Penn Dental Journal For the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine Community / Spring 2009 features Bringing Da Vinci to Dentistry: School Opens State-of-the-Art CAD/CAM Ceramic Center | page 2 Oral Health, Cancer, and the Quality of Life: A Powerful Partnership with Abramson Cancer Center | page 6 A Global Perspective: Penn Dental Medicine Extending International Reach for Students, Scholars | page 10 in this issue Features 2 Bringing Da Vinci to Dentistry by jennifer baldino bonett 6 Oral Health, Cancer, THE NEW PENN DENTAL MEDICINE CAD/CAM CERAMIC CENTER FEATURES THE MOST and the Quality of Life PROMINENT CAD/CAM SYSTEMS ON THE by juliana delany MARKET AND A STATE-OF-THE-ART LABORATORY, PAGE 2. Penn Dental Journal 10 A Global Perspective Vol. 5, No. 2 by debbie goldberg Departments University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine www.dental.upenn.edu 16 On Campus: News and People Interim Dean 28 Scholarly Activity thomas p. sollecito, dmd 30 Alumni: News and Class Notes Director, Publications beth adams 35 In Memoriam Contributing Writers beth adams amy biemiller jennifer baldino bonett juliana delany alandress gardner debbie goldberg Design dyad communications Photography PENN DENTAL MEDICINE CONTINUES candace dicarlo TO EXTEND ITS INTERNATIONAL REACH mark garvin THROUGH EFFORTS LIKE VISITING peter olson SCHOLARS PROGRAMS AND STUDENT DR. DENIS F. KINANE EXCHANGE, PAGE 10. HAS BEEN Penn Dental Journal is published twice a NAMED THE NEXT year for the alumni and friends of the University of Pennsylvania School of DEAN OF PENN Dental Medicine. ©2009 by the Trustees of DENTAL MEDICINE, the University of Pennsylvania. All rights PAGE 16. reserved. We would like to get your feed - back and input on the Penn Dental Journal — please address all correspondence to: Beth Adams, Director of Publications, ON THE COVER: The new CAD/CAM Ceramic Center, located on the third floor of the Robert Schattner Center, University of Evans Building, features a state-of-the-art laboratory for the fabrication of highly Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, esthetic ceramic restorations. Michael Bergler, a master dental technician (pictured), 240 South 40th Street, Philadelphia, PA leads the center with Dr. Markus Blatz, Chairman of the Department of Preventive 19104-6030, [email protected]. and Restorative Sciences. Mr. Bergler is internationally recognized for ceramic Office of Development and Alumni restoration fabrication and has published and lectured extensively on restorative Relations, 215-898-8951 materials, esthetic dentistry, and dental technology. A Message from the office of the dean ith the end of the academic year nearly upon us, I first want to take this opportunity to recognize our grad - uating Class of 2009. To each of you, I extend my personal congratulations on your achievements during your years here at Penn Dental Medicine, wish you continued success as you enter the next chapter of your dental career, and remind you that you will always be part of the Penn Dental Medicine community. W As the Class of 2009 looks to the future, this is a time when the School is doing the same. On July 1, we are pleased to welcome the next Dean of Penn Dental Medicine, Dr. Denis F. Kinane (see story, page 16). Dr. Kinane, who currently serves as the Delta Dental Endowed Professor in the Department of Periodontics, Endodontics and Dental Hygiene and Associate Dean for Research and Enterprise at the University of Louisville School of Dentistry and a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology in the University of Louisville School of Medicine, brings a wealth of experience to this leadership role, and I look forward to working with him. Since his selection in February, we have been in close communication to ensure a smooth transition of the deanship in our shared commitment to maintaining strength and stability within the School’s programs and within our student body, faculty, and staff. Looking ahead, I am excited and optimistic about the School’s continued growth and leadership on all fronts — education, research, and patient care. Within this academic year, we took a significant step in advancing our leadership position within restorative dentistry with the opening of the School’s CAD/CAM Ceramic Center (see story, page 2). Featuring the latest CAD/CAM systems on the market in a state-of-the-art laboratory for the fabrication of highly esthetic ceramic restorations, the Center will be home to new teaching, research, and clinical efforts across disciplines. And through a gracious agreement with PracticeWorks Systems L.L.C., the School also added to its diagnostic resources this year, acquiring a state-of-the-art Kodak 9000C 3D CT Extraoral Imaging System (see story, page 17). Also highlighted in this issue of the Penn Dental Journal are programs that continue to extend the School’s international reach and educational opportunities (see story, page 10) and an ongoing collaboration across campus with the University’s Abramson Cancer Center (see