DR THEO GOTJAMANOS holds a joint appointment as senior lecturer in the Schools of Medicine and Dentistry. Since obtaining Bachelor's, Master's and PhD degrees from the University of Adelaide, he has had 24 years of teaching experience in biomedical sciences, pathology and clinical dentistry. His research is aimed at understanding and preventing oral disease and covers experimental pathologoy, biological interactions at tooth interfaces, and maternal-child transfer of pathogenic bacteria. In 1993 Dr Gotjamanos received an Excellence in Teaching Award and last year he was successful in gaining a grant from the Research Assistance for Outstanding Teachers scheme. Being in the University of Adelaide, Case Western Reserve University, and the University of Connecticut during various phases of his academic career provided Dr Gotjamanos with opportunities to become invovled in one of the most important contemporary develpments in dental education and research-the emergence of the discipline of oral biology. On joining this University in 1976, he introduced into the dental curriculum the parallel courses Oral Biology and Introduction to Clinical Dentistry with the objective of integrating closely basic biological and dental sciences. First-year students were introduced to clinical diagnostic and preventive procedures on their first day at the School of Dentistry. Previously, these were not undertaken until later years of the BDSc course. Clinic sessions were organised to that students were familiarised with routine diagnostic methods and the clinical appearance of oral tissues before studying microstructure and function. Visits to the Princess Margaret Hospital were arranged prior to to instruction in oro-facial embryology so students could gain a better understanding of cranio-facial and dental malformations. First-year students also examined infant and child patients at the time of studying morphology of primary teeth. Previously, students had not been introduced to paediatric dentistry until their final year. This innovative approach has strenthened the link between basic biological science and clinical dentistry and acheived amore highly integrated curriculum. Oral biology concepts have also been incorporated into other courses for which Dr Gotjamanos has co-ordinating responsibility, including Preventitive Dentistry. Emphasis is placed on new approaches to disease prevention in infants and young children, including reduction in maternal reservours of oral bacteria which can be readily transferred from mother to child through close contact and sharing of spoons, and which are known to play a causative role in dental caries. By focusing on basic biological science, disease prevention, and community responsibility, Dr Gotjamanos assists dental students in becoming biologically orientated, preventively minded, socially sensitive, and clinically competent practitioners for a new era of dentistry. Emphasis on clinical application of preventive strategies and the feasibility of maintaining all members of the community free of dental disease counterbalances the restorative/therapeutic approach to advanced disease that characterises large segments of the traditional dental curriculum. |