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Office Visit: Still Going Strong Benjamin Lund, Editor, Orthotown Magazine

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The orthodontic program at Arizona's first dental school gets a facility facelift

by Benjamin Lund, Editor, Orthotown Magazine

A.T. Still University's Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-ASDOH), Arizona's first dental school, opened in 2003 with a mission to work with community-minded students and dental professionals. It opened its orthodontic program in 2008 with four residents in the school's main building. Seeing a need for space, the school expanded its facility and recently opened up a brand new space for its orthodontic residents. Orthotown Magazine interviewed ATSU-ASDOH Dean, Dr. Jack Dillenberg, to learn more.

Dr. Dillenberg, can you tell our readers about the history of ATSU-ASDOH?
Dillenberg: A.T. Still University is named after Andrew Taylor Still from rural Missouri and the founder of osteopathic medicine. He was a doctor in rural Missouri. He was disillusioned with the current state of medicine, so he took a year off to ponder how to make medicine more effective. He founded the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (KCOM) which is the founding medical school for osteopathic medicine in Kirksville, Missouri. Up until 1900, Dr. Still practiced dentistry as a physician in rural Kansas because there were no dentists.

KCOM came out to Arizona about 25 years ago and opened a school of health sciences. They had an affiliation with the state of Arizona because they would rotate their DO residents to hospitals in Arizona and the Phoenix-metropolitan area. They realized our need for physician assistants, PTs, audiologists and athletic trainers, so they started a graduate school for Arizona health sciences. As they were on their clinical rotations to community health centers in the communities in Arizona they would often hear, "We need dentists." They did some research and found out there was a 23 percent vacancy rate in the Indian Health Service for dental slots. They found that the community health centers which were the safety net for this country couldn't get dentists to work for them even though they were paying substantial salaries and tax-free dollars for loan repayment. It wasn't about the money; it was about the people who were becoming dentists that didn't have an interest in working with underserved or poor people.

Name: A.T. Still University's Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health

Location: Mesa, Arizona

Dean: Dr. Jack Dillenberg

Residents: 5    Faculty: 24

Web site: www.atsu.edu/asdoh

I was the former director of health here in Arizona. I directed the state health department in the 90s; as a dentist that was a big deal. I was the second dentist in the history of the United States to run a state health department. I was living in California after my stint as the Arizona director of health when I got a call from KCOM. They told me they were thinking of starting a dental school in Arizona but weren't sure if it was a good idea. I suggested that they put together a blue ribbon panel and pick their brains. I called up some of the innovative dental leaders in the academic world. We all came together in Scottsdale at the conference center and Dr. Arthur Dugoni led the conversation. By the second day, it was insisted that I become the school's dean, even though it wasn't even on my radar! I gave it some thought and said to the president of the school, "I'm in if you're in." It really is a beautiful campus; in entirety it is a 90-acre health and science technology park. When I came out here there wasn't even a blade of grass. Now it's gorgeous.


What can you tell our readers about your orthodontic program?
Dillenberg: We wanted to produce public-health-minded orthodontists, which sounds like an oxymoron, but we wanted to do it. The program is unique in a lot of ways in that part of the criteria for getting into our orthodontic program is that candidates must have done community service. Once they are in, our students are required to provide care to an underserved population of special kids at St. Vincent de Paul in Phoenix, Arizona, at least one day a month. It is a really unique program in that regard. We also have an open mind relative to many different techniques and philosophies that are taught in the orthodontic program. I think that although other programs do treat underserved populations, they are not as integrated into the residency like it is at our school.

How long ago did the orthodontic program start?
Dillenberg: We started three years ago (2008) in the main clinic building with four residents in a tight space. We realized we had to move them for a number of reasons. Firstly, we wanted to make them part of the vision we had of creating a center for advanced oral health and education that would house all of our post-doctoral programs, our AEGD residencies, orthodontics, and if we did any other things like pediatrics or endo. One of the things we wanted to do was a maxillofacial-prostho certificate because MD Anderson is opening up close by and we wanted to provide complex coordinated care for cancer survivors and severe trauma. We have two board-certified maxillofacial prosthodontist on our faculty. When we were building this center it was logical that the first group to move in there should be orthodontics. They were outgrowing their space and they were limited on the amount of patients they could see, the number of residents they could take and also in their pre-doctoral orthodontic clinical experiences. For those reasons, we could expand from four to five residents, we could see more patients, we could enhance our predoctoral orthodontic clinical experience and create the center for advanced oral health education.

