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Photographs by
Gall Fo!da
friday, january 25, 1974
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It's called 'restoration' now
By Lynn Silhasek
Getting a cavity filled isn't what it used to
be, at least at the UNL College of Dentistry.
It's now called getting your tooth restored,
useable again, as part of the preventative
dentistry the college practices, according to Dr,
William Ahrens, assistant dean of dental clinics.
It's repair work that should never have to
have been performed, if people took care of
their teeth, according to Dr. Robert Wood,
director of the college's department of
preventative dentistry and community health.
But tooth repair at the dental clinics does
happen, at the rate of 43,566 sittings for 1973,
according to Assistant Collete Dean Eugene
Merchant. The figure includes the total number
of visits made to the dental clinics. Patients
making their first visits to the clinic in 1973
numbered 3,788, Merchant said. The majority
of these visits were for tooth decay, he said.
Twenty-five per cen;of-the patients are
University students, He said. - "T
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According to Ahrens, patients are accepted
depending on what kind of dental work
students need to perform in the clinic as class
requirements.
All people requesting dental appointments at
the clinic receive an initial free examination to
determine what type of dental work they need
done, according to Ahrens. The person's case is
then reviewed by a board of instructors, he
said. If the person is accepted as a patient, the
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assigned dental student conducts an additional
examination to inform the patient on the cost
and extent of the work needed, Ahrens said.
Fees vary with the case, he said. ,
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Approximately 110 junior and senior dentai
students work at different times within several
50-seat general clinics and within a children's
ward, Ahrens said. Work includes oral surgery,
fitting patients for braces, and decayed tooth
restoration, he said.
But dental students also want to prove
they're not the drill-wielding pain-infiictors that
the public sees them as, Ahrens said.
They practice a preventative dentistry as
consultants in Lincoln public schools, two
Lancaster county schools, several Head Start
programs in schools throughout Nebraska,
several Lincoln homes for the elderly, and a
state home for the mentally retarded. Wood
said.
T Their work ranges from teaching 6-year-olds
to brush their teeth properly to advising nursing
home residents on the cost of false teeth. Wood
said.
Most of the pain and cost in dental work is
caused by neglect by the patient, Wood said.
Students are encouraged to capractice to
serve a greater number of patients, Wood said.
The idea follows a national trend tcward the
establishment of group practices employing
large dental staffs, Ahrens said.
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