Opinion ID: 2343373
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Dental Medicine Continues at Washington University

Text: The basic aspects of dental education at Washington University Dental School were the treatment of patients, education of dental students, and research of the faculty. Applying the funds to Washington University for dental-related endeavors most nearly carries out Dr. Kimbrough's intent because treatment of patients, post-graduate dental education, and research are ongoing at Washington University. Although the dental school has been closed and the university no longer grants the basic degree in dental medicine, some dentistry continues through the medical school. Dr. Donald E. Huebener and Dr. W. Donald Gay were both faculty members of the dental school. Dr. Huebener is a member of a team of physicians, dentists, and orthodontists at the Cleft Palate Cranial Facial Deformity Institute, of which he is a founding member. He is a pediatric dentist in the City of St. Louis and provides routine dental care to 20 to 22 children daily at the dental clinic and provides dental care to children with special health care needs and serves on the cleft palate team. Dr. Gay, a maxillofacial prosthodontist, serves as the Director of the Division of Maxillofacial Prosthetics of the Otolaryngology Department at the School of Medicine. He does primarily the same work at the School of Medicine as he did at the dental school. He fits dental prostheses for people with birth defects or who have suffered trauma or cancer. The circuit court's judgment directing one or two chairs in Dr. Kimbrough's name would support one or two such professorships. Richard Smith, the last dean of the dental school and chairman of its orthodontics department, became a professor of anthropology at the university, where he and others educate students in dental-related topics and do research in the area of dental genetics and biomechanics of the face. The medical library at Washington University has two dental book collections. The circuit court found that dental medicine is still a necessary component of Washington University Medical School, and remarked on the borderline miraculous healing work the university's professors continue to perform. Neither the closing of the dental school nor the change in the Dental Alumni Development Fund make Dr. Kimbrough's gift useless. The trust estate can be used to continue treatment of dental patients, research, and post-graduate education in dental medicine.