Faculty Profile: Dr. Gustavo Mendonça Combining Prosthodontics, Research and Digital Technology It seemed early on that Gustavo Mendonça would follow in the career track of two uncles and an aunt who are dentists. As late as the middle of his dental school training at the Federal University of Uberlandia in his native Brazil, he was expecting to join the practice of one of his uncles when he graduated. But then he began to realize that high-end academic research had an appeal, as did the satisfaction of teaching what he knew to others. From that point on, he began to build a resume that would lead to academia, first in Brazil, then to the United States at the University of North Carolina and, in 2014, to the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. As a Clinical Professor of Dentistry in the Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences & Prosthodontics, Mendonça covers a lot of ground. His foundational expertise is in prosthodontics, so he teaches a variety of pre-doctoral and graduate courses related to that specialty, from traditional partial and complete dentures to the ever-expanding field of implants. On the research side, over the course of his graduate work and faculty career he has completed important studies in bone molecular biology, particularly as it relates to dental implants. His PhD research focused on the role of nanoscale features on implant surfaces and how it affects the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) into osteoblasts. Various parts of his research, including the impact of MSCs on bone healing and osseointegration, have been supported by grants from the Foundation of the Academy of Osseointegration. He became a fellow of the academy last year and was earlier this year named chair of its Research Committee. In the last several years, he has added a new area of expertise – dental digital technology – to his research and publishing. It’s part of his longstanding interest that began in dental school and as a graduate student in the early days of the digital impact on dentistry. His experience is benefitting the dental school as
he leads, as co-chair with Dr. HsunLiang (Albert) Chan, the school’s Dental Technology Committee. It advises school administrators about the most important technologies, equipment and software arriving in the dentistry arena, considers faculty proposals and provides recommendations on what should be integrated next into the clinics, curriculum and training for faculty and students. Sitting in his office in the new Faculty Commons, Mendonça calls up a digital image of a patient’s oral cavity on his large computer screen. He Mendonça confers with Dr. Junying (Jayden) Li, rotates the 3-dimensional image of a Clinical Assistant Professor, about a 3D-printed the teeth and jaws left to right, up and stackable surgical guide. down and around to the back so that can’t be done overnight. Mendonça and the he can look at even the smallest of details rest of the faculty still teach the traditional from literally any angle. Captured by an dental courses even as digital dentistry is intraoral scanner, images like this are what implemented in some areas faster than in help students and faculty collaborate others. Whether teaching long-understood on improved and precise treatment plans. science or helping students discover and The images are the first step in creating master the newest technology-enhanced digital impressions, surgical guides, partial treatment methods, Mendonça feels a and complete dentures and many other responsibility to be an excellent teacher appliances on 3-D printers. It is a revolutionand committed mentor, just as key faculty ary change compared to only a few years were in his dental school and graduate days. ago when the slower and less precise tradiHis approach was validated shortly before tional methods for making impressions he joined U-M when students at UNC were the only option. voted him “Faculty of the Year” for his “Using this technology allows us to be teaching skills. efficient when seeing the patients, to scan, to Even as a teaching assistant before he moved make a crown, many times the same day or into academia full-time, he said he realized the next hour. Or send it to the lab efficiently the value of a good instructor or professor as a digital file,” he said. “We teach the and how much they can impact the life of students to do it efficiently so the patients other people by helping them learn. don’t have to spend a lot of time sitting in the dental chair and everything comes out fitting “It feels very rewarding to participate in all better and working better for the patient.” stages of the student learning,” he said in a written essay about his academic career. Mendonça collaborated on a recent literature “It is a very good experience to follow review that indicates intraoral scanning students from the beginning of their training reduces working time and improves patientin the pre-clinical courses and see how they reported outcome measures compared to develop skills and learn how to critically conventional impression techniques. It also provide their patients with the best treatverified the effectiveness of the procedures ment… It all challenges me to continue to based on available prosthodontic outcomes. improve my skills and knowledge to always While the move to digital dentistry is quickly present the best to the students, dental changing dentistry and dental education, it community and patients.” FACULTY 15 Fall 2021 | M Dentistry
