College of Dental Medicine Lasting Impressions Magazine

COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE © 5 BY MICHELLE F. SOLOMON P edro Codo has a full-time job in the marketing and product-placement department with a Fortune 500 company. And the 24-year-old’s passion is inspira- tional public speaking. However, the North Bay Village, Florida, resident said self-consciousness about his smile was holding him back. His two front teeth were discolored after he fell as a youngster, and one of the teeth required more advanced care at the time of the accident. While growing up in São Paulo, Brazil, he went through a series of procedures, including a root canal on the broken tooth. “I was about 10 years old,” he recalled, “and I hit the ground face first.” His parents took him to several dentists in Brazil to get his tooth reconstructed. Before the procedure was completed, however, the family moved to the United States. As an adult living in Orlando, Florida, he continued to seek treatment. “I did find a Brazilian dentist, but she didn’t do a good job. She altered both of my front teeth in an attempt to match them; however, the colors and sizes were different from the others,” he said. After a move to Miami, and a chance meeting during a church service in North Miami, Codo became friendly with Diego Araujo Dalla Bona, D.D.S., Ph.D., a visiting assistant professor at NSU’s College of Dental Medicine. Dalla Bona is a clinician leader for Team 8 in the CDM’s patient care center on the Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus. Team 8 is one of eight teams where third- and fourth-year students design treatment plans and provide dental services in a clinical setting under the mentorship and supervision of faculty group leaders. The students also learn the impor- tance of teamwork with other students. “Pedro told me he had posed for some professional photographs, but he wasn’t very confident,” remembered Dalla Bona. It was because of that discolored right tooth that Dalla Bona invited him to the NSU dental clinic for a consultation. The challenge for Team 8 was to match the cosmetically altered teeth to the rest of the patient’s natural teeth. “The smile is the most difficult [of the aesthetics] to do,” said Randy H. Lichtman, D.D.S., assistant professor and Team 8 coleader. The team leaders assigned Codo’s case to Derek Stallard, a fourth-year dental student and a Team 8 member. “At the end of this case, Derek would have a more exceptional experience learning the importance of aesthetic dentistry,” Teaming Up CDM’S TEAM 8 MATCHES PATIENT’S COSMETICALLY ALTERED TEETH Fourth-year dental student Derek Stallard, left,confers with Team 8 leaders and assistant professors Diego Araujo Dalla Bona and Randy H.Lichtman, right. AND S T UD ENT S AR E HAV I NG ON PAT I ENT S