fellow SPOTLIGHT:

JOSEPH R. GREENBERG, DMD, FAGD, FCPP Fellow since 2007

By Jon Goff, Associate Director of Fellowship Relations

hen did you become a Fellow and what initially W interested you about joining the College? I became a Fellow in 2007. I was told about the Col- lege by two colleagues who were/are Fellows (Dr. Steve Brown, Dr. Orhan Tuncay) and invited by them to consider Fellowship. The more I looked the more I liked. It’s only gotten better.

Tell us about your career, your practice, and your various teaching appointments in the area.

University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine conferred my doctoral degree (DMD), Postdoctoral Fel- lowship in Periodontics, and combined Periodontics/ Fixed Prosthodontics Specialty certificates. I’ve served on the Penn Dental Faculty for over 40 years in numerous roles and attained the rank of Clinical Professor. In 2006 I was invited to join the Kornberg/Temple dental faculty as Clinical Professor of Restorative Dentistry and Course Director of Advanced Restorative Dentistry. I retired from the Directorship after 10 years but remain at Kornberg as a lecturer, seminar leader, and clinical teacher in the Advanced Education in General Dentistry Program.

I’ve given numerous Dental Continuing Education cours- es locally, nationally, and internationally and really enjoy speaking to dentists and dental students at any level. I’ve published over 30 original articles in peer-reviewed

CEO NEWSLETTER APRIL 2018 journals and have invented some frequently used de- General David Satcher in 2000. It was the first ever re- vices and techniques employed in Esthetic/Cosmetic port on the Oral Health of the Nation. We didn’t realize Dentistry. My private practice in Villanova, Pennsylvania and appreciate that tooth decay was the most common serves a wonderful family of loyal adult patients who seek chronic illness of childhood, five times more prevalent high levels of care and overall health. Our onsite private than childhood asthma. That the most common reason custom dental laboratory produces natural, artistic resto- a child presents to a Hospital Emergency Room is oral rations for my patients and some close colleagues. I now infection and that over 51 million hours of school time have a part-time dental practice in Boca Raton, Florida are lost annually in the United States due to dental pain. where we work at least one day per month. Since 2000 we’ve learned that the “Oral Disease Epidem- Are you allowed to tell us any good stories from your ic” is worldwide, affecting children and adults, and may time as Team Dentist to the Philadelphia 76ers? be a key initiator in substance abuse, related crime and violence, and incarceration. Experts who have studied this I served as Team Dentist to the Philadelphia 76ers profes- widespread problem conclude that we cannot treat our sional basketball team for three years. It was a bad time way out of oral disease. The best hope is prevention. Oral for the franchise (just after Charles Barkley left and just disease is nearly 100% preventable andincreasing the oral before Allen Iverson came on) but I had some interesting health literacy of the parent in each household may be a experiences seeing another side of professional sports. great place to start. I was “on call” at every home game for both home and visiting teams and got to meet many notable players of What is one area of the College in which you would those times: Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O’Neal, Anfernie like to see more Fellows get involved? Hardaway, David Robinson, Dennis Rodman, to name a few. I was struck by the personal weaknesses and insecu- The College of Physicians has a rich resource in its rities of many of the younger players (none of the above) Fellowship. So many experts and teachers of such who I will not identify, some of whom never finished col- diverse health-related disciplines. It would be great to lege. Here they were on a big pressure stage needing to see more evening educational programs presented by perform to earn their big salaries, having to behave in the Fellows. Perhaps some debates on current topics in public, and not feeling all that comfortable with a micro- Medicine and Dentistry? I know I would be delighted to phone shoved in front of their mouths with the cameras attend and/or take part. Perhaps a focused questionnaire rolling. Lacking was education and experience in public would identify many interesting topics and many willing speaking, personal finance, language skills, etc. presenters?

Inspired by the Team Trainer, Mike Abdenour, I investi- Tell us about one of your favorite items in the gated the possibility of a special, private “night school” College’s Historical Medical Library or Mütter for certain 76ers players to be conducted at the Universi- Museum. ty of Pennsylvania under the direction of Professor Hous- My favorite exhibit at the Mutter is the Hyrtl skull display. ton Baker. Dr. Baker and I were able to identify a team I guess I’m a head, neck and tooth “junkie.”  of willing, effective teachers to fill in the learning gaps for these young men. The players seemed pleased and very receptive to this, but unfortunately management said “no.”

In 1997, you founded Kids Smiles. Talk about the mission of that organization and how it has grown over the last 20 years.

Kids Smiles non-profit Children’s Dental Health Centers opened its first clinical facility in Southwest Philadelphia on January 15, 2001. It took me nearly five years of lob- bying, recruiting board members, seeking and hiring an The Mütter Museum acquired this collection of 139 human skulls from Joseph Hyrtl in 1874. His work Executive Director, finding and funding the start-up loca- was an attempt to counter claims of phrenologists, tion to make it happen. The concept I brought to the mis- who held that cranial features were evidence sion had three legs: clinical care, outreach screening, and of intelligence and personality and that racial onsite health promotion education. The vast incidence of differences caused anatomical differences. Hyrtl’s oral disease and its devastating impact on young children aim was to show that cranial anatomy varied widely in the Caucasian population of Europe. in “at risk” communities was presented to us by Surgeon

CEO NEWSLETTER APRIL 2018