Heritage Snapshot: Part 236

LOMA LINDA >> The International Dental Clinic at the Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital in Hangzhou, China, serves a population that has historically been underserved. Until recently, dental health awareness among the general population in China has been low and primarily focused on seeking help for toothaches and dental infections. Treatment procedures have consisted mainly of extractions and replacement of missing teeth with dentures. Western notions of pain control were not widespread and clinical dental procedures were limited to meeting basic needs. Since 1994, tremendous changes in dentistry have taken place in China and the Dental Department at SRRSH has played an important role in the modernization of dental care in Hangzhou and surrounding areas. The timing of the establishment of a modern dental clinic at SRRSH was good for playing an important leadership role in raising the interest and the level of dental care there. The concept of this Dental Clinic began when Dr. Lloyd Baum was asked by the Loma Linda University administration to explore the possibility of establishing a dental clinic in the new hospital to be built in Hangzhou. His first visit to what would become the hospital site took place in 1990. Ever the vision he saw, Baum realized that there was an opportunity for modern dentistry to be introduced to a geographic location in great need of such health improvement. Baum was a pioneer in many areas all his professional life. He was one of the original founding faculty members of the Loma Linda University School of Dentistry (LLUSD) and he was instrumental in establishing the International Dentist Program at Loma Linda in 1984. Devoted to teaching modern dental procedures worldwide, he helped establish a dental clinic that later became a school of dentistry in Montemorelos, Mexico, in the late 1980s. When invited to do so, he turned his interest to the new developing medical center in Hangzhou, China – the Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital. He envisioned a modern dental center that would be a model in that part of the world. He invited Dr. Thor Bakland, an LLUSD 1962 graduate, to help design the six-chair clinic for the new hospital; the two had worked together in developing the dental school facilities at New York University in Stony Brook, in 1970. Baum organized the gathering of essential equipment, selection and acquisition of dental instruments and supplies, and worked tirelessly to establish a hospital-based dental clinic. Some of the unique concepts he advocated were that dental treatment could be pain free, that dentists could work better with the help of dental assistants, and that the dentists could work using multiple patient chairs. Another of the many concepts Baum introduced to his Chinese colleagues was that of working closely with dental laboratory technicians. To that end he brought with him, in 1993, Alex Shaw, a dental technician, to show how this concept would work in facilitating the making of dental prostheses for patients. With the help of Shaw, he designed and organized a fully functioning dental laboratory within the clinic space. When the Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital officially opened on May 2, 1994, Sir Shaw took great delight in visiting its already fully functioning dental clinic. An additional practice concept that Baum introduced to the new clinic personnel was the notion of universal infection control. While cleanliness was generally accepted in dental environments, he emphasized the importance of hand washing and using gloves and face masks, along with strict control of instrument sterilization procedures. It was an important concept that was particularly meaningful in reducing the risk of hepatitis B infection. Today this concept is universal, but a quarter of a century ago it was not generally recognized. Baum was effective in teaching the members of the dental staff many modern dental concepts, but he soon realized that to make significant progress it would be important for SRRSH dentists to see firsthand how some procedures are performed and how clinics could be efficiently run. For that purpose, he brought clinic staff members to Loma Linda, the first one being Dr. Annie Chen who spent six months in the International Dentist Program and returned to the SRRSH dental clinic. Later, he invited Liqun ‘Larry’ Wu, to come to LLUSD to be mentored by Baum for six months in 2000. Baum recognized that Wu had both the ability and the keen interest to become a leader in the dental field. After completing the mentorship, Wu returned to SRRSH and was subsequently appointed as the second and current director of the dental clinic. Baum’s recognition of Wu’s leadership potential and clinical skills has been confirmed far beyond Hangzhou by the excellent reputation that this clinic has earned.