Recent Posts
College of Dentistry’s dental hygiene students, faculty make an impact TDHA’s annual session
Texas A&M College of Dentistry's dental hygiene faculty and students had a strong presence at this year's Texas Dental Hygienists' Annual Session held Feb. 27 through March 2 in San Marcos. Second-year dental hygiene students Olivia Weisskopf, Zoe Spataro and Brenda Hernandez Moctezuma presented their research poster titled "Behind Closed Mouths: Barriers to HPV Communication in Dentistry." First-year dental hygiene student Andrea Gonzales received a TDHA scholarship.
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 ...
College of Dentistry researcher finds link between Medicaid gaps and dental ER visits in rural areas
Dr. Marvellous Akinlotan, clinical assistant professor and director of health services research in pediatric dentistry at Texas A&M College of Dentistry in Dallas, and others recently found that adults in rural communities, particularly those who receive Medicaid or lack dental insurance, are more likely to seek care in hospital emergency departments for preventable dental pain. Her research findings, sponsored by Delta Dental, are published in Journal of Public Health Dentistry.
Practicing for the unthinkable
Many people don't think about it, but dentists are among those to respond when disasters happen. Texas A&M College of Dentistry dental students received a crash course in disaster preparedness Feb. 27 when they participated in the 18th annual Disaster Day. Organized by Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Disaster Day is the nation's largest student-led, interprofessional emergency response simulation. More than 600 students from across Texas A&M Health took part in the exercise in College Station, where they practiced their emergency response skills.
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.
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.
Giving kids healthy smiles
Texas A&M College of Dentistry joined the Dallas County Dental Society Feb. 6 for its annual Give Kids a Smile hosted at L.P. Cowart Elementary School in Dallas. GKAS is a long-standing community service initiative organized by DCDS to increase access to oral health education and dental care for children in the Dallas area.
Recruiting future dentists
It's recruitment season, and faculty and alumni are on the road, encouraging students to apply to Texas A&M College of Dentistry. As part of what's called Texas Southern Swing Week, Texas universities last week hosted pre-health fairs for their undergraduates. Alicia Spence, director of recruitment and admissions at A&M Dentistry, traveled Feb. 17 to Texas A&M University's main campus in College Station and Feb. 18 to The University of Texas at Austin. She visited with more than 200 students.
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.
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.
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.
$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.