Feature Article: Focus on Academics
Baylor College of Dentistry Graduate Program in Orthodontics; Texas A&M University Health Science System Health Science Center
Questions posed to Dr. Emile Rossouw, Professor and Chairman
What is the mission of the Baylor Program?
The mission of the Advanced Education Program in Orthodontics at Baylor College of Dentistry is to educate dentists in the specialty of Orthodontics in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the Standards for Advanced Specialty Education Programs prepared by the ADA Commission on Accreditation and the American Association of Orthodontists. The program objectives are (1) to provide the student with a well-balanced educational experience, integrating a strong foundation in the basic sciences with a diverse clinical experience, and (2) graduate a specialist with the highly refined analytical, clinical, and management skills necessary to provide optimum oral health care.
Tell us about the history of the Department of Orthodontics:
Historically, while the college taught the subject of Orthodontics in its undergraduate curriculum as far back as 1905, it was several decades later when Dr. Robert Gaylord, and his colleagues, Drs. Tom Matthews and Claude Williams, recognized the need to establish a graduate training program. In 1959, the College set aside sufficient space for the new graduate orthodontic program and additional funds and equipment were solicited from several generous benefactors in the Dallas community to establish the new facility. The Orthodontic Department accepted its first class of five residents in the summer of 1961. Since then, there have been 45 classes and over 250 graduates from the program. Baylor has a long and stable history of producing superb orthodontists, many who have and are still serving education and who participate as members of local and national organized orthodontics.
What are some unique features of the Program at Baylor College of Dentistry?
The Orthodontic Department is one of six clinical departments in the College. The Department is responsible for instruction in both predoctoral and postdoctoral programs. The predoctoral didactic component is taught in each year of the four-year dental curriculum. A selective course is offered in the senior year that provides an opportunity for additional study and clinical orthodontic experience for a limited number of students.
The Advanced Specialty Education Program strives to develop proficiency in diagnosis, treatment planning, and treatment of a wide variety of malocclusions using multiple appliance techniques and treatment philosophies. Students treat a broad age range of patients with emphasis on the adolescent. In addition, they manage adults requiring surgical, interdisciplinary, or TM dysfunction treatment. We strive to produce biologically thinking clinicians with a thorough understanding of growth, development, and maturation of the population; moreover, the continued explosion in the development of the orthodontic appliance and biomaterial science necessitate pursuing a balance between the didactic and clinical components of the program. It is imperative we ensure that our ranks as orthodontists be enhanced by the addition of critically thinking clinicians who will be able to evaluate the evidence, or lack thereof, in our literature, to provide excellent patient care. Currently, the program length is 26 months, with graduates receiving both a Certificate in Orthodontics and a Masters in Oral Biology upon completion of their requirements. There is also a program that leads to a PhD in Craniofacial Biology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences.
We are extremely fortunate to have the services of experienced faculty who are nationally and internationally recognized for their teaching capabilities. This group is composed of five full-time, seventeen orthodontic part-time, and two TMD part-time faculty. Additional instruction is provided by faculty from other departments within the College and by invited guest lecturers and consultants, many from the Baylor alumni cadre who have excelled on a national and international forum. Our residents are thus exposed to all facets of orthodontics, which is a tremendous asset in providing a complete orthodontic education. The Department’s full-time staff members (Administrative Assistant, Clinic Coordinator, Laboratory Coordinator, Dental Assistants, and Hygienist) provide support service for the Graduate Clinic and the Center for Craniofacial Research and Diagnosis.
The major focus of departmental research activity is the Center for Craniofacial Research and Diagnosis. The Center includes a clinical treatment facility, functional analysis and data processing laboratory, and offices for cephalometric tracing and analysis. Not only are the Baylor residents encouraged and supported to become ABO-certified, but our research endeavors recently culminated in AAO awards; the Milo Hellman Award received by Dr. Doug Singleton (Study on the effects of growth hormone), and an Award of Merit received by Dr. Roberto Carrillo (Mini-implant anchorage and intrusion of teeth).
Baylor is one of the very few departments to have an endowed chair. The Gaylord Chair in Orthodontics is presently very appropriately filled by a student of Dr. Gaylord, Dr. Phil Campbell, a person with an inexhaustible enthusiasm and loyalty to the program. Dr. Campbell serves as the Graduate Clinical Director.
The Department has a long history of educating dentists to be orthodontists dedicated to excellence in the discipline. Today's faculty and staff are committed to upholding that tradition. The Department is supported by a strong and active alumni organization. Alumni also volunteer as instructors for special technique courses and frequently lecture in the consultants program. Graduates have served with distinction in all levels of the professional community.
What are your biggest needs and plans for future development?
