Lasting Impressions | Fall 2014

NSU COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE © 43 CDM Students’ DVD Benefits Patients, Hospital Fourth-year dental students Geoffrey Morris and Ian Lieberman recently saw firsthand the results of a fund-raising project they had de- vised to raise money for children who need dental implants. Two years ago, the two spent their winter break creating a DVD study guide that dis- cussed and illustrated the anatomical structures of the brain and Neuroanatomy to assist Health Professions Division students in their studies. Sales of the DVDs during the first two years brought in more than $12,000. Morris and Lieb- erman donated some of the money to Joe DiMaggio’s Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, and they set up a special fund for dental treat- ment at the CDM’s clinic on NSU’s main campus. This past semester, Morris and Lieberman were able to use some of the money raised to pay for implants and restorations for two rare con- ditions. One of the conditions is called dysos- teosclerosis, characterized by excess hardening of the bone, and the other progeria, is character- ized by rapid premature aging in children. In June, a surgical team, headed by Jason Portnof, D.M.D., M.D., with Adam Fisher, OMFS, placed five dental implants in a progeria patient, which may be the first such case in the world. (See story on page 38.) “I’m happy we could be a part of this project. These procedures can be so life changing. We are able to bring a sense of normalcy to these individual’s lives,” said Morris. The two students hope to raise more than $20,000 before graduation and say they plan to continue the project after they graduate. Contact Geofmorr@nova.edu for more infor- mation about the DVD study guide. u CDM Professor Receives U.S. Patent Jeffrey Thompson, Ph.D., professor of prosthodontics and director of the Biosciences Research Center in the CDM, and former colleagues from the University of North Carolina have been awarded a joint patent on improved adhesion technology. The patent is shared between NSU and RTI International, a leading research institute headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The research was funded by a National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research grant. The U.S. patent is for a surface modification technology that promotes chemical bonding between high-performance ceramic materials like zirconia and biological materials, such as tooth structure, or with other synthetic components, such as dentures and crowns. The method utilizes a chloro-silane precursor to produce a very thin layer of silica on the inert ceramic surface. This allows traditional adhesive approaches and adhesives to be used in clinical bonding procedures with a high probability of a durable bond. “Zirconia is like Teflon ® , so getting it to bond with any- thing is a challenge. Our chloro-silane approach is one very promising solution to the problem of adhesive bonding of zirconia products in clinical dental applications. It also could have implications in other medical and non-medical fields,” said Thompson. The title of the patent is Surface modification for enhanced silanation of ceramic materials (U.S. patent 8617704). The research was funded by a National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) grant. Thompson joined NSU’s College of Dental Medicine in 2007. He has published 135 papers and book chapters and is a fellow of the Academy of Dental Materials. He is also a former president of the Dental Materials Group of the Inter- national Association of Dental Research. A profile of Thompson and his research ran in the first issue of Lasting Impressions . The article can be viewed in the online edition of the magazine at w ww.nova.edu/dental . u dentistry resident a runner-up Neeva Chukkapalli, D.M.D., a second-year pediatric den- tistry resident at the CDM, received second-place honors in the My Kids Dentist Research Poster Competition held at the annual session of the American Academy of Pediatric Den- tistry in Boston. Her poster was chosen as runner-up among 417 participants from throughout the United States and Canada. Chukkapalli’s presentation was titled Comparison of in vitro Toothbrush Disinfection Procedures. Faculty men- tors and coinvestigators were Peter Murray, Ph.D.; Lesbia Drukteinis, D.D.S.; and Romer Ocanto, D.D.S. u