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Indiana University School of Dentistry
The only dental school in the Hoosier state, Indiana
University School of Dentistry (IUSD) offers an extraordinary learning
environment in which teaching, research, and community service come together in
the best way possible for the preparation of tomorrow’s dental professionals.
Under the leadership of Dean Lawrence Goldblatt since
January 1997, the school is located at the center of Indiana, and in the heart
of Indianapolis. It is part of Indiana University-Purdue University
Indianapolis (IUPUI), one of eight campuses in the IU system. IUPUI is a
fast-growing campus situated just a few blocks from Monument Circle in downtown
"Indy."
In January 2009, Dean Goldblatt announced his intentions
to step down as the school’s head administrator, effective June 30, 2010. After
a one-year administrative leave, he will return to the school’s faculty to
teach in the Department of Oral Pathology, Medicine, and Radiology.
IUPUI shares its location on the near west side of the
city with the Indiana University Medical Center, one of the finest teaching and
research centers in the world. Many of the dental school’s faculty members have
established strong collaborative ties with physicians and other scientists in
the medical center facilities.
IUSD is one of the oldest dental schools in the nation.
It got its start as the Indiana Dental College in 1879 and was acquired by
Indiana University in 1925. In 1933, IU built a facility to house the school at
its current site. Today this sprawling, five-story edifice is composed of the
original building plus two major additions -- the first addition was
constructed in 1962 and the second a decade later.
The IU dental school has more than 11,000 living alumni
pursuing careers throughout the United States and in more than 30 other
countries. The IU Alumni Association counts dentistry among its most supportive
groups. IU grads have been named to prestigious leadership posts in organized
dentistry and in dental education throughout the world. For example, alumna
Carol Turner (DDS’75) was appointed chief of the U.S. Navy Dental Corps in
2003, becoming the first woman to hold the Navy’s top position in dentistry.
Rear Admiral Turner served as chief until August 2007, and is now commander of
the Navy Medicine Support Command, Jacksonville, Fla. Others include Ronald
Zentz (DDS’85) senior director of the American Dental Association’s Council on
Scientific Affairs; Jeffrey Dalin (DDS’80), co-founder of the American Dental
Association’s Give Kids a Smile, a program in which volunteer dental
professionals across the country provide free dental services to children in
need; and Stephen Ralls (M’81 Periodontics), executive director of the American
College of Dentists.
During the 2008-2009 academic year, 698 students are
pursuing seven types of degree and/or certificate programs in dental assisting,
dental hygiene, dentistry, and graduate dentistry. In addition, three other IU
campuses (in Gary, South Bend, and Fort Wayne) offer certificates and degrees
in allied dental programs.
The dental school has 112 full-time and 126 part-time
faculty members contributing to IUSD’s teaching and research programs. Many
have earned solid reputations as experts in their fields. Additionally, 111
persons serve the school as adjunct and volunteer teachers and non-paid
consultants. An outstanding roster of teachers trained as dentists, allied
dental professionals, and dental specialists is complemented by teachers
trained in such areas as molecular biology, medical genetics, pharmacology and
toxicology, microbiology and immunology, biochemistry, anatomy, mechanical and
electrical engineering, dermatology, anthropology, pathology, law, and
healthcare communications.
Three professors and two emeritus faculty members hold
endowed faculty positions: David Avery, Ralph E. McDonald Professor Emeritus of
Pediatric Dentistry; William D. Browning, Indiana Dental Association Endowed
Chair of Restorative Dentistry; Jeffrey Platt, Ralph W. Phillips Scholar in
Dental Materials; W. Eugene Roberts, Joseph R. and Louise Ada Jarabak Professor
of Orthodontics; and Myron Kasle, Howard Riley Raper Professor Emeritus of
Radiology.
PATIENT CARE
Most of the dental school’s patients are treated on four
floors of the dental building, but the school also provides treatment at
several other outstanding patient care facilities, including the pediatric
dentistry clinic at Riley Outpatient Center, which is part of IU’s acclaimed
Riley Hospital for Children; the dental and oral surgery clinics at University
Hospital and Regenstrief Health Center; and Cottage Grove and Grassy Creek, two
clinics located in community centers.
