Session Daily: Tuesday, March 20

William J. Gies Awards for Vision, Innovation and Achievement

The William J. Gies Awards for Vision, Innovation and Achievement (The Gies Awards) were presented at a celebration dinner on Monday evening at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center Osceola Ballroom. The Gies Awards, named after dental education pioneer William J. Gies, Ph.D., debuted in 2008 and honor individuals and organizations that exemplify the highest standards in oral health and dental education, research and leadership. Dentsply Sirona Inc. was the premier sponsor of the awards.

The contribution that Gies made on academic dentistry is “incalculable,” says Leo E. Rouse, D.D.S., FACD, Chair of the ADEAGies Foundation Board of Trustees. “Dr. Gies’ landmark report in 1926 on dental education not only transformed academic dentistry and oral health, but foresaw modern-day collaboration across the health professions.”

“Our distinguished 2018 Gies Awards winners are transforming academic dentistry and oral health and advancing my grandfather’s legacy,” notes William J. Gies II, ADEAGies Foundation Board of Trustee member. “It is critical to recognize the tireless efforts of dental educators and institutions who ‘move the needle’ in oral health.” 

The honorees were selected by a distinguished panel of judges consisting of the ADEAGies Foundation Board of Trustees. The 2018 Gies Award recipients are (in alphabetical order): 

Alpha Omega-Henry Schein Cares Holocaust Survivors Oral Health Program 
Gies Award for Achievement – Public or Private Partner

Canise Y. Bean, D.M.D., M.P.H., The Ohio State University College of Dentistry 
Gies Award for Vision – Dental Educator

David W. Chambers, Ed.M., M.B.A., Ph.D., University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry 
Gies Award for Achievement – Dental Educator

Amy E. Coplen, RDH, M.S., Pacific University School of Dental Hygiene Studies  
Gies Award for Vision – Dental Educator

Jack Gerrow, D.D.S., M.S., M.Ed., Cert. Pros., The National Dental Examining Board of Canada 
Gies Award for Innovation – Dental Educator

Lorne Golub, D.M.D., M.Sc., Honorary M.D., Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine 
Gies Award for Innovation – Dental Educator

Louisiana State University Health New Orleans School of Dentistry 
Gies Award for Vision – Academic Dental Institution

University of Florida College of Dentistry Comprehensive Training Program in Oral Biology  
Gies Award for Achievement – Academic Dental Institution

University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, Center for Patients with Special Needs 
Gies Award for Innovation – Academic Dental Institution 

Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry/Virginia Dental Association Foundation 
Gies Award for Vision – Public or Private Partner

Political Spotlight: Is It Noise, or Is It News?

Monday’s Political Spotlight plenary session, What Does It All Mean?, featured an analysis of American politics and policies affecting academic dentistry and the dental profession. Mary C. Curtis and Patricia Murphy, two columnists at CQ Roll Call, talked about the volume of information coming out of the political arena. Some people go on a “news diet” to get away from the constant barrage of news, but the risk is missing something important that affects them.

“We want to give you tips for shutting off the firehose [of information] and how to sift through the noise,” says Ms. Murphy.

In general, ask if the news item is something to pay attention to, or if it’s something being brought forward to deliberately distract. How is this policy you’re hearing about going to affect you? Ms. Murphy uses a short checklist to evaluate whether something is news or noise:

1. Are there votes involved? Does it have support in Congress?
2. Is the White House on board? If not, this issue isn’t going anywhere. It’s noise.
3. When is the next election? 
   

The third question is particularly important. For example, how much will the upcoming midterm elections affect what is going on in Congress? Leading up to an election, the chances of things moving forward, getting votes and becoming law are minimal. 

“Everything else is noise and I try to be aware of it but not affected by it,” Ms. Murphy says.

Ms. Curtis agrees that you need to know the nuts and bolts of what policies are coming up on a vote and have a chance of becoming law. Her checklist includes:

1. What is the effect on everyday people?  
2. What is the effect on a community? 
3. Don’t look up, look down. 
   

Ms. Murphy and Ms. Curtis then presented examples of what they considered news and what they considered noise.

Hope Hicks leaving the White House—Ms. Murphy’s opinion is this is noise. Washington is obsessed with palace intrigue, particularly for this administration. All administrations have staff turnover, though more so in the Trump Administration. Hope Hicks leaving is a distraction from decisions being made at the White House and in Congress.

However, Rodney Frelinghuysen leaving Congress, which didn’t get much attention, is news. He is the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and has been in Congress for more than 20 years. This committee is where the money is spent and funding decisions made. His decision to retire when he doesn’t have to means we don’t know what direction house spending will go in. 

Repealing the Affordable Care Act—During the Obama Administration, the House voted 70 times to repeal the ACA. They had the votes but not the support of the White House. The first vote was news, but there was no need to focus on the other 69 votes. After President Trump took office, they voted again to repeal but didn’t get the votes. Again, this is noise because there was no alignment of the House, Senate and White House. 

