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daily nebraskan
tuesday, October 14, 1980
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Dental College clinic provides care for many
By Patty Pryor
Although the cost of most work on
patients at the NU College of Dentistry
averages one-third the cost in private prac
tice, the college's number of appointments
is decreasing, according to Dr. Stephen
Leeper, interim associate dean of dentistry.
This could be for many reasons, but
Leeper thinks clinic income has decreased
because patients are putting off dental
work as long as possible in response to the
poor general economy.
"Our fees are increasing just to meet
the increasing costs of everything eke,"
Leeper said. "But this holds true for Lin
coln area dentists, too.
"We're just not experiencing the in
crease (in patients) we'd anticipated," he
said.
The college consists of 260 pre-doctoral
students, 40 dental hygiene students and
20 graduate students, and "accumulates
55,000 patient treatment appointments
annually," Leeper said. This averages out
to 170 per student, but Leeper stressed
that the figure represents appointments
only. Some patients may not show up for
appointments and others may have more
than one appointment, he explained.
Patients diverse
Leeper said that he senses a misconcep
tion concerning the type of patients the
college attracts.
"Too many people assume that all our
patients are indigent people who can't
afford to look elsewhere," he said. Because
of this, "many people don't bother to call
us, because they expect to be turned
down."
The dental students treat all types of
patients, as far as age, occupation, or
income, Leeper said, but he explained that
student work can sometimes take 3 or 4
times longer.
Leeper said he thought a patient "might
possibly be safer" in coming to a student
because students tend to be cautious. Fie
said he doesn't think there are any differ
ences in complaints between student work
and professional work.
In fact, "most patients develop an ex
cellent rapport with the students," he said.
"They feel that they have an investment in
the student and that they're taking part in
the training process."
This training begins with traditional lec
tures and classroom work, followed by
technique practice in pre-clinical labs, then
actual patient work in the clinic.
However, this process has been modified
to gradually introduce the student to the
clinical setting, Leeper said.
Earlier involvement
Second semester sophomores now are
involved in clinical work and freshmen are
introduced to the clinic, serving as assis
tants to the senior students.
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Many students find that they don't like
dentistry, Leeper said, and this can be dis
covered earlier if they are exposed to clini
cal operation earlier.
"The hope is that if anyone is mis
placed, then they will not have wasted two
or three years," he said.
Through this program, he added, "we're
getting them into what dentistry is all
about."
In the Senior General Practice Program,
Leeper said, seniors operate under condi
tions as similar as possible to those in pri
vate practice. In this program, the work on
a patient is divided among students, so that
several students may work on one patient
in the area in which each needs practice.
Graduate students are trained for oral
surgery, he said, but the more complicated
problems requiring sophisticated tech
niques often are handled at the NU Medical
Center in Omaha.
More serious problems usually are de
tected before any work is begun, according
to Dr. David Beeson, assistant professor of
dentistry. The patient undergoes a screen
ing through the admissions clinic, Beeson
said, and those who need immediate atten
tion are referred to private dentists.
The students' work is supervised at es
tablished checkpoints throughout each pro
cedure, Leeper said.
Private practices
"Most all clinical instructors maintain
some type of private practice," Leeper
said, totaling two days a month, or one
half day per week. This policy helps keep
the faculty up-to-date on changes within
the profession, he said.
Leeper said the college currently is fac
ing a "major problem in replacing equip
ment," which includes 175 separate oper
ating stations.
"This is the 14th year of hard use with
the equipment," he said, "and we're facing
the necessity of slowly replacing it by a
systematic schedule."
Until July 1979, the college was affili
ated with UNL, but is currently under the
administration of the medical center in
Omaha. This was done, Leeper said, be
cause it was generally agreed that dentistry
"simply belonged with the allied health
professions."
This arrangement also makes it easier
for the college to compete for federal
funding, he added.
There was some concern that the college
would be moved to Omaha, but it will re
main in Lincoln for at least the next 10 to
20 years, Leeper said.
'New York Times' prints
new edition from Chicago
Long regarded by many
as the nation's only true
national newspaper, the
New York Times has started
printing a new national
edition in Chicago.
The new Times that mid
westerners can buy will not
feature the familiar retail
and fashion ads or New
York City news. However,
it will be filled with reports
and analysis from the
paper's far-flung corre
spondents and all other
news, according to the
Times motto, "that's fit to
print."
Nebraskans may inspect
the Times at either the
Bennett Martin Library or
at Love Library, which also
carries the London edition
of the Times.
Unfortunately, Lincoln
ites are not able to buy the
Times anywhere in town.
According to the Arcade
Newsstand, the last time
anyone in Lincoln sold the
Times was in 1972. Sub
scribers, of course, can have
the paper delivered to their
homes.
The Chicago office of the
New York Times reports
that distribution patterns
may "very likely change"
during the coming months,
depending upon the popu
larity of the new national
edition.
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