story, page 6) that provides preventive and diagnostic dental care to cancer patients along with shared research and teaching resources. Finally, with my service as Interim Dean soon coming to a close, I want to thank you — the entire Penn Dental Medicine community — for your support over the past year. It has been an honor to serve the School in this capacity. Thomas P. Sollecito (D’89, GD’91) Interim Dean Bringing Da Vinci to Dentistry The new CAD/CAM Ceramic Center at Penn Dental Medicine boldly unites art and science. by jennifer baldino bonett Bringing Da Vinci to Dentistry enaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci the most exciting aspects in modern dentistry, while merging appreciated the connections between excellence in research, teaching, and patient care. And Penn man and machine like no one before Dental Medicine, with its stature and exceptional infrastruc - him. As an artist, inventor, and anatomist, ture, is the ideal venue.” With his goal realized, Dr. Blatz da Vinci possessed both a deep understand- expects the Center to position Penn Dental Medicine “as ing of the human body and the ability to an international platform for world-class research and edu - express it brilliantly. cation in the restorative sciences.” Today, in the Department of Preventive and Restorative CAD/CAM allows clinicians to scan models and casts Sciences at Penn Dental Medicine, there is an innovative new (and, with some systems, impressions and actual teeth) to Runion between man and machine. CAD/CAM technology create a 3D computer model, yielding what Dr. Blatz calls (computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing) “extremely well-fitting restorations.” Beyond the traditional has ushered in a Renaissance for dental restoration. wax or alloy model, CAD/CAM allows dentists and dental lab - The new Penn Dental Medicine CAD/CAM Ceramic oratory technicians to design substructures for exacting Center is dedicated to the study and application of the latest restorations with precision down to the micrometer and cus - dental technologies in CAD/CAM and all-ceramic restora - tomized for each patient’s individual needs. tion materials, bringing together excep - The core of the Center, on the tional expertise in clinical dentistry, third floor of the Evans Building, features scientific investigation, and dental labora - the most prominent CAD/CAM systems tory techniques. Leading the Center are currently on the market in a state-of-the- Markus B. Blatz, DMD, PhD, who chairs art laboratory for the fabrication of highly the Department of Preventive and esthetic tooth- and implant-supported Restorative Sciences, and Michael Bergler, ceramic restorations. The Center will be MDT, who is manager of Dental Laboratory home to new teaching, research, and clini - Technology. Both are internationally rec - cal efforts only possible through CAD/CAM ognized for their clinical and scientific and high-level ceramic materials. At work in contributions to esthetic and restorative the Center, with its sleek, molded counter - dentistry. tops and powerful machines so streamlined “Dentistry is undergoing a funda - that they look like unpretentious computer mental transition from traditional clinical and laboratory monitors and laboratory cases, is Michael Bergler, who procedures to CAD/CAM fabrication and all-ceramic joined Penn Dental Medicine in June 2008. dental restorations,” says Dr. Blatz. “In many countries around the world, CAD/CAM technology and all-ceramics Meet the Artist. Mr. Bergler is a master dental technician, a have become essential parts of modern prosthetic, restora - formal title with 10 years of education and residency behind tive, and implant dentistry.” Dr. Blatz — trained in it in his native Germany. He trained at the University of prosthodontics, CAD/CAM technology, and dental material Erlangen– Nuernberg and earned his Certificate for Master sciences in his native Germany — set out to establish a Dental Technician (MDT) at the Masterschool of Freiburg. CAD/CAM center when he arrived at Penn Dental Medicine In practice for 11 years, Mr. Bergler is internationally recog - in 2006. “The Center is the culmination of the training and nized for ceramic restoration fabrication and has published work we have done in the past and the strong relationships we and lectured extensively on restorative materials, esthetic have built with our colleagues and industry partners around dentistry, and dental technology. the world,” says Dr. Blatz. “I have always envisioned a unique “I am honored that we were able to recruit one of the up- and interdisciplinary venture that has a clear focus on one of and-coming international stars in dental laboratory technol - ogy,” says Dr. Blatz, who has worked with Mr. Bergler in Pictured: While high-tech CAD/CAM systems generate the substructures, Germany and the U.S. “His arrival at Penn is a tremendous the artistry of creating the intricate and subtle features of a natural tooth gain for the School and for the whole dental community.” is done by hand.