Topics at a glance: Case study: Innovative device helps patient eat, drink, speak again  … TCH Neurological Research Institute is UTDB's newest neighbor-in-making  … Gonzalez featured on Spanish-language TV’s Univision  … Attention UT shuttle riders: Simpler schedule begins Feb. 4  … UTDB endodontics faculty member wins writing award  … Raise awareness of heart disease: Wear red on Friday

Case study: Innovative device helps patient eat, drink, speak again

Sergio M. Ortegon, D.D.S., lead author of case study.

Sergio M. Ortegon, D.D.S., assistant professor in Prosthodontics at the UT Dental Branch, is lead author of a case study published in the January edition of the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry describing how a team at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center created and modified an obturator to help a 55-year-old white male who lost a large portion of his maxilla, sinuses, teeth, and hard and soft palates to squamous cell carcinoma.

After surgery and radiation, the patient was unable to eat or drink and had to have a feeding tube placed, and his speech was almost unintelligible. Ortegon and a team at UT M.D. Anderson created a removable device designed to replace the hard and soft palates, which are essential for swallowing and speaking.

By using the nasal structures to anchor the obturator prosthesis (a device that replaces the partition between the oral cavity and nasal cavity), the team created a comfortable, functional prosthetic for the patient. It was a novel approach to the problem of how to keep an obturator in place.

"Without an obturator prosthesis, air, liquids and food go into the nasal cavity, which makes speaking and swallowing very difficult. A well-designed obturator maintains and restores quality of life," Ortegon said. Speech pathologists worked with the patient to improve his ability to speak. With the prosthesis in place, he was able to eat and drink again.

Ortegon joined the UT Dental Branch faculty last fall, but at the time the case study was written, he was a fellow in maxillofacial prosthetics/dental oncology at UT M.D. Anderson. His co-authors at M.D. Anderson were Jack W. Martin, D.D.S., former chief of the Oncologic Dentistry and Prothodontics Section, and Jan S. Lewin, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery.

To read the journal article, visit the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry Web site.

TCH Neurological Research Institute is UTDB's newest neighbor-in-making

Construction of Texas Children’s Hospital’s new Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute on Moursund Street, between the UT Dental Branch and The Commons, will soon disrupt foot and vehicle traffic along Moursund. How long? Only about two years.

Jon Coy, director of educational and facilities support services at UTDB, said the site workers plan to put up temporary covered walkways for pedestrians, but at some point the entire sidewalk will be closed and pedestrians will have to walk on the Baylor side of the street. The construction is also expected to affect vehicular traffic at some point, including buses and shuttles.

As the Dental Branch is notified of these changes, the news will be passed along to students and employees.

The 370,000 square foot building will be home to more than 170 researchers looking for answers and new treatments for common pediatric neurological disorders like autism, epilepsy, Rhett syndrome, cerebral palsy and learning

The sidewalk to The Commons soon will be affected by construction of a pediatric neurological institute for Texas Children’s Hospital.

disorders. The TCH Web site says the 12-story building will occupy a little over one acre and will be finished in 2010.

To see a sketch of the building, visit the Texas Children's Hospital Web site.

Univision interviews UTDB's Gonzalez

about ways to keep a healthy smile

Maria Gonzalez, D.D.S., assistant professor of Prosthodontics at the UT Dental Branch, recently answered questions from Univision about how to maintain a healthy smile. In Spanish, Gonzalez gave the following advice:

"You should eat a well-balanced diet, which includes foods from the four basic groups like fruit and vegetables, dairy products, grains and proteins from animals (chicken, fish and meat). Certain types of foods can contribute to the development of caries (tooth decay), and these dangerous foods have high contents of refined sugar, like sweets and caramels. Certain types of bacteria can produce acids which contribute to the development of caries, and the combination of foods can help neutralize those acids."

To see the full article, visit the Univision Web site.

Attention UT shuttle riders:
Simpler schedule starts Feb. 4

Beginning Monday, Feb. 4, the UT shuttles will operate more like METRORail, arriving every 10-15 minutes at designated stops. Also new: All shuttles will travel the same routes, so it won't be necessary to wait for a specific bus. As always, you'll need a UT badge to ride, but the fare is free. For more information, visit the schedule Web page.

Kim Freeman, D.D.S., endodontist, assistant professor, historian.

UTDB endodontics faculty member wins writing award

Kim Freeman, D.D.S., clinical assistant professor in the Department of Endodontics, received the Texas Section of the International College of Dentists Literary Award for Contributors to Literature Jan. 19 at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas.

Freeman is a regular contributor to the Texas Dental Journal, writing about a wide range of topics related to the history of dentistry — from historical figures to evolving techniques and instruments, even curiosities like 19th-century mechanical coin banks depicting dental scenes. "I'm the People magazine of the TDA journal," he quips.

From time to time, his articles appear in other dental journals as well.

A 1985 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Freeman earned his master's degree in endodontics in 1987 at the UT Dental Branch. He now teaches part-time at UTDB and practices endodontics in Lake Jackson, where he has a unique dental history museum in his office. In 1997, he and the museum were featured in a newspaper article in the Brazosport Facts, a daily newspaper in southern Brazoria County. The article was written by then-Facts feature writer Rhonda Moran, who is now the UTDB communication specialist. To see the story, click here.

Raise awareness of heart disease: Wear red on Friday

The American Heart Association invites everyone to support the "Go Red for Women" campaign to fight heart disease, the number-one killer of women and all Americans.

You can help by wearing red on Friday, Feb. 1 in observance of National Wear Red Day 2008.

The campaign's goal is to spread the word that heart disease, not breast cancer, is the leading cause of death for women, and to encourage everyone to learn the signs and symptoms of heart disease. For more information on the campaign, visit the Web site.