Fall Issue

Table of Contents

1. Presidents' Message
   
   
2. Embracing the Future of Oral Medicine
   
   
3. News from University of Pennsylvania
   

4. News from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU)
   

5. In Your Face Oral Medicine
   
   
6. A Personal Story: “A Student for Life”
   
   
7. Harvard Oral Medicine Resident Ali Shazib Receives 2017 AAOM Research Advancement Award
   
   
8. September is National Dental Infection Control Awareness Month
   
   
9. Announcement

Editor: Juan Bugueno

Co-editor: Bhavik Desai

Photography Editor: Paul Vankevich

Editor Emeritus and Copy Editor: Michael Krakow

Presidents' Message
Dr. Miriam R Robbins

The summer has wound down, the days are getting shorter and vacations are over. While I am looking forward to some cooler temperatures and lower humidity in the northeast where I live, I will miss seeing the sun when I wake up. Getting up in the dark always seems to be much harder. Things are beginning to ramp up again and it is time to return to business. At the beginning of my term as President, I commented that one of my primary interests for this year was to improve communication amongst all members, maximizing effective interaction within all sections in order to strengthen the organization as a cohesive group and to organize efforts for increasing AAOMs visibility amongst both oral health and medical professionals. Now, almost at the halfway point, the members of the Executive Council and the Board of Trustees continue to work closely to achieve these goals. However, your voice is an important piece and I encourage you to contact me, make recommendations, share information on needs and suggest feasible strategies that deserve consideration. We have an amazing wealth of talent in our membership and I am sure that as a group, we can develop the most appropriate courses of action that will help us serve our diverse group of patients, much better. Read More

Embracing the Future of Oral Medicine
Dr. Craig S. Miller and Dr. Douglas Peterson

We would like to compliment Dr. Bhavik Desai for his thought-provoking reflections in “My Oral Medicine Job Hunt,” as published in the Spring 2017 AAOM Newsletter. In his essay, he leaves us all with the following challenge:

“Dental academicians are ageing, and oral medicine may be no exception. In principle, ageing demographics should work in favor of younger trainees seeking employment opportunities; however, my own experiences and those of junior colleagues reveal otherwise. In my current position, I teach case-based learning to small groups of bright-eyed third year dental students, some of whom express interest in oral medicine as a career. Most of these students will graduate with significant dental school debt. Can I look them in the eye and honestly tell them that they should pursue a residency in oral medicine, and they will do okay for themselves?” Read More

News from University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine, Department of Oral Medicine
Dr. Eric T. Stoopler

Congratulations to Dr. Thomas P. Sollecito, this year’s recipient of the Martin S. Greenberg, D.D.S. Teaching Award in Oral Medicine, presented to the faculty member who demonstrates excellence in resident teaching. Read More

News from the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU)
Dr. Andres Pinto 

Earlier this year, a Registered Nurse joined our department and the School of Dental Medicine. She will be instrumental in coordinating interprofessional activities and has already interfaced with the Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine service, assisting patients who require coordination among primary care, clinical psychology, pain management, dermatology, and ENT providers. Read More

In Your Face Oral Medicine
Expert Advice for Care of Your Patients
Saturday November 4, 2017 

Jointly provided by the UNC Department of Dental Ecology and The American Academy of Oral Medicine 

Course Description:

This course will provide the attendee with practical advice from a panel of nationally known Oral Medicine experts on how to better manage their patients with complex medical conditions, oral mucosal diseases, and orofacial pain. Take-home tips, prescriptions, reference guidelines, and relevant websites will be provided. Clinical cases will be presented.

The faculty invites attendees to submit their most perplexing cases for discussion by the experts in the final hour. Read More

A Personal Story: “A Student for Life”
Ahmed S. Sultan, BDS, FDS, RCSEd

My excitement for oral medicine started when I was in my final year of dental school. Oral medicine clinics featured cases that were always complex and fascinating. These clinics gave me respite from the unimaginative “drilling and filling” restorative clinical sessions. I recall one specific clinic that confirmed in my mind that I should commit my career pursuit to becoming an oral medicine specialist. It was my fifth and final year as a dental student at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Professor Flint effortlessly diagnosed post-herpetic neuralgia in a patient who had seen nine different providers previously. This newfound intrigue drove me to complete a 3-year Oral Medicine Residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) & Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM). During my residency, I was fortunate to be exposed to several complex cases and witnessed leading experts in a multidisciplinary capacity diagnose and manage the most challenging of cases. I am truly indebted to all my mentors at BWH/HSDM, namely, Drs. Villa, Treister, Woo, Mawardi, and Sonis who, throughout the years with their invaluable expertise, all successfully guided me to recently attaining specialist status with the American Board of Oral Medicine and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. I truly enjoyed carrying out my duties as chief resident in my final year of residency and working alongside such a magnificent group of residents and faculty made the experience one that I will never forget. Read More

Harvard Oral Medicine Resident Ali Shazib Receives 2017 AAOM Research Advancement Award

First year resident Ali Shazib received the AAOM Research Advancement Committee Award on a project characterizing the toxicity and cost analysis of a unique cohort of risk-free patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma. “Learning from mentors such as Dr. Sonis and Dr. Villa has enabled me to ask clinically critical questions and systemically address them in a team oriented and multi-disciplinary approach. We believe that this project will enable us to better understand the individual variability in the carcinogenesis, treatment response, and pharmaco-economic of patients suffering from oral cancer. Furthermore, the recent inauguration of an oral medicine and oncology clinic in Dana-Farber Cancer Institute will provide us an exciting and limitless opportunity to incubate many insightful projects like this”, said Ali Shazib.

September is National Dental Infection Control Awareness Month

The Organization for Safety, Asepsis and Prevention (OSAP) encourages the dental profession to support the second annual Dental Infection Control Awareness Month in September. This campaign reaffirms and promotes the dental community’s commitment to infection control by adopting the CDC Summary and Checklist and by supporting infection control coordinators.

The goals of Dental Infection Control Awareness Month are to: 

1) Support the adoption of the CDC’s 2016 infection prevention checklist

2) Champion the role of the infection control coordinator

3) Promote patient safety and build patients’ trust in infection control compliance

Read More

Announcement
Craig S.Miller DMD, MS

For your information, Oral Diseases and its publisher Wiley makes the entire FIRST ISSUE OF EACH YEAR available to everyone for free, i.e., with or without institutional or personal subscriptions, for several months. This means that the Festschrift issue, in honor of Crispian Scully, will be FREE to anyone worldwide. I ask that you to spread the word amongst AAOM members and colleagues. Your help will allow more people to read the Festschrift issue and share in honoring Crispian.