The clinical dentistry program at IU is one of the
strongest in the country, gathering its strength from IU’s time-honored
traditions in educational excellence and drawing on a patient population of
more than 27,000 persons. A Comprehensive Care Clinic, divided into seven
sections, is contained on the third floor of the school. About 101,000 appointments
for dental patients were scheduled during the past fiscal year.
RESEARCH
The school’s reputation for excellence took firm root in
the 1940s, when pioneering dental dean Maynard Hine and several key teachers
and researchers began long and prolific careers on the dental faculty. It was
during this era, for example, that three IU scientists, including dental
professor Joseph Muhler, created the first successful stannous fluoride formula
that became the active decay-preventing agent in Crest toothpaste. Dr. Muhler
and other IU pioneers (e.g., oral pathologist William Shafer, materials
scientist Ralph Phillips, and pediatric dentist [and future dean] Ralph
McDonald) contributed a body of groundbreaking work that drew worldwide
attention to Indiana University. Each man left a legacy of knowledge that
helped build the foundation for contemporary dental science.
In 2009, the IU School of Dentistry celebrates the 40th
anniversary of one of its most famous textbooks: Dentistry for the Child and
Adolescent, originally edited by Dr. Ralph McDonald. In 1969, the new book
ignited IU’s international reputation in pediatric dentistry, and by the 7th
edition, published in 2000, the text surpassed all other pediatric dentistry
texts in the nation in number of editions. Dr. David Avery joined Dr. McDonald
as a co-editor for the 3rd edition, and Dr. Jeffrey Dean joined the
McDonald/Avery editorial team for the 8th edition. The three men are
currently hard at work on their 9th edition, which is scheduled for
publication in March 2010.
IUSD has a significant multidisciplinary research
program. In all, nearly 40,000 square feet of research space divided into more
than a dozen facilities, including the Oral Health Research Institute, has been
devoted to wide-ranging research activities supported by about $6.9 million in
external funding last year.
Built in 1968 from royalties generated from the sale of
Crest toothpaste, the Oral Health Research Institute is also one of the
best-known product-testing sites in the world. The Institute’s longtime
director was renowned scientist Dr. George Stookey, who now holds IU’s
prestigious title of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Preventive and
Community Dentistry. Since 1999, the Institute has been moving ahead faster
than ever under the fine leadership of Dr. Domenick Zero, and continues to
build on its international reputations for studies on fluoride, early caries
detection, and caries prevention. For example, OHRI scientist and IU faculty
member Dr. Andréa Ferreira Zandoná is using a $3.4 million, five-year grant
from the NIH to chronicle the natural history of the progression of early
dental caries and to study the effectiveness of three early detection methods
used in combination.
IUSD’s research programs address several of the priority
areas cited by the U.S. Surgeon General and include efforts to identify
specific genes and related genetic factors in the etiology and treatment of
malocclusion; molecular studies of the microbial factors involved in the
etiology of dental caries and periodontal disease; investigations of dental
plaque accumulation as a risk factor for heart disease; studies on how the
structure and compositional changes of biofilms impact dental caries;
identifying ways to optimize the benefits of fluoride while reducing its
detrimental effects; finding more effective measures for the early detection
and control of incipient dental caries; basic and clinical studies of
strategies for further improving restorative materials; studies to understand
the factors that play a central role in chronic inflammation and autoimmunity
and to identify targets for developing therapeutic agents; and investigations
on the role of toll-like receptors in oral and paraoral soft tissue pathology.
In 2007, IUSD was awarded two of the IUPUI campus's first
19 Signature Center grants. Considered a cornerstone of IUPUI's new Academic
Plan, the Signature Centers Initiative is designed to support interdisciplinary
collaborations among faculty across campus. Dentistry received funding for a
Binational/Cross-Cultural Health Enhancement Center, which involves a collaboration
between the Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry and researchers in
IU's medical, nursing, and liberal arts schools; and a Tobacco Cessation and
Biobehavioral Center, in which the Department of Oral Biology will seek input
from the School of Medicine among others.
COMMUNITY
IU stresses to its students the importance of becoming
professionally engaged with the community at large. The Division of Community
Dentistry, under the direction of Dr. Karen Yoder, seeks to continually broaden
the scope of the school’s outreach efforts and thus the students’ exposure to
community populations having special needs.
