Lasting Impressions | Summer 2017

6 © NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY and staff capacity.” The result includes the vision and mission statements, goals, objectives, and metrics. INNOVATIVE EDUCATION An objective in the strategic plan’s Innovative Education section identifies implementation of the most advanced technology within the curriculum that mirrors the dental practice environment. “The CDM’s goals around innovative education require strengthening our digital curriculum,” Niessen said. “We must be competitive with the latest technology and innovations in oral health education.” Sharon Siegel, D.D.S., M.S., M.B.A., professor and chair of the Department of Prosthodontics, continues to build the CAD/CAM (computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing) dentistry curriculum for the predoctoral and postgraduate prosthodontic students. The U.S. dental prosthetics market, including crowns/ bridges, inlays/onlays, and veneers and dentures, is expected to reach $11.8 billion by 2020. “CAD/CAM is the direction restorative dentistry is headed, and we are ahead of the curve in training our students in CAD/CAM dental education,” Siegel said. Currently, 12 CAD/CAM scanners are available for student use in the training clinic at the CDM. The intraoral, digital impression-taking devices enable dentists to directly scan a patient’s mouth using a handheld digital-scanning device and transmit that data electronically to a laboratory. The use of the devices expedites the restoration processes, increasing the efficiency of both dentists and technicians. “We are finding that because of our commitment to educating our students to become skilled in CAD/CAM, when they go into practice, they are hired because of their CAD/CAM skills,” Siegel said. She is also examining how to teach CAD/CAM more efficiently as part of an interdis- ciplinary study with two H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship professors—Steve Kramer, Ph.D., associate professor of decision sciences, and Kimberly Deranek, Ph.D., associate professor of operations and systems management. “In the study, students are reviewing videos on how to prepare CAD/CAM restorations prior to the sim lab practice. Faculty members then act as facilitators during the clinical laboratory session,” Siegel said. “We have found that the groups who review the video are more prepared, engaged, and more effective in the clinic.” Siegel presented her findings at the American Dental Education Association conference in Long Beach, California, in March. Her research collaborators, Kramer and Deranek, presented the findings to a Decision Sciences group in Charlotte, North Carolina, in February. The CAD/CAM teaching research goes a step further. In another research project, Siegel is evaluating the 2002 A four-year oral and maxillofacial surgery program begins with six residents. 2003 The Special Needs Dentistry Clinic opens in a 450-square-foot office space in Davie, Florida. In 2013, it relocates to a larger space in North Miami Beach because of demand. Professor Jack Piermatti, D.M.D., left, discusses dental care with a CDM student and Carlos Villanueva, D.D.S.