Lasting Impressions | Summer 2017

8 © NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY The CDM has a long history of treating patients who would otherwise not have access to needed oral health care. “People who are disabled, medically compromised, home- bound, or institutionalized are at increased risk for dental disease,” said Diane Ede-Nichols, D.M.D., M.H.L., M.P.H., associate professor and chair of community dentistry. The strategic plan serves as a new jumping-off point for Ede-Nichols to engage her students in geriatric dental care—an underserved population she believes has been neglected. The teaching hospital, HCA East Florida, which will be built on the NSU Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus, may create opportunities to serve as an experiential learn- ing site for providing geriatric patient care. “The hospital could create another resource in terms of following patients from the community into a hospital setting,” Ede-Nichols said. Ede-Nichols initiated a CDM organization to develop predoctoral and advanced dental education mission trips to provide education and treatment for the underserved in Caribbean and Central American countries. The interna- tional mission trips will “continue and grow,” she said. Yet, the mission in which Ede-Nichols sees the most expansion is the CDM partnership with the Florida Dental Association’s Mission of Mercy—a two-day clinic providing free dental care to the underserved and uninsured in Florida. Every year, the Florida Mission of Mercy project is held in different locations throughout the state. “While our trips abroad are important and necessary, there is a great need right here in Florida,” Ede-Nichols said. Another focus for the next five years and beyond will be the Special Needs Dentistry Clinic. All CDM graduating seniors have a one-day-a-week rotation through the clinic over a five-week period. In addition, six first-year and six second-year Advanced Education in General Dentistry residents provide daily dental care in the Special Needs Dentistry Clinic. Ede-Nichols, a champion for dental care for the under- served, hopes to turn the attention of the dental community to the dental needs of older adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). “Pediatric dentists are trained in special needs and will see spectrum disorder patients up to a certain age, but autistic patients are living longer. We haven’t been able to expand provision of care to these ASD patients as they get older,” she said. Romer Ocanto, D.D.S., M.S., chair of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, was awarded an almost $4-million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The grant will fund the development of a curriculum addressing the transition of children and adolescents with ASD to adult dental care. Ede-Nichols said the grant affords the department the ability to educate general dentists to provide care for adult patients with ASD. LEADERSHIP According to Niessen, leadership is a hallmark of CDM graduates and sets them apart in the dental profession. “The mission is to create the next generation of leaders in dentistry while improving oral health care through pa- tient-centered care, research, a commitment to academic excellence, and a commitment to the communities we service,” she said. Erinne Kennedy, D.M.D., M.P.H., class of 2015, said she always had the desire to be a leader, but it was her 2008 In December 2008, the CDM opens a full-service pediatric dental clinic at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. 2009 In July 2009, after 12 years as a 2-year program, orthodontics residents enter a new 30-month orthodontic graduate program.