Temple Orthodontics
We are looking forward to 2008 with much anticipation. It marks the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Graduate Program. Looking back, those earlier days do us very proud, and the future excited. Our Capital Campaign has been very successful; thanks to the efforts of the Campaign Committee. Drs. Albright, Viechnicki, Bray, and Tuncay form the committee. It was most rewarding to see how grateful and generous the Temple alumni are. They understood the value of not only their education, but also their lot in life. We were also pleasantly surprised that our good non-alumni friends were equally generous; on a per capita basis, they were no less impressive.
The chosen architectural firm to design the new facility is “CIVITAS Architects” of Philadelphia. They will provide us with different schemes sometime in the Spring to choose from and to develop further. At this point, we do not know when the whole project will be completed; but we hope before the year’s end.
In faculty news, Dr. Jerry Jacobson has decided to retire and is now settled in Florida. A second faculty member could not resist the offer made to him by Jacksonville University and moved to Florida. Dr. Marc Ackerman is now a full-time orthodontic faculty member. We are most happy he can live his dream and turn into a full-time academic. Meanwhile, he has kept his appointment at Temple. He comes up to Philadelphia to teach his scheduled courses. Earlier this year, his textbook “Enhancement Orthodontics” was published by Munksgaard; orthodontic journals reviewed the book most favorably. Finally, Dr. Khosrow Aziza is now retired. He has built a new office and will spend his days there. We certainly wish him much success.
Our textbook “The Invisalign System” published by Quintessence is selling very well globally. Perhaps, time is near to think about a second edition. We are now working with major companies to conduct clinical trials, and to further develop our imaging and animation software.
At the school, our dean will step down at the end of June. The university is in the process of forming a search committee to find a successor. Once the new departmental space is built, we will educate and train our campaign donors on the new equipment and orthodontic systems.
Orhan C. Tuncay, DMD
Professor & Chairman
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As the New Year rolls in, we are excited about the future. The entering class of 2007 is a superb one. They bring in much talent and experience. They are coming from the East, the West, the South, and from Philadelphia. They start the program on July 11th. Toward the end of their residency they may be inconvenienced, however, due to the construction of the new department. Our capital campaign is a significant one. Our goal is very high, but already a number of our friends and alumni have made impressively generous pledges. There are naming opportunities for rooms, clinic, or research & product development centers.
By now, everyone must have received copies of the plan, which included a cover page statement and a listing of discoveries made in the department. If you have not reviewed the alumni listing - included in the same envelope- for accuracy or missing information such as, e-mails, telephone numbers, and the like, please take a moment to look at it and alert us immediately if you have any additions or corrections to make. This will be the master list the Alumni Association and the Department will use to communicate with you on a regular basis.
The combined alumni day and residents’ graduation went very well on Friday, October 1st. The graduates went to work full-time the following Monday, while building their own practices. The added attraction of the graduation ceremony was the unveiling of the floor plans and elevations of the future departmental space. We have been the world leaders in 3D imaging and animation for the past few years. To advance our work even further, we are planning to house 3D scanning equipment. We think a CT scanner might be too costly and cumbersome to operate, but a cone beam apparatus could certainly be fitted. We are also hopeful our advances and contributions to the field of biotechnology will continue alongside our imaging work. With six new residents we start about 300 cases per year.
In the journalism area, ORTHODONTICS & CRANIOFACIAL RESEARCH continues to be the most prestigious scholarly journal in orthodontics for its content of science and practical solutions to common problems - clinical or practice management. Meanwhile, we turned the editorship of the Italian journal PROGRESS in ORTHODONTICS over to Anthony Gianelly. However, we will continue to serve on its editorial board. The third publication Cases & Commentaries in Orthodontic Technology will no longer be produced. It will be replaced by a similar, but enlarged newsletter. The new publication will feature clinical reports, as well as, techniques in Invisalign. We expect the inaugural issue to come out just before the AAO meeting in San Francisco.