My travels and interactions with colleagues near and far consolidated the fact that Baylor has an excellent program and without doubt ranks as one of the top orthodontic programs; however, it must be appreciated, cherished, protected, and above-all allowed to grow collaterally with the amazing developments presently taking place in the orthodontic world. Our open-mindedness will ensure that our program will be continually enriched by all participants, be they faculty, resident, staff, alumnus, or visitor to our program. The 26-month program has served us well; however, its effectiveness to continue to meet our goals in the future created a need to allow development into a longer program. Thus a 30-36 month program will be structured for implementation to compliment our planned state-of-the-art facilities. We depend on alumni support, thus we will continue to encourage our alumni to participate in the program with financial and intellectual support. Every alumnus can play a part in our pursuit to obtain contemporary and state-of-the-art facilities, as well as to remain at the cutting edge of orthodontic technology.
What would you like to say about your faculty/staff?
A very unique aspect of my personal career is that I have had the opportunity to be a Chairman of a Graduate Orthodontic Program at three different universities, in three countries. I thus bring a unique characteristic to Baylor, a true international experience; moreover, my experiences enable me to be an unbiased judge as to the excellence of the academic environment, program characteristics, and very importantly, those personalities with whom I am privileged to work in a team every day. The faculty and staff are superb. I can say without any hesitation that Baylor has provided me with an orthodontic home with a tremendously constructive milieu with camaraderie for learning, growth, and personal development. Our faculty and staff play an immeasurable role in the success of the department. As a matter of fact, they are the most reliable, efficient, dependable, and supportive group of individuals that a Chairman could wish to have as a team to take on the challenges of present-day academic orthodontics. This team support will ensure that the Department of Orthodontics at Baylor College of Dentistry remains one of the top contenders in orthodontics, nationally and internationally. Our full-time and part-time faculty exudes experience. Our full-time faculty ensures that all the facets required of a well-orchestrated program are met, although space permits only a brief tribute to each:
Dr. Richard Ceen, our Program Director, started his academic career as Instructor at Columbia University Dental School in 1972. His academic career included positions at the State University of New York Stony Brook, Acting Chairman at the University of Baltimore, Maryland, and appointed at Baylor in 1987 as Chairman. His present research interest is in assessing the efficacy of mid-symphyseal distraction osteogenesis.
Dr. Peter Buschang, our Director of Research, developed his academic career from UT Austin to the University of Connecticut, and onto the Growth Center at the University of Montreal, pursuing research in longitudinal craniofacial growth. He was first appointed at Baylor in 1988 and has since been a tremendous force behind our research achievements.
Dr. Phil Campbell, our Graduate Clinic Director, has private practice experience of 32 years. He has been actively involved in numerous organizations, such as the Board of Trustees of Baylor College of Dentistry, and the Baylor Oral Health Foundation. He is presently Treasurer of the Edward Angle Education and Research Foundation, has been elected to the Baylor Hall of Fame, and holds two patents.
Dr. Reg Taylor, our Predoctoral Director, received his orthodontic certificate and doctoral degree from Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and started his academic career at the University of Alabama School of Dentistry in Birmingham, Alabama in 1992. He was appointed at Baylor in 2000; his interest is the oral biology of tooth movement.
Our group walks together to face a wonderful orthodontic future at Baylor College of Dentistry.
Are there any plans for renovations, moves, new collaborations on-campus etc.?
Baylor College of Dentistry is now part of the Texas A&M University System Health Science Center. The Main Campus of the Health Science Center is in College Station, Texas and irrespective of the distance that separate them, the main campus has positive effects for the Dental School. Baylor College has developed into a very strong unit of the Health Science Center with all clinical, didactic, and research facilities available at the Dental School, in contrast to many other schools who do not have this unique feature. Moreover, the availability of the A&M System also facilitates collaboration among system components. This year will bring the renovation of the orthodontic facilities, which will allow us to continue in our proud orthodontic tradition of clinical excellence. A new orthodontic clinic, laboratory, and seminar rooms will soon be completed to ensure that we maintain state-of-the-art education; in addition, we have embarked on a complete electronic environment for clinical records.
Present collaborations with Medical City Dallas, Children’s Hospital, and UT Southwestern Medical School serve as continued enrichment for our residents and faculty. An NIH grant to further our clinical research program emanated from this endeavor.
About the Chairman, Dr. Emile Rossouw:
Dr. Paul Emile Rossouw received the following degrees, BSc (Chemistry and Physiology), BChD (Dentistry), BChD (Hons in Children's Dentistry), MChD (Orthodontics, Cum Laude), and PhD (Dental Sciences) from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He recently also received the Orthodontics Certificate from Baylor College of Dentistry, introducing him as an alumnus of the Orthodontic Program.
Dr. Rossouw has been associated with academic and clinical orthodontics in various capacities for the last twenty-one years. He celebrated this milestone by becoming ABO certified. Dr. Rossouw became Professor and Head of the Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Stellenbosch in South Africa in 1987, a position he held for a number of years until recruited as Head of the Discipline of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Canada. Dr. Rossouw held this position from 1993 until 2000 and was subsequently appointed as Director of the Burlington Growth and Research Centre at the University of Toronto, a position he held until January 2002. He also maintained a successful private practice in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada; the clinical management of patients enhanced his academic endeavors. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Dentists of Canada during a Convocation ceremony in 1999 and has served this College as an examiner for orthodontics. In July 2002, Dr. Rossouw was recruited to Baylor College of Dentistry as Professor and Clinic Director in the Department of Orthodontics, a position he held until February 2004. Presently, he is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Orthodontics at Baylor College of Dentistry. Besides his academic and research involvement, he is a clinician at heart and maintains a part-time intramural practice.