Tax Cuts—President Trump signing the tax cuts legislation was monumental news. The House, Senate and White House were in alignment. The midterms were exactly a year away, and they needed to pass something major. However, the bigger news was doing away with the ACA individual mandate in this legislation, because this starts to unwind the ACA. There is a fear among ACA supporters that healthy people will not buy insurance and costs for those still in the market will go up. Dental care is optional in many insurance plans, though it is one of the 10 essential benefits for children. This issue should continue to be watched, as the marketplace will dictate the strength of these benefits for children.

U.S. Capitol—After this week, no meaningful legislation will pass until after the midterm elections. This week there is a spending bill to fund the entire federal government, and a number of health care items are in the bill that will stabilize the insurance markets. However, watch the state legislatures—they are increasingly taking the lead to solve the problems that Washington is putting off. Everyone should watch what is happening in health care at the state level.

Trump Administration Death Penalty for Drug Dealers—President Trump is announcing this today and it is getting headlines. It’s noise because the Supreme Court says there has to be a capital offense. Additionally, Congress would need to get involved, and they are not buying into this idea. However, there is no pushback from anyone on addressing the opioid crisis. Congress approved a $6 billion budget deal to fight opioid abuse and the White House is aligned. This may not get headlines but it will affect peoples’ lives. 

Betsy DeVos on Education—recently she appeared on 60 Minutes and it generated headlines. It was noise as far as policy; what doesn’t get as much attention is some of her views on higher education. Her agency budget proposal sought to reduce agency funding, including cuts to college work-study programs and loan forgiveness programs. However, the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee will look at the Department of Education’s budget, and they can make changes. Reforms, such as to the Health Education Act, may not be acted on this year because of the midterm elections. 

We should also pay attention to the states on issues affecting higher education—Alabama is proposing funding for loan repayment for dentists and physicians who practice in underserved areas. Florida passed a bill for a dental student loan repayment program if they serve in underserved areas. The Florida staff used reports developed by ADEA to inform their legislation, so ADEA played a part in affecting state legislation.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals—we thought there would be action on this, but we have not heard much from Congress. This issue is important to ADEA because it affects diversity and inclusion, and some dental students. The news on this issue will come from the courts.

Other Dynamics—the President is a frequent wild card; he will make a statement (for example, promises about gun control to students) and then later change direction (concessions toward gun supporters). Frequent changes in agency leadership should be watched—it is difficult for agencies to move forward on issues when leadership keeps changing. The midterm elections will generate a lot of noise and speculation, but we won’t know the impact on the White House until after the elections. Use a heavy filter during this time. Adult film stars and Russia are examples of unexpected things that come up; they might affect the election, they might not. We’ve seen in the past year how school shootings have changed the conversation on guns, and recordings of police encounters have also changed the conversation about law enforcement. How will officials react to these unexpected things, and what will make people take notice?

Ms. Murphy and Ms. Curtis gave some final advice: Apply your strongest filter to cable news. Pundits are paid to disagree with what’s being said by the other side to create more controversy than actually exists. Go to credible sources, such as CQ, which is a good source of policy information on health care. And finally, beware social media, particularly Facebook.

Mary C. Curtis has worked at The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Charlotte Observer and as National Correspondent for Politics Daily. 

Patricia Murphy covers national politics for The Daily Beast. Previously, she was the Capitol Hill Bureau Chief for Politics Daily and Founder and Editor of Citizen Jane Politics. 

"In the Mix” Series: Inclusion, Excellence and Dental Education

The “In the Mix” series at the ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition considers inclusion in all its forms and facets. Alexia Antczak-Bouckoms D.M.D., Sc.D., M.P.H., M.S., shared her personal experiences as a person with a physical disability.

Since February 25, 1996, when a tree fell on the car she was driving, resulting in a complete spinal cord injury, Dr. Bouckoms’ life has taken on new challenges. Always the optimist, she believes one day medical research will find a way for her to literally get back on her feet. Until that time, she continues to work from a seated position. 

In the United States, 53 million people are living with a disability, or roughly 22% of the population. As a dental educator and a person with a disability, Dr. Bouckoms has a unique experience, which she shared with attendees. 

When treating a patient with a disability, “oral health providers should focus on the [person’s] oral cavity,” says Dr. Bouckoms. “When you refer to them, speak to them as a person first. Have a larger operatory that will accommodate a wheelchair.”

Mark Wolff, D.D.S., Ph.D., of New York University College of Dentistry (NYU COD), stepped in to provide a comment from the dental school perspective. He said that the number of people requiring special care in the United States has grown exponentially, and dental professionals need to recognize the needs of the entire population in the delivery of dental care. NYU COD is committed to teaching dental students to treat a wide range of people, of all ages, with and without disabilities.

