Lasting Impressions | Summer 2017

28 © NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY Faculty Impressions As a teenager, Piermatti chose to pursue a career in dentistry, “because I thought it would be something nice to do,” he said. He graduated from the Fairleigh Dickinson University School of Dentistry in Teaneck, New Jersey, in 1979 and then did a hospital-based surgical residency program at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson, New Jersey. He trained in implantology at New York University College of Dentistry and at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in New York, followed by a postgradu- ate prosthodontics program at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine. After completing his training, he started his private practice. Piermatti started working with dental implants in 1985 when very few dentists were doing them. He has since spent significant time passing his knowledge and experience to other dentists. “I’ve always enjoyed training other doctors,” he said. Piermatti is a Diplomate of the American Board of Pros- thodontics, the American Board of Oral Implantology, and the International Congress of Oral Implantologists. He is a Fellow in the American College of Prosthodontists and the Academy of General Dentistry and an Honored Fellow in the American Academy of Implant Dentistry. He also is a Master in the American Academy of Implant Prosthodontics. Piermatti is the immediate past president of the American Board of Oral Implantology, for which he now serves as an examiner for dentists seeking board certification. He also has served as vice president and as a member of multiple committees of the New Jersey section of the American College of Prosthodontists. Among his many accomplishments, Piermatti was hon- ored with the Private Practice Award for Northeast Region 1 by the American College of Prosthodontists. His colleague, periodontist John Nikas, D.M.D., said Piermatti has “devoted his entire career to the advancement of prosthodontics and implant dentistry. I have seen him lecture to large audiences, give small seminars, and conduct hands-on, over-the-shoul- der courses,” Nikas said. “He invites dentists and dental students, individually, to observe in his office—all with a zeal that I have not seen in many practitioners.” Piermatti says the greatest challenge he sees in the indus- try is training doctors in the correct method for implantol- ogy and reconstructive prosthodontics. While not many dentists were doing implants when he started, “now every- body does them, and unfortunately, a lot of people are doing them with very minimal training,” he said. “I don’t think the results are as good as they could be if these practitioners would get proper training.” Piermatti enjoys spending what little downtime he has with his wife, Carol, who is partially retired from the real estate industry, and their family. He said there is very little in dentistry he has wanted to do but has not accomplished. “I’ve been a clinician and an educator and published multiple papers and chapters in textbooks,” Piermatti said. “I’m really satisfied and pretty fulfilled in what I’ve done in dentistry.” u CDM’S STUDENT LEADERSHIP SHOWS ON NATIONAL LEVEL Third-year dental student Deeva Bhatt, who is also pursuing a master’s degree in public health, has been elected as the national student representative for the American Association of Women Dentists. Bhatt also is vice president of the CDM’s Women’s Dental Society and is active in other CDM organ- izations. After graduation, she plans to specialize in the public health field. “We are so proud of her for running for the office. She made quite an impression on all of the women at the meeting and is moving Nova Southeastern University’s name into the limelight on a national level,” said Sharon Crane Siegel, D.D.S., M.S., M.B.A., professor and chair of the Department of Prosthodontics. u CDM Impressions Continued from previous page