The graduate clinic still holds the distinction of treating, by far, the most number of Invisalign cases in the country; more than any other graduate program. We value the richness of our clinical training: Broussard (Jacobson), MBT (Spannhake, Husain), self-ligating brackets (Bray), linguals (Husain, Bray), Tip-Edge (Mele), along with the true-and-tested techniques (Viechnicki, Albright, VanSciver, Ackerman, Nah) exquisitely prepare the residents for practice. But in addition to all these clinical techniques, we are also involved in developing the “Temple Implant.” Dr. Hyun-Duck Nah is spearheading the project. It is a self-threading type, but manufactured to her specifications – The Temple Implant.
Dr. Ackerman won the Dewell award in 2004. This is an award given to the best paper in the Am J Orthod. He still writes copiously and is busy developing the smile characteristics of the orthodontic patient to the next level. He and Dr. Husain (’97) will introduce OrthoCAD’s indirect bonding technique to the clinic. Dr. Coats (’99) visits the department every year regularly. In the past he has been teaching the typodont course to the entering students, but starting this year he is involved with matter of practice management. He has been exceedingly successful. Currently, he is developing and building a medical complex where his new office will be housed in Flower Mound, Texas. What is most impressive about him, however, is that he took our editorial “Giving is serious business” to heart. This editorial first appeared in the February 2003 issue of ORTHODONTICS & CRANIOFACIAL RESEARCH. Subsequently, AAOF newsletter re-printed it. Among many things, the editorial introduces the concept of making contributions a budget item. Dr. Coats practices it religiously by sending-in a check every month. Dr. Brian Amy (‘00) is taking over the typodont course this year; he will teach the incoming residents.
The nation’s orthodontic eyes are on Temple. We involve other universities in many of our projects. Dr. Nicozisis’ (’99) project with the Relaxin hormone, for example, allowed two other well-known departments in the US and several others around the globe to get involved. He has been busy lately too; he recently invented, patented and put into production a device used to remove the tightly fitting Invisalign aligners or Essix retainers.
Temple Orthodontics is the place to be; full of excitement, ideas and progress. In 2008 when we celebrate our 50th birthday our facilities too will be ready to change the future of orthodontics irreversibly. We hope all our alumni are excited to make the destiny of Temple happen and will take a major part in this historic mission.
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The Department of Orthodontics at Temple had another good year. Conceptual plans to re-build the department were drawn and approved by the university. The capital campaign was launched off in the spring of 2005. So far, our progress to attract the necessary funds has been satisfactory. But we still have a significant amount left to raise. Temple has been good to all of us providing the lifestyle we all had asked for. Now it is the turn of alumni to show the strength of their commitment and interest. As the head of the Capital Campaign Committee, Dr. Albright had done an outstanding job, touching everyone. The Albrights are committing an exceedingly generous figure to the department. The completion of the new department is scheduled for 2008.
The publication record of the faculty, again, has been good this year. Meanwhile, the editorial office of the journal Orthodontics & Craniofacial Research will be transferred to the Netherlands. Dr. Tuncay has announced his decision to step down from the editorship nearly two years ago. Finally, a replacement was found. Prof. Anne-Marie Kuijpers-Jagtman will be the new editor.
Dr. Nicozisis’ discovery of relaxin effects on tooth movement are now in the clinical trial stage. Also, this year Dr. Smaha had developed a system and software where the 3D animation work is only a click away. No longer interminable hours of rendition work are required. Earlier, Drs. Arcuri, Ahl, and Rothenberg had started work to understand facial expressions and their effect on the smile attractiveness. We will soon release the data from their work, as well as, current studies of smile enhancement.
In preparation for our new facility we now have a 3D camera. With one click all patients now have 3D facial photos. These images will be integrated with the cone-beam 3D data. We truly hope this technology will be routinely used on every patient for diagnostic and treatment planning purposes. Temple Orthodontics is the world leader in 3D imaging and animation.
Recently, Dr. Nicozisis joined the Angle Society and this year Dr. Kristin Albright Thiry along with Dr, Hyun-Duck Nah will follow the trend. Presence of Temple in the Angle Society has been noticeably strong.
At Temple we are committed to maintain our leadership role with the help of exceptionally talented residents and faculty.
Orhan C Tuncay, DMD
Professor & Chairman
State of the Department 2006
