Kenneth L. Kalkwarf, DDS, MS
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Dental School
Dean’s Message
The Dental School within the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio has one overriding purpose… to create opportunities. We exist in order to create opportunities for our students, our faculty and staff, our patients and our profession. We must also create the opportunity to acquire new knowledge through research.
As the new millennium began, our Dental School became the first in the nation to embark on a virtually complete electronic curriculum support system as an alternative to conventional textbooks. The faculty continues to develop an “active learning” curriculum using electronic access to information as an essential tool.
Our General Practice Based Comprehensive Care Clinical Program, which uses the model of small group practices, provides the opportunity for both consistent training and thorough patient care. We continue to attract a diverse student population into this program with creative development and recruitment efforts like the Dental Early Admissions Program that we coordinate statewide with undergraduate institutions.
In order to create opportunities for collaboration and synergy we concentrate the institution’s research efforts into three core areas of: (a.) Bone and Matrix Remodeling and Biomimetics, (b.) Pain, Healing and Inflammation, (c.) Health Systems and Disparities. Many of these programs, as well as training for students, residents and DDS/PhD candidates, are carried on throughout South Texas in a growing number of patient focused outreach programs.
During its thirty-six year history the UTHSCSA Dental School has created many opportunities through the dedicated efforts of the institution’s renowned educators and scientists. It has become a tradition within our school that has spawned continued innovations in dental education.
Kenneth L. Kalkwarf, DDS, MS
Introduction
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Dental School serves San Antonio and a 53,000 square-mile area of South Texas. The South Texas practice area covers 39 counties, with a practice constituency of 3.67 million people, and extends west and south to the Mexican border. Many of the counties within the practice area are Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas.
Founded in 1970, the UTHSCSA Dental School is the newest dental school in Texas. Although relatively young when compared to peer institutions, five different deans have led the school to international prominence while fulfilling the Dental School’s core missions of teaching, research, patient care and public service. The vision of the current dean, Kenneth L. Kalkwarf, DDS, MS, has lead the institution for half of its 36 year history.
The UTHSCSA Dental School has ten departments, each with world-class faculty and scientists who train both pre-doctoral and post-doctoral students. The departments are: Community Dentistry, Dental Diagnostic Science, Endodontics, General Dentistry, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Orthodontics, Pediatric Dentistry, Periodontics, Prosthodontics and Restorative Dentistry. These departments work collaboratively to pursue the institution’s three core areas of research concentration:
- Bone and Matrix Remodeling and Biomimetics
- Pain, Healing and Inflammation
- Health Systems and Disparities
Class sizes for pre-doctoral dental students range from 90-95 students. In addition to post-doctoral resident specialty training, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Dental School also offers a DDS/PhD Program in cooperation with the institution’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Highlights
General Practice Based Comprehensive Care Training Program
The UTHSCSA Dental School’s primary clinical training takes place in small group practices composed of equal numbers (10-12) of third and fourth year dental students supervised by a cadre of four attending dentists. The attending dentists come from the departments of General Dentistry, Restorative Dentistry, and Prosthodontics. A staff scheduler, a patient care coordinator, and a dental assistant support the faculty and students. Patients are assigned to students based upon student training needs. The program’s strengths lie in the greater breadth and depth of student evaluations afforded by consistent observation of student performance over time and superior patient care that results from longitudinal faculty supervision.
Thematic Research Activities: Reflecting the need to keep up with rapid developments of novel research technologies, the Dental School has organized its research activities into focus areas. Such themes allow not only for directed allocation of resources and recruitment of excellent new scientists, but also provide a stimulating environment with research groups that compete successfully for national research grant support. The current research focus areas are a) Bone and Matrix Remodeling and Biomimetics, b) Pain, Healing and Inflammation, and c) Health Systems and Disparities. To train the next generation of dentist-scientists, the Dental School research faculty devotes significant efforts to trainees in programs leading to PhD and DDS/PhD degrees.
A Comprehensive E-Curriculum Support Initiative: The Dental School integrated computer-based resources to address issues of active learning, critical thinking, problem solving and life-long learning. Since 2001, students have matriculated with laptop computers and software that includes electronic access to course syllabi/manuals/required textbooks with a contextual search engine; computer-assisted instruction modules; e-mail; and Internet access for additional resources. An annual ‘Informatics’ module addresses updates and changes. Additions have included: digital radiography, a virtual microscope, wireless technology for classroom access to electronic resources, and a Clinic Information System/Computer-based Oral Health Record. Faculty development is focusing on active learning strategies that take advantage of electronic resources.
History
In 1970 the first classes of the new University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Dental School were held in the basement of the UTHSCSA Medical School Auditorium. There were 16 students. A 450,000 square foot Dental School building was completed in July of 1975 at a cost of $28 million dollars. Between 1984 and 2005 external funding for dental research at the institution grew from $800,000 to over $10,000,000. By May of 2005, as the Dental School celebrated its 35th Anniversary, the institution had graduated 2,777 DDS’s.
1975—The first class to have women graduates. The class was made up of 12.5% women (2 out of 16).
Dr. Cynthia A. Banker ‘75, was the first female graduate of the UTHSCSA Dental School—only because she was in line alphabetically in front of Dr. Birgit Junfin Glass ‘75. Dr. Glass is now the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the school and the first graduate to become a UTHSCSA Dental School administrator.
1987—The UTHSCSA Dental School leads the nation in the total number of Student Research Awards from The American Association for Dental Research. Our Dental School students have received 93 awards since 1987.
1993—There has only been one issue of US News and World Report in which all the Dental Schools in the country were rated. There were four issues of the magazine’s “Annual Guide to Graduate Education” from 1973 through 1976 in which Dental Schools were listed. The UTHSCSA Dental School was ranked #1 in all issues.
2000—The UTHSCSA Dental School became the first dental school in the nation to embark on a virtually complete electronic curriculum support system. The first class to use computers rather than conventional textbooks for all four years entered in 2001 and graduated in 2004.
2001—The Hispanic Center of Excellence - Dentistry within the Dental School received its national designation. The founding Director is Ramon J. Baez, DDS, MPH.
2003—Cara Knight was the first graduate of the UTHSCSA Dental School DDS/PhD program. She matriculated from the program that is a collaborative effort between the Dental School and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
2005—The percentage of women graduates reaches a high of 48%. This high represents 41 women out of a class of 84.
2006—March 11, at the 83rd ADEA Annual Session in Orlando, Florida Kenneth L. Kalkwarf, DDS, MS, Dean of the UTHSCSA Dental School was inducted as President of the American Dental Education Association.
The UTHSCSA Dental School has had more faculty members elected President of the American Association for Dental Research than any other school.
2000s—Dental Researchers at the UTHSCSA Dental School were the first in the world to map the gene that causes dentinogenesis imperfecta (DGI) Type III, a disease that affects tooth density and color and over time can cause teeth to wear to the gum line.