His published works range through the areas of clinical orthodontics, biomaterials, jaw growth, and long-term stability. Dr. Rossouw has contributed more than 100 publications to the dental literature, which include scientific articles, chapters in books, and abstracts, and he has lectured nationally and internationally. He is a member of many associations and societies, among them the American Association of Orthodontics and the well-respected Tweed Foundation, where he served as clinical instructor. He serves on the reviewing panels for various orthodontic and general dentistry journals.
Full-time Faculty
P. Emile Rossouw BSc, BChD (Dent), BChD (Hons-Child Dent), MChD (Orthod), PhD, FRCD(C) — Professor and Chairman
Richard F. Ceen, BS, DDS — Orthodontic Graduate Program Director
Phillip M. Campbell, BA, MA, DDS, MSD — Graduate Clinic Director
Peter H. Buschang, MA, PhD — Orthodontic Research Director
Reginald W. Taylor, DMD, DMSc — Predoctoral Orthodontic Director
Full-time Staff
Julie Bradshaw — Administrative Coordinator
Drucilla Lewis — Clinic Coordinator
Stan Richardson — Senior Lab Coordinator
Alicia Tello — Clinic Receptionists
Ann Lopez — Dental Assistant II
Samantha Dominque — Dental Assistant I
Ann Lovelady — Dental Hygienists
Bennie Henderson — Sterilization Dispensary
Part-Time Graduate Faculty2007 (Clinical Instructors)
Information includes practice location, university and year of graduation
Terry B. Adams, DDS, MSD, Clinical Assistant Professor; Dallas, BAYU ’78
C. Moody Alexander, DDS, MS, Clinical Professor; Dallas, UTEX ’60
J Moody Alexander, DDS, MSD, Clinical Assistant Professor; Arlington, BAYU ’95
Richard G. Alexander, DDS, MSD, Clinical Professor; Arlington, UTEX ’64
Hugh Eldon Attaway, DDS, MSD, Clinical Associate Professor; Irving, UNEB ’61
Jimmy C. Boley, DDS, MS, Clinical Assistant Professor; Richardson, UMKC ’67
Monte K. Collins, DDS, MSD, Clinical Assistant Professor; Bedford, BAYU ’86
Douglas R. Crosby, DDS, MSD, Clinical Associate Professor; Richardson, UNC ’83
Mark S. Geller, DDS, MSD, Clinical Assistant Professor; Plano, BAYU ’75
Edward R. Genecov, DDS, Clinical Professor; Dallas, COLU ’60
Jeff Genecov, DDS, MSD, Clinical Assistant Professor; Plano, BAYU ’87
Charles R. Holt, DDS, Clinical Associate Professor; Bedford, BCOD '60
Tom M. Matthews, DDS, Clinical Professor; Dallas, BAYU ’50
Willis Murphey, DDS, MS, Clinical Assistant Professor; Ft Worth, STLU ’68
Richard Polson, DDS, Clinical Assistant Professor; Bedford, UTHSC-SA ‘86
Marvin Stephens, DDS, MSD, Clinical Assistant Professor; Tyler, BAYU ’73
Larry Tadlock, DDS, MS, Clinical Assistant Professor; North Richland Hills, UTEX ’88
John Valant, DDS, MSD, Clinical Assistant Professor; Cedar Hill, BAYU ’87
Larry White, DDS, MSD, Clinical Assistant Professor; De Soto, BAYU ’68
Residents
Class of 2007
Adam Benham, DDS, Baylor College of Dentistry
Carmen Briceno Casas, DDS, University of Florida
Megan Harlan, DDS, University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio
Christopher Rawle, DDS, University of Pennsylvania
Clayton Spencer, DDS, University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio
Payam Sanjideh, DDS, University of Southern California
Class of 2008
David Farnsworth, DDS, Baylor College of Dentistry
Casey Lepley, DDS, University of Florida
Ann Nguyen, DDS, Baylor College of Dentistry
John Sherrard, D.D.S., Dalhousie University, Canada
Kelton Stewart, DDS, Baylor College of Dentistry
Ioana (Alexandra) Peptan, DDS, PhD, University of Illinois
Sarah Pollan White, DDS, Baylor College of Dentistry
Class of 2009
Glen Cohen, DDS, University of Florida
Jared Corbridge, DDS, University of California at Los Angeles
Hideki Ikeda, DDS, University of Southern California
Cody Moore, DDS, University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio
Adam Spencer, DDS, Baylor College of Dentistry
Lauren Van Bebber, DDS, Louisiana State University