How would you describe the new facility? What amenities does it have?
Dillenberg: We combined a couple of modalities of practice. We have the star setup – with four dental chairs coming off of a hub. That is one style of teaching that we have and then we have traditional operatories. We have a large resident area where they can work on their research. It is all wired and high-tech. They have their own sterilization area and laboratory area. We also have conference rooms and a nice waiting area. It is spacious, aesthetic and state-of-the-art. It is really breathtaking.


Can you explain more about your school's overall philosophy?
Dillenberg: We work to foster community-minded dentists. Our philosophy is to educate competent health-care professionals who continuously develop and demonstrate compassion, integrity and ability. I don't want to just produce great clinicians, I want to produce honest clinicians; those with compassion that are going to recognize that orthodontics is a valuable service that is needed by poor people and underserved people and special needs people as much as by those with affluence. We use those words every day in our program – compassion, integrity and ability. We are looking for professionals who are committed to scholarly inquiry and who anticipate and address society's health-care needs. Our students participate in the doctor's health science program so they graduate with not only their certificate in orthodontics but they get a doctorate in health sciences, which allows them and encourages them to get into the academic world. We want to help create the next generation of orthodontic faculty, which is needed.

What is going to be different in this program now that you are in this new facility? How is the new clinic going to enhance the program?
Dillenberg: We now have two private operatories for using different adjunctive tools such as a diode laser and placing a temporary anchorage device. Instead of the traditional orthodontics that has been done in an open clinic, open bay-type setup, now we are able to have a couple rooms that are more private where we are able to do these more intimate procedures. We also have a private consultation room, full wet lab and as I mentioned, the large open resident workspace to promote inter-resident collaboration and education. One of the things I am finding with these young folks is they really develop a tremendous collegial and collaborate environment.

What technology are you incorporating?
Dillenberg: We have an i-CAT machine. We do that all the time, every day, on all orthodontic patients. And besides Dolphin software we have some really interesting software that can build back all the soft-tissue of the neck and face. It is unbelievable what information is available through this technology.


Dr. Jae Hyun Park, left, holding his Joseph E. Johnson Clinical Award at the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) Table Clinic Competition with his research partner Dr. Kiyoshi Tai.

What research are your residents undergoing?
Dillenberg: They have individual projects that they're working on. The majority or our research projects are of clinical nature; they have focused on the use of cone beam technology and the use of 3D imaging, clinical approaches for impacted canines, temporary anchorage devices, periodontal tissue studies using orthodontic movement in rats, applications of clear aligners, orthodontic and orthopedic treatment strategies for the correction of craniofacial deformities and distraction osteogenesis techniques. Over the last three years Dr. Jae Hyun Park, the director of our postgraduate orthodontic program, has published six original articles, 24 clinical articles and four reviewed articles. Some have been done with our residents. Dr. Park is currently writing a book chapter on the clinical considerations on open gingival embrasures. Actually, in point of fact, Dr. Park has numerous publications and he just won the Joseph E. Johnson Clinical Award at the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) Table Clinic Competition during the 111th Annual Session. It was called Three-dimensional Accuracy of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Images: An In Vitro Comparison of Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Cone Beam Computed Tomography. He worked on it with Dr. Kiyoshi Tai from Japan. He is an incredible research mentor. We have people from all over the world who want to come here and hang out with Tai.

What degree do residents earn?
Dillenberg: The degree the residents receive is the certificate in orthodontics. They have the option of fulfilling the requirements for a doctorate of health sciences, which is a DHSc. Today every one of our residents has elected to complete this. The AAO puts on a program for our residents called practice alternative and they provide online matching services to new graduates.

Are you providing placement assistance?
Dillenberg: They are going out in the world and believe me these are sought after folks. They are an extraordinary group. We take a couple from our program because we love them so much and since they have the community service they are probably better clinically trained than many other dental school graduates. What I find in the orthodontic specialty is they are a pretty close-knit group with a lot of networking and the adjunct faculty has been a tremendous resource for helping these students move on to their next thing.

Have any of your graduated residents come back to teach?
Dillenberg: Yes, we have a couple who have come back to teach. We have graduated four classes; our fifth class graduating now. Thirty-six percent of our graduates are working in community clinics.

Can you tell me more about your instructors? I know in the ortho specialty there is concern about who is providing education and how new orthodontists are trained.
Dillenberg: We have a lot of adjuncts (see sidebar). And actually for the first two years they did it for free. They are very generous with their time and they love coming here. One is Dr. Cliff Running. He was the dental director of the Children's Rehabilitative Services program. He ran the orthodontic program for over 25 years. He is one of the best known and respected orthodontists in town. There is such a treasure trove.
Orthotown Magazine
September 2025
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