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News Release

November 12, 2008

Contact: Maureen McGuire, 860-679-4523
e-mail: mmcguire@nso.uchc.edu

UConn Celebrates Grand Opening of the Center for Implant and Reconstructive Dentistry

State-of-the-Art Technologies, Nationally Recognized Experts

FARMINGTON, CONN. – Officials with the University of Connecticut Health Center recently celebrated the grand opening of a new center where nationally-recognized experts provide a full range of dental implant services to improve health and enhance smiles with natural-looking replacement teeth.

The Center for Implant and Reconstructive Dentistry, part of the New England Musculoskeletal Institute, is located on the main level of the Health Center. It has eight modern treatment rooms and sophisticated equipment including a ConeBeam tomography unit that quickly and precisely captures 3D and 2D images of jaws and teeth.

“We offer patients today’s best technologies as well as the highest quality care from providers who are leaders in the field of dental implant therapy,” said Donald Somerville, D.M.D., M.S., the director.

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Dr. Somerville thanked everyone who helped make the new center a reality, including philanthropic support from Straumann USA and Astra Tech AB, and stressed that UConn has been at the forefront of dental implant care, education and research for many years.

“The UConn team has already made meaningful advances to improve the dental implant process through the development of new biomaterials and cutting edge work to promote bone growth,” said Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., the Health Center’s vice president for health affairs and dean of the UConn School of Medicine.

“These are real, tangible results that will help men and women throughout the region and beyond,” he added, noting that ongoing research initiatives bring together experts from the UConn Schools of Dental Medicine and Medicine, the UConn Center for Osteoporosis and the UConn School of Engineering.

“This new center will facilitate our faculty’s ability to provide superb care as well as the ability to perform cutting edge research that will also benefit our patients,” added Dr. Jay R. Lieberman, director of the New England Musculoskeletal Institute and professor and chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

Dental implants are long-term, natural-looking tooth replacements. Unlike dentures or bridges, the implant is surgically implanted in the patient’s jaw bone and supports the replacement tooth or bridge.

The surgical implant process typically spans between three to six months, depending on the patient’s specific needs. National and local studies report very high patient satisfaction rates with dental implants. Many patients reported increased comfort and confidence with talking, chewing, or smiling.

More information about the Center for Implant and Reconstructive Dentistry is available at dentalimplants.uchc.edu or nemsi.uchc.edu. To make an appointment, call 860-679-7600.

Photo: http://today.uchc.edu/images/news/dental1.jpg
Caption: Ribbon cutting: UConn officials celebrate the grand opening of the Center for Implant and Reconstructive Dentistry on the Farmington campus. Back row, from left to right: Drs. Thomas Taylor, David Shafer and Martin Freilich of the Center for Implant and Reconstructive Dentistry. Front row, from left to right: Dr. Jay R. Lieberman, director of the New England Musculoskeletal Institute; Dr. LaMont MacNeil, dean of the UConn School of Dental Medicine; Dr. Donald Somerville, director of the Center for Implant and Reconstructive Dentistry; Dr. Cato T. Laurencin, vice president for health affairs and dean of the UConn School of Medicine; Dr. Peter J. Nicholls, university provost and executive vice president for academic affairs; and Anne Horbatuck, chief operating officer of the New England Musculoskeletal Institute.

Photo: http://today.uchc.edu/images/news/dental2.jpg
Caption: Inside the Center for Implant and Reconstructive Dentistry: Dr. Donald Somerville, the director, and patient inside the new Center for Implant and Reconstructive Dentistry at the UConn Health Center in Farmington.

UConn Health includes the schools of medicine and dental medicine, the UConn Medical Group, University Dentists, and John Dempsey Hospital. Home to Bioscience Connecticut, UConn Health pursues a mission of providing outstanding health care education in an environment of exemplary patient care, research and public service. More information about UConn Health is available at www.uchc.edu.

Note: News professionals are invited to visit the UConn Health Today news page (http://today.uchc.edu) for regularly updated news and feature stories, photos and media stories. News releases are archived at http://today.uchc.edu/newsreleases/2014. UConn Health news and information is also available on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.