “Lick” Luechauer, DDS,<br />

to support the <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>.<br />

“I believe strongly that everyone should<br />

contribute back to those who have helped<br />

them. Because <strong>of</strong> the education and<br />

encouragement given to me at <strong>UCSF</strong>, I feel I<br />

have had an outstanding life and have been<br />

able to provide the best care to my patients,<br />

enabling them also to have a better life.”<br />

Albert Landucci, DDS ’68, established the Albert O. J. Landucci<br />

Endowment Fund to support the <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> in<br />

retaining teaching faculty in the fields <strong>of</strong> orthodontics and pediatric<br />

dentistry. He has also included the school in his estate plan.<br />

“I decided to make <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong><br />

the beneficiary <strong>of</strong> the IrA that I inherited from<br />

my husband. By enabling other people to<br />

practice dentistry, I hope they will carry out<br />

some <strong>of</strong> the things ron didn’t get to do, and<br />

continue the things he did.”<br />

Judy Gordon, widow <strong>of</strong> alumnus Ronald A. Gordon, DDS ’76.<br />

Her gift will establish an endowed scholarship fund at the<br />

<strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>.<br />

To learn more about making a planned gift to <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>,<br />

please contact Chris ruetz at 415/476-3645 or cruetz@support.ucsf.edu,<br />

or go to ucsf.edu/support/trustsandbequests.<br />

3


dentistry.ucsf.edu<br />

<strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>California</strong><br />

<strong>San</strong> Francisco<br />

<strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong><br />

<strong>UCSF</strong> Box 0248<br />

<strong>San</strong> Francisco, CA 94143-0248<br />

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED<br />

Why We Give<br />

Gary and Connie DeJong Armitage<br />

“A case <strong>of</strong> wine” – a way to think about<br />

the size <strong>of</strong> an annual gift that, contributed<br />

regularly by each and every alumnus,<br />

could make a tremendous difference in the<br />

outlook for <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong><br />

support through these financially troubled<br />

times. So says <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong> alumnus<br />

Gary C. Armitage, DDS, MS (<strong>UCSF</strong>),<br />

R. Earl Robinson Distinguished Pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />

<strong>of</strong> Periodontology in the Department <strong>of</strong><br />

Or<strong>of</strong>acial Sciences, whose academic career<br />

at the Parnassus Heights campus has<br />

now touched on six decades.<br />

“It has become apparent that the only<br />

way to grow and thrive is to initiate and<br />

sustain a perpetual fundraising campaign,”<br />

Armitage says.<br />

Armitage sat down recently with his<br />

wife, Connie DeJong Armitage, to talk about<br />

his career and their shared philosophy <strong>of</strong><br />

giving, alluding to an editorial on the<br />

importance <strong>of</strong> strong and ongoing alumni<br />

support he wrote during the summer <strong>of</strong><br />

2006 at the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> Otago at Dunedin,<br />

New Zealand, as the Sir Thomas Kay Sidey<br />

Visiting Pr<strong>of</strong>essor. “The first step should<br />

Nonpr<strong>of</strong>it Org.<br />

U.S. Postage<br />

PAID<br />

<strong>San</strong> Francisco, CA<br />

Permit No. 8285<br />

Gary Armitage, DDS, and Connie DeJong Armitage<br />

be to change the perception <strong>of</strong> potential<br />

donors that the existing governmental<br />

support is sufficient,” he said. “Alumni need<br />

to be convinced that it is their responsibility<br />

to become donors.”<br />

Speaking <strong>of</strong> his years on the faculty,<br />

Armitage observed, “I’ve been with the<br />

<strong>University</strong> since 1971, and back then,<br />

about 90 percent <strong>of</strong> our operating<br />

budget came from the state <strong>of</strong> <strong>California</strong>.<br />

Now it’s reversed – <strong>UCSF</strong> has become<br />

a state-assisted, instead <strong>of</strong> a statesupported,<br />

institution.”<br />

The Armitages regard alumni financial<br />

support as a critical component <strong>of</strong> any<br />

strategy to maintain institutional academic<br />

leadership. One way to achieve this is<br />

through the recognition <strong>of</strong> distinguished<br />

mentors, including current and former<br />

faculty, observed Armitage.<br />

Continued on page 1<br />

> To support the <strong>UCSF</strong> <strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Dentistry</strong>, contact Christopher Ruetz at 415/476-3645 or cruetz@support.ucsf.edu

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!