Job Duties and Activities

It is my utmost pleasure and blessing to direct three radiology courses at the Detroit Mercy Dental. I lecture five other courses in integrated biomedical sciences and clinical divisions. I attend the radiology clinic on Monday and Tuesday afternoons (2 sessions) and Friday (4 sessions).

In the radiology pre-clinic, I teach novice second-year dental students how to take a diagnostic radiograph in pre-clinic radiology. It is an exciting phase of teaching where I teach dental students how to use intraoral digital sensors and take a panoramic radiograph. The radiology faculty and I teach about quality assurance and infection control. We introduce radiology clinic protocols to every dental and hygiene student when they come to radiology to learn how to take radiographs. The students are excited to see new cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) machines because they have only heard about them or seen them in YouTube videos. It makes them feel so good about our dental school when they touch and learn with the machine in the radiology clinic.

I facilitate dental and hygiene students with radiographic techniques and interpretation skills in the radiology clinic. I've realized that interpretation components are challenging for dental and hygiene students. I have dedicated Monday and Thursday afternoons for interpretation teaching for dental and hygiene students. It has dramatically impacted their positive learning experience and intellectual growth at the dental school.

For accelerated dental students, I teach them radiology techniques and conduct their competencies for radiographic design and interpretation. I have dedicated Friday afternoons to helping accelerated students.

The graduate students and faculty consult me for CBCT-related questions. For instance, graduate endodontics seek my help for diagnosis and surgical planning. Graduate periodontics residents ask for my help with implant planning and virtual treatment planning. Orthodontics residents refer patients to me for head and neck diseases, obstructive sleep apnea, temporomandibular joint disorders, and growth-development disorders. The oral surgery residents and faculty referred cases to me for maxillary sinusitis, impacted third molars, cystic lesions, and various tumors in the head and neck region.

Dr. Geist, Lori, and I work synchronously to help patients and aid in the learning experience of dental and graduate students. We also discuss exciting cases with dental students and residents in the radiology clinic.

I went the extra mile to support the radiology clinic when there was a need for faculty coverage. I covered the radiology clinic for over a semester when Ms. Okolisan and Dr. Mammo took a leave for significant foot surgery. I have been covering the clinic for Ms. Morgan because she is on medical leave to take care of her elbow. I'm blessed to have a great team in the radiology clinic.

Apart from the radiology clinic, I serve as a director of digital imaging integration at the dental school. Fortunately, we have calibrated all the students and faculty to use digital sensors to adopt new technology in dental school. The leadership team and I have successfully installed digital sensors and electronics in the radiology clinic. We installed four new Carestream 3-D machines last year. We have also established a lateral cephalogram machine with the CBCT machine. It is well received by the school's faculty, students, and patients. I provided continuing education on digital sensors and extraoral bitewings last year. This new system is increasing patient care efficiency and experience. It significantly reduced the chair side time for patients in the radiology clinic. Previously, it took about 1.5-2 hours to take full mouth radiographs on a patient. It takes about 12 to 15 minutes to complete the full mouth radiographs. We collaborated with faculty and graduate clinics by providing original DICOM scans to produce surgical guides and virtual treatment planning. We are preparing to install digital sensors in all the clinics and mobile buses. We aim to integrate digital imaging in dental, graduate, and clinical practice. We successfully worked together as a team to become a model dental school for practice-ready dentists.

I thank my colleagues and leadership for giving me an excellent job opportunity to help students and patients.