IUSD is developing long-term relationships with various
community agencies in Indiana, and in 2001 the school added an international
component to its service-learning program. With guidance on site from IUSD
faculty mentors, dental and dental hygiene student volunteers have been gaining
a global perspective on patient care and the profession of dentistry by
treating underserved patients in other nations during the dental school’s
annual Alternative Spring Break. Groups of volunteers served in Haiti from 2001
to 2003 and have been visiting rural Mexico since the inception of the program.
A team of volunteers has been conducting service-learning missions to Ecuador
since 2004. In 2007, the International Service-Learning Program was expanded to
include sites in Guatemala and Brazil, and in 2009 additional sites have been
added once again in Haiti as well as Honduras.
One of many examples of IUSD’s service-learning efforts
closer to home is participation by faculty, staff, and student volunteers in an
ongoing program that provides dental sealants to children residing in several
city shelters housing homeless persons and victims of domestic violence.
Another is a collaborative project between the school and a local community
health center in which second-year dental hygiene students and fourth-year
dental students provide treatment to homeless persons. Through the second-year
dental hygiene Community Dental Health course, which sends students into the
community to assist citizens in need in a variety of ways, the school has now
established ongoing, mutually beneficial relationships with the Genessaret Free
Clinic and Hawthorne Community Center in Indianapolis and with Trinity Dental
Clinic in Carmel.
Several years ago, volunteers from the school began
providing oral healthcare to Amish children in several northern Indiana
communities by using the dental office of an IUSD graduate in Elkhart. That
commitment, in combination with a series of grants obtained by IU faculty,
resulted in the construction of a new clinic for the Amish in Shipshewana,
Ind., where IU volunteers continue to provide treatment to those in need.
IU School of Dentistry is a past recipient of a
"Partner of the Year" award from Goodwill Industries of Central
Indiana, Inc., which honored IUSD for a service-learning program that provides
dental treatment to adults who are developmentally disabled and employed by
Goodwill.
The SEAL INDIANA program, launched by IUSD in early 2003
in collaboration with the Indiana State Department of Health, is the
centerpiece of the school’s community outreach program for low-income children.
Operating year-round, the mobile unit travels across the state with dental
staff and IUSD students to apply sealants to the teeth of children enrolled at
schools that serve low-income families and in programs associated with
community centers. Examinations are also provided to youngsters participating
in Head Start. The two-chair unit is outfitted with extra portable equipment to
expand treatment capabilities on site at schools and community centers.
The SEAL INDIANA staff also works with Indiana’s dentists
and dental societies to try to help children with dental needs other than
sealants find a permanent dental "home" within their own communities.
More than 16,500 children from Indiana school systems and Head Start programs
have received services through SEAL INDIANA during the program’s first six
years. SEAL INDIANA has received generous grants from the Anthem Blue Cross and
Blue Shield Foundation and the Delta Dental Foundation to help support
preventive dental care provided by the mobile unit.
For decades, the Oral Health Research Institute has
managed a fluoride mouth rinse program for Hoosier schoolchildren. Every year,
tens of thousands of youngsters in grades K through 12 participate in the
supervised program, rinsing with fluoride once a week during the school day.
In 2008, IUSD launched its Dental Summer Institute, two
week-long educational camps directed at high school and college minority
students who have expressed an interest in careers in the dental profession.
The institute was made possible with funds from the Metropolitan
Indianapolis-Central Indiana Area Health Education Center. The first camps,
held in June, drew participants from throughout central Indiana and from
Florida and Texas.
The dental school is also proud to extend a hand of
friendship to the global community through its relationships with other schools
of dentistry around the world. The school has enjoyed warm relations with many
international schools for decades. The first formal Agreement of Friendship and
Cooperation took place in 1985, when an agreement was sealed with Matsumoto
Dental College (now Matsumoto Dental University) of Shiojiri, Japan. Today,
IUSD has contracts with schools in 12 countries, including most of the dental
schools in Thailand. The most recent agreement was signed in 2007 with Centro
Universitario Positivo – UnicenP in Curitiba, Brazil.
The dental school’s strong group of international alumni
has been key to the success of these programs. The agreements typically have
led to student and faculty exchanges and to the pursuit of collaborative
research projects.
Last updated: February 25, 2009