Department of Periodontics and Preventive Dentistry: News
Residents make strong showing at Academy of Osseointegration again
Five residents in periodontics will be presenting posters of their personal research projects to the Academy of Osseointegration in Washington, D.C., March 3-5. At the IADR two weeks later, two dental students will make prominent presentations of research they conducted with Dr. Pouran Famili.
At the Academy of Osseointegration, Pittsburgh periodontics residents will be presenting:
- Osteoporosis and the success of oral implants [chief resident Jennifer Mateja Zavoral and Dr. Famili];
- Survival of dental implants among post-menopausal female dental-school patients taking oral bisphosphonates: A retrospective study [Timothy Almon Mosher, Sean Quigley and Dr. Famili];
- Effects of HIV on success of dental implants (literature review) [Omer Farooq Akmal, Abdullah ALShuraidah and Dr. Famili];
- Osseointegration of zirconia dental implants: Review of the available literature [Eyad al-Khalifa and Dr. Famili];
- Success rates of dental implants in patients with diabetes mellitus [Danny Choi, Elizabeth Gordon, and Dr. Famili].
Fourth-year student Danny Bair competes for one of three 2011 DENTSPLY/Caulk Clinical Science cash awards. Announced March 17 in San Diego, three winners will be chosen among seven competitors in each category, basic and clinical science. He presents Incidence of Osteonecrosis in Elderly Female Patients after Single-Dose Zolendronic Acid Treatment, the ZEST research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health under Dr. Susan Greenspan. As dental co-investigator, Dr. Famili is responsible for providing dental examinations and clearances to participate in the bisphosphonate-dosing study among frail nursing home-bound elders. Danny Bair begins the Pittsburgh residency in periodontics in June.
At the IADR, Matt Silverstein makes an oral presentation of Dr. Famili’s obesity-diabetes-and-periodontics research, an extension of her interest in oral and systemic health-linked conditions and the role preventive dentistry can play. Mr. Silverstein will continue the research with Dr. Famili in the coming year, competing also for this year’s Summer START-UP research training award.
In the week before the IADR, Matt Silverstein, class president in 2012, receives the 2011 ADEA/Johnson and Johnson Preventive Dentistry Scholarship at that national meeting, also in San Diego. The cash tuition award was made to only twelve dental students in the nation, including one other from the University of Pittsburgh.
Several faculty, staff changes in Department of Periodontics
Former chief resident 2010, Kelly Bolden Williams, returned as scheduled to the Department as fulltime visiting faculty beginning November 1. On Feb. 3 she welcomed the birth of her first child, Madeline, and will be on maternity leave now until April 1.
About the same time, part-time faculty Dr. Amber Foronda resigned her position primarily in the implant center. Dr. John Michael extends his part-time commitment now to two days each week in the periodontics graduate clinics Mondays and Thursdays, and Dr. Howard Goldstein moves to the Multidisciplinary Implant Center under the direction of Dr. Mark Ochs.
Clinic coordinator Diane Laird remains on extended medical leave, and the entire department wishes her well. Her place is being adequately filled by temporary dental assistant Terry Beech, on the staff until April 1.