The topic then turned to Dr. Bouckoms’ efforts to raise millions of dollars for spinal cord research. “Bad things happen, and you have to try to make something good come out it,” she says. She planned the first fund raiser, and actor Christopher Reeve, who was paralyzed from the neck down after falling forward off of a horse in 1995, attended the event. They raised $750,000 at that event, and went on to do other fundraisers.

Dr. Bouckoms was asked what her professional plans are for the future. She answered that attending this event has sparked her interest in learning more about the dental school curriculum and what students are taught about working with people with disabilities. She might even develop a model curriculum that dental schools could use.

And what is Dr. Bouckoms’ vision of inclusiveness? 

“A person is a person,” she says. “It doesn’t matter what they can or can’t do. You just have to recognize the spirit of them and include them in any way that you can.”

Accommodation Strategies for Managing Patients With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder. One in 68 births result in a child with autism. Those with ASD can be challenging patients for oral health providers as their behavior is often disruptive and can prevent the delivery of much needed care. This can often be an overwhelming situation for dental students as well. But a thoughtful approach to these patients and their care can provide practitioners with the tools to provide complete care.

Traditional methods of approaching treatment for patients with ASD have included the use of sedation or general anesthesia to manage behavior. Some providers have even used a papoose board to restrain patients. While these methods can effective, a behavioral approach to treatment can provide long-term results and establish a foundation of care. 

Oscar Padilla, D.D.S., a pediatric dentist, and Tara Sheehan, Ph.D., BCBA, a behavior analyst, shared their strategies and recommendations for working with people with ASD and their caregivers to create an environment where patients feel safe and oral health care can be delivered with minimal disruption. Their work with these patients at Nova Southeastern University College of Dental Medicine has been successful and blazed a path toward a healthy mouth.

Onset of ASD is in early childhood, usually before age three. Indicators include a wide spectrum of symptoms, skills and levels of severity. Some examples include deficiency in social communication and social interaction, repetitive patterns of behavior, lack of response to their name and delayed verbal skills. As they get older, they can be inflexible, showing unwavering adherence to specific routines or rituals; be abnormally intense or focused on certain activities; and lack imaginative play skills.

Every child presents differently, and there isn’t a specific intervention or solution, but applied behavior analysis (ABA) can provide practitioners with a path to work with the patient, keeping in mind their unique triggers and points of stress. ABA is a technological approach to clinical psychology derived from over 100 years of basic behavioral science. It employs a wide range of techniques to modify environment, therefore modifying behavior.

Sensory experiences can cause panic and overwhelm those with ASD. The sound of dental instruments, feel of gloves and bright lights are unfamiliar and may overstimulate a patient, causing challenging behaviors. 

To create a successful treatment plan and build trust that results in consistent care, dentists must be prepared. Prevention strategies can help them start off on the right foot and build momentum. Arrange a visit to the office for a tour. Let them sit in a chair, meet the staff at the clinic and make the visit approachable. Associate the visit with something positive so that the association with the dental chair is not a negative.

Be prepared for the patient by asking caregivers about dental history, unique triggers and behavioral cues and/or indicators. Ask about the child’s current placement in school, as strategies are different for students in a special school versus mainstream education. Also, learn what other treatments and services the child is enrolled in to understand the support that is available to them outside of the clinic.

Depending on the function of the trigger, there are different solutions to help mitigate challenging behavior early in the appointment. Sensory triggers can be avoided with sunglasses for those with sensitivity to bring lights and noise cancelling headphones for those who find loud sounds to be a trigger. If it is a visual trigger, present the instruments in advance and explain what they are and what they are used for. If the function of behavior is escape, use a first/then strategy to provide clear instructions that can lead to compliance. It is important to lessen challenging behavior that could terminate a visit as early as possible. The sooner you identify the function of behavior, the quicker you will diffuse a challenging behavior. 

Better oral health outcomes for patients with ASD starts with preparation and leg work. Building a relationship with the patients and caregivers and educating them about treatment plans and techniques will lay the foundation for a lifetime of excellent oral health. 

Augmented Reality: Bringing the Classroom of 2030 Alive

As education has evolved, one thing has stayed constant—the adaptation of technology. Since the advent of electricity, technology has made its way into the classroom for student use—from transistor radios and televisions, to calculators and personal computers, to the world wide web and smart devices. These advances have enhanced education across all student levels. 

Augmented reality (AR) is making its way into dental school classrooms across the country. Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry (Meharry SOD) and Western University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine (WU CDM) are two schools studying the efficacy of AR and developing applications for use by students and faculty. 

What exactly is AR and can it really be applied to dental education? Augmented reality enhances surroundings with sounds, haptic feedback and graphics. It layers reality with other images. Holograms and 3-dimensional images are dropped into these surroundings, allowing for a new method of content delivery. Used with a smart phone or smart glasses, AR applications can bring the study of tooth structure and disease to life. It can also be used for basic sciences, such as gross anatomy. 

