Lasting Impressions | Fall 2016

6 © NSU LASTING IMPRESSIONS WITH SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF PERIODONTOLOGY, STUDENTS REALIZE A PASSION FOR PERIODONTICS Discovering a Fourth-year student Adam Saltz, M.P.H., completed his bachelor’s degree at Nova Southeastern University as a dual admission dental medicine student. “I transitioned into the dental school at the age of 21. I knew that NSU’s College of Dental Medicine had a strong reputation in academia, research, and clinical practice, so I didn’t feel the need to consider other programs,” said Saltz, who originally hails from Maine. During his second year of dental school, Saltz also pursued a Master of Public Health degree, which he received from NSU in the summer of 2016. (Saltz is one of the organizers of the 2017 Give Kids A Smile program. See story on page 40.) But there was more at the CDM that would expand Saltz’s knowledge and help him de ne his professional goals. In his rst year of dental school, he discovered a specialty that piqued his interest. “I was always drawn to medicine and surgery, and periodontics nicely combines the two. I admire the inter- disciplinary approach needed to restore form and function through surgery. e link between periodontal and systemic diseases has only strengthened over the years,” said Saltz, who will begin a three-year postdoctoral program in periodontics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in June 2017. e American Dental Association de nes periodontics as a specialty of dentistry that encompasses the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases of the supporting and surrounding tissues of the teeth or their substitutes, as well as the maintenance of the health, function, and esthetics of these structures and tissues. All predoctoral College of Dental Medicine students go through a comprehensive curriculum in periodontics. “Everything in dentistry has something to do with the preservation and maintenance of periodontal health,” said Maria A. Hernandez, D.D.S., associate professor, chair of the Department of Periodontology, and director of advanced specialty education in periodontology. “We teach all our dental students the relationship between certain systemic diseases and periodontal diseases.” First-, second-, and third-year predoctoral students are steeped in periodontal didactics and clinical courses. First-year students take a course with the periodontal department’s group of hygienists, where they learn the basics of periodontal instrumentation. FIRST TIME WITH PATIENTS In their second year, the students get hands-on train- ing in the dental care clinic. “ is is really their rst time facing and working on patients,” Hernandez explained. “ is is where they learn when they need to refer patients to a specialist when they become general practitioners.” As second-year CDM students, they are already perform- ing examinations, reading X-rays, devising treatment plans, doing diagnostics, and planning referrals. “It is really fascinating to see them for the rst time with patients,” she added. Fourth-year student Gabriella Ambrose, M.B.S., became interested in exploring periodontics during her second year of predoctoral study. “As I began seeing patients, I came across many who were about to be rendered fully or partially edentulous because the periodontics portion of their dental care was placed on the back burner or not maintained,” said Ambrose, who earned her Master of Science in Biomedical Science degree with an oral biology BY MICHELLE F. SOLOMON Continued on page 8