Tennessee

Faculty Interviews

“The…program has been beneficial because of an increased exposure to complex cases and treatment planning…Most importantly, it has given me experience a step ahead in implant dentistry.”

Typically, sites affiliated with Lutheran Medical Center’s Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) program include community health centers, Indian Health Service centers, group practices, and the like. Once again, keeping to its tradition to being untraditional, Lutheran has another novel affiliation in place.

The University Dental Practice (UDP ) has been a part of the College of Dentistry, University Health Science Center since the early 1980s. The UDP originated to provide College of Dentistry faculty a place to sharpen their skills, develop new techniques, and treat patients too difficult for undergraduate students. The UDP moved into a new location in June, 2004 which is an underserved area for dental care. This facility contains eight treatment rooms with state-of-the-art equipment and excellent allied dental personnel to assist with patient care.

Through the College of Dentistry and Lutheran Medical Center, the acceptance of two residents implemented the AEGD program in July 2005. The residents treat a variety of patients, most of whom are referred from the college and are complex cases representing many disciplines of dentistry. Many patients need difficult fixed and removable prosthodontics and implant dentistry. The program coordinator has had advanced training and a number of years of experience in implant dentistry. Residents at this Lutheran Medical Center-affiliated AEGD training site gain experience in all phases of implant dentistry including surgical placement and restoration of implants. They work with the program coordinator in teaching implant dentistry to senior dental students of the College of Dentistry. Residents also rotate one-half day per week to Arlington Developmental Center, where they provide care to special needs patients, most of whom are physically and mentally challenged. For one-half day per month, a resident accompanies the program coordinator to the Regional Medical Center where an Arlington patient receives dental care under general anesthesia in the operating room. Residents enjoy a variety of experiences in patient care with a focus on implant dentistry.

The Volunteer State

Represented by the three stars in its flag, the three regions of Tennessee, divided by its looping, eponymous river, are quite distinct: the rugged mountainous east; the serene Bluegrass Country in the middle; and the commercial Mississippi shores in the west. The Cherokee in the east and the Chickasaw in the west were the primary Indian tribes to live in the area. Hunters, explorers and, eventually, settlers began trickling into the region in the late 18th century. It became a land of storied frontiersmen such as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett and soldier-heroes and future presidents such as Andrew Jackson, who went on to force the Cherokee from the state on their march to Oklahoma along the “Trail of Tears.” During the war with Mexico, more than 30,000 tried to fill 2,800 slots for soldiers, hence the nickname, the Volunteer State. The state was the site of some of the worst battles of the Civil War and Reconstruction was violent. The 20th century brought development, opportunity, and change, especially with the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, which brought a source of cheap energy, employment, and flood control…and music…country and blues.

Settled first by the Chickasaw on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, the area that is now Memphis was claimed by France, Spain, Britain, and the United States. By the mid-19th century, Memphis was one of the busiest ports in the country and a center of the cotton industry and slave trade. The city was nearly destroyed, however, by the combined events of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the series of yellow fever epidemics that followed. The tide shifted by the late 1890s-the cotton and lumber industries began to rebound and the sound of the blues took hold. The city honors two kings: the king of rockabilly, Elvis Presley; and with sadness and unwanted national attention, the assassinated civil rights leader, Martin Luther King. Today, Memphis is the largest city in the state, a proud and major metropolis and commercial center for Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Old slave ballads developed by the legendary W.C. Handy in PeeWee’s Saloon on Beale Street garnered the city the title, “Home of the Blues” by a declaration of Congress in 1977. It is also the renowned home of “slow food”-come kick back and discover the savory pleasure of barbeque cooked the “the Memphis way.”