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Tatakis named head of periodontics
After a national search, Dr. Dimitris N. Tatakis is the new head of periodontics at Texas A&M College of Dentistry in Dallas. Dr. Deborah M. Foyle, who served as interim head of periodontics, will assist Tatakis before assuming another high-level position at A&M Dentistry. Tatakis started Feb. 2 and came to ... Read More
Passing the drill: Baby boomer dentists bid goodbye, allowing young dentists’ smiles in the spotlight
Disco on FM radio was cool. “Grease” ruled the box office. That’s when Dr. Michael Plunk opened his eponymous dental practice in June 1978 in East Dallas’ Casa Linda neighborhood. “We weren’t dependent on insurance plans, PPOs, like corporations are,” he said. “It was about relationships, long-term relationships.” Fast forward to 2026, and Latin music is popular on Spotify playlists. “Pegasus 3” is this year’s highest-grossing film so far. Plunk officially retired last year, taking with him nearly half a century of memories. His farewell isn’t unique. A large share of dentists aged 60 and older left the workforce between 2017 and 2024. The retirement surge is slowing, but the American Dental Association Health Policy Institute in 2025 projected that most baby boomer dentists will age out of the workforce by the late 2020s. Stepping up is a rapidly growing pool of younger national talent. Dentists under 45 are poised to reshape the profession. There’s more. Read More
Howdy, Chancellor Glenn Hegar
Texas A&M College of Dentistry welcomed Texas A&M System Chancellor Glenn Hegar on Feb. 24 to visit the dental hospital in Dallas. Hegar toured the general practice and specialty clinics in the Clinic and Education Building. He took the opportunity to meet with students and staff. Read More
Plemons named inaugural executive director of external affairs
Texas A&M College of Dentistry in Dallas recently named Dr. Jacqueline Plemons as the inaugural executive director of external affairs. In her role, Plemons, a longtime clinical professor and director of Stomatology, will identify and cultivate collaborative opportunities between the 120-year-old dental college and the broader community, including other institutions, businesses, community care organizations and practicing dentists across the state. She will ensure each opportunity aligns with the dental college’s mission to provide academic excellence, trailblazing research and community-centered care and service. Plemons will develop operational guidelines when reviewing affiliation agreements in support of the dental school’s programs. Read More
College of Dentistry to receive more than $2.87 million to study TMD pain
Texas A&M College of Dentistry’s professor and head of biomedical sciences and his researchers will receive more than $2.87 million over the next five years to study temporomandibular disorders. Dr. John Neubert is A&M Dentistry’s principal investigator in the world’s most extensive collaborative study of patients with TMDs. TMDs are 30-plus painful conditions that affect the jaw muscles, nerves and joints in the face. The $17 million Collaborative for REsearch to Advance TMD Evidence, nicknamed CREATE, project will collect data on patients’ chronic pain to identify ways to eventually manage TMDs more effectively. Read More
AGD president and alum visits College of Dentistry
It was a welcome-home event for Dr. Marc J. Worob, president of the Academy of General Dentistry, when he visited Texas A&M College of Dentistry Feb. 12. Worob, a 1979 alumnus of what was then Baylor College of Dentistry, met with Dr. Lily T. Garcia, the dean, and students. Read More
$40,000 granted to study orthodontic expanders
Dr. Shivam Mehta, clinical assistant professor and program director in orthodontics at Texas A&M College of Dentistry, recently received a $40,000 grant to study jaw expander types and techniques in teens and young adults undergoing orthodontic treatment. The American Association of Orthodontists Foundation grant will enable Mehta to evaluate two standard mini-screw-assisted rapid palatal expander protocols for reshaping narrow jaws to determine which treatment design is most effective. Studying patients ages 15 to 25 in both A&M Dentistry’s clinic and in private practices in Dallas-Fort Worth, he will research bone-anchored MARPE against hybrid MARPE that anchor expanders to bone and teeth. Read More
College of Dentistry now validates patient parking passes at the main clinic
Effective immediately, Texas A&M College of Dentistry in Dallas now validates parking tickets at the clinic education building at 3000 Gaston Ave., east of downtown Dallas. Validation is provided at checkout at the end of each patient’s appointment. “To show our appreciation for choosing the dental college for oral health care, we provide patients with one validation parking pass per day,” said Dr. Jennifer J. Barrington, associate dean of clinical affairs. “Validation is reserved for patients only.” Information about parking is available at Directions and Parking. Read More
Student tour cements dental dreams for educator
Texas A&M College of Dentistry's mission is to educate those pursuing dental, dental hygiene, graduate and dental specialty degrees and serve the community by providing quality oral health care. Sometimes there's someone in the community who so inspires us that we are compelled to share. Simone Chandler, a teacher at Young Women's STEAM Academy at Balch Springs in the Dallas Independent School District, toured A&M Dentistry when she was in eighth grade, and knew she wanted to become a dentist. "It's science, and it's art," she shared in an interview published yesterday by the DISD. "I get to make people happy and bring them out of discomfort. It's my ultimate STEM dream." Read More
Tahmasbi receives 40 Under 40 nod from Incisal Edge
Better reading of dental radiographic images leads to healthier patients, according to Dr. Mehrnaz Tahmasbi, clinical associate professor and radiology predoctoral program director at Texas A&M University College of Dentistry in Dallas. She’s working to ensure tomorrow’s dentists see ailments more clearly. A&M Dentistry’s dental students, like many of their counterparts worldwide, traditionally learn about head and neck anatomy primarily using two-dimensional images. A&M Dentistry’s fourth-year students also have the privilege to observe cone beam computed tomography three-dimensional imaging during their clinical rotations, and Tahmasbi is working to add formal CBCT education to the predoctoral curriculum. “I want to enhance students’ understanding of three-dimensional anatomy and imaging concepts relevant to procedures such as implant placement, endodontic surgery and extractions,” said Tahmasbi, a dentist and maxillofacial radiologist, of the CBCT technology now used in many dental practices. Her teaching endeavors, work at A&M Dentistry’s Imaging Center and research in diagnostic sciences, as well as her dental imaging reading services for BeamReaders, were recognized by editors and peers when she was named to Incisal Edge magazine’s 2025 Top 40 Under 40 dental specialists. Read More