The Reporter: December 1997, Vol.8, No.5
SDOS Recruits Audubon's First International Tenant

The Division of Prosthodontics in the School of Dental and Oral Surgery has signed an agreement with Kuwata Pan Dent Corporation, which will provide the school with fixed implant and fixed prosthetic technology as well as educational and technological support. Kuwata Pan Dent is an internationally recognized dental laboratory specializing in the design and fabrication of high-quality prosthetics technology. The company has opened a facility in the Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park's Lasker Building. This is the first international company to be housed in Audubon; Kuwata Pan Dent's origins are in Tokyo.

"Many dental schools have their own labs, which isn't always effective in terms of cost and efficiency," says Dr. Robert F. Wright, associate professor of clinical dentistry and director of prosthodontics."We came up with the idea of bringing a well-regarded dental lab here to provide the services we need. To my knowledge, this has never been done at an American dental school."

Kuwata Pan Dent will produce prosthetic technology-crowns, bridges, and implants-for the postgraduate prosthodontics training program and for dental students. Students will be able to work with the technicians located at Audubon." It's going to improve our program and put us on the cutting edge," says Dr. Wright "I was always impressed by the fact that Kuwata Pan Dent had very high-quality fixed prosthetic technology. We wanted this venture to work because SDOS is a smaller school devoted to high-quality education and Kuwata Pan Dent is a smaller corporation, too, with high-quality work."

Kuwata Pan Dent was originally a Japanese company located in Tokyo, where the lab was also a school that trained prosthetic technicians. Masahiro Kuwata, founder and now chairman of the board of Kuwata Pan Dent, was well known in Japan and around the world for his advanced techniques. In fact, he wrote a text that is used by students at SDOS. In 1976, the company opened a lab operation in New Jersey, with which SDOS has worked. Now, working side by side with dental students and faculty, Kuwata Pan Dent will bring the latest advances in electronics, materials, and biotechnology to satisfy a growing demand for natural looking prosthodontics and implants.

Kuwata Pan Dent also will offer continuing education courses for graduate dentists and jointly with the faculty undertake research in dental technology. "We anticipate that this unique venture will develop into a mutually beneficial professional relationship between private enterprise and Columbia," says Dr. Allan J. Formicola, SDOS dean.

Second DentCare Clinic Opens

This fall, the second Community DentCare Clinic opened at Council Health Center, a dental and medical clinic in Harlem. The ribbon-cutting ceremony and celebration were attended by several community and Columbia leaders, including Elizabeth Ortiz, DentCare dental hygienist, and City Councilman Stanley Michels.