With this technology, the classroom of 2030 is everywhere. No longer confined to a campus or clinic, students across the world can participate in lectures and simultaneously observe procedures and demonstrations. Professors can record those lectures, allowing them to be with their students every step of their education. 

AR is a very new technology, with its benefits to dental education still unknown. Faculty involved with the study of its efficacy in dental education are in the beginning stages of ascertaining its usefulness to ensure the return on investment is worth it. 

It can be an expensive proposition. There is an investment of both time and financial resources to develop applications. The smart glasses can cost upwards of $3,000. The faculty at WU CDM have put in over 40 hours of work to build early prototypes of an application that blend study, practice and gamification. Meharry SOD faculty have built an application that allows people to see the bones of the skull intact, and then separated out so one can delve into the structure of the mouth.

AR is in everyone’s hands with smart technology. Only time and further study will tell if this marriage of the art of dentistry and technology is beneficial to dental education.

Posters Feature Research and Findings From Dental Students 

Posters were on display in the Exhibit Hall on Sunday and Monday during the 2018 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition, furnishing details on research from dental schools across the country. ADEA/Dentsply Sirona International Student Poster Awards recognize dental students for outstanding research and innovation.

Seth Levitin
Columbia University College of Dental Medicine
3rd Place: Completeness of Electronic Patient Records in a Student Clinic  

Mario Antonioni
University of Michigan School of Dentistry
2nd Place: Pediatric Dentists’ Considerations Concerning Silver Diamine Fluoride: A National Survey 

Roxanne M. Dsouza, RDH
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry
1st Place: Implementation of Oral Health Education in Nursing Curriculum 

Congratulations to the ADEA TouchPoll^TM Prize Winners!

The following attendees participated in the ADEA TouchPoll surveys throughout the 2018 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition and won some great prizes! And one lucky member won the Grand Prize. Congratulations to all!

• Bano Ali, Western University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine—Tile Key Finder
• Jessica August, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences—Amazon Echo
• Hubert Chan, Western University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine—Amazon Echo DOT
• Terri Hanger, Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health—Tile Key Finder
• Lisa Maxwell, Indiana University School of Dentistry—Amazon Echo
• Alexander McClure, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine—Amazon Echo
• James Posluns, University of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry—Amazon Echo
• Constance Reed, Hillsborough Community College—Amazon Echo DOT
• Barry Taylor, Oregon Health & Science University School of Dentistry—Tile Key Finder
• Lynda Torre, Columbia University College of Dental Medicine—AirPods
• Eric Wachs, Touro College of Dental Medicine at New York Medical College—Amazon Echo DOT
  

2018 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition Grand Prize Winner:

• Katie Oates, Western University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine 
  

Our 2018 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition grand prize winner will enjoy:

• One complimentary registration for the 2019 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition in Chicago ($720 value).
• One roundtrip airfare to #ADEA2019 up to $500.
• Three complimentary nights at the Hyatt Regency Chicago—the #ADEA2019 headquarters hotel.
  

See You Next Year in Chicago!

Join us for the 2019 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition in Chicago, March 16–19, 2019, where we will Celebrate Our Collaborative Spirit! The future of dental education is ours to define. It is a time of great promise, optimism and hope. Let’s gather in the “Windy City”—hailed as “the next big place for innovation”—to celebrate our unique abilities and spirit in ways that advance our profession, better prepare our students and embrace our role in our global community.

ADEA invites you to submit abstracts for educational programming for the 2019 meeting. Share your best techniques on how you teach students effectively. Submit abstracts for educational programming for the 2019 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition. The deadline for submitting educational sessions (seminars, workshops and small group discussions) is June 1, 2018. The deadline for submitting an ADEA TechExpo or an ADEA poster is September 10, 2018. Complete instructions for submitting a program proposal are available online.

We hope you’ve had a productive and enjoyable experience at the 2018 Annual Session & Exhibition, and we’re looking forward to seeing you next year in Chicago!

TODAY: 

10:00 – 11:15 a.m.
Closing Plenary— Vision 2030: Unlocking the Strategies for a Workplace That Thrives, Exhibit Hall D. Sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare.

10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Strategies for Success: Submitting a Poster or Program for the 2019 ADEA Annual Session and Exhibition, Sanibel Room.

3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Closing Session of the ADEA House of Delegates, Exhibit Hall D.

The ADEA 2017 Annual Report Is Now Available Online

ADEA House of Delegates Booth Hours

Members of the ADEA House of Delegates booth is located in the City Hall Lobby of the Gaylord Convention Center, and is open from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. today. 

Continuing Education Credits

Gain CE credits by evaluating the sessions you attend today using the mobile app or by logging into the program planner.