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State dental association honors Cayouette by Cindy Abole Public Relations Prosthodontist Monica Cayouette, DMD, has a passion for teaching, patient care and activism in organized dentistry. Her devotion to dentistry is so fixed that she was honored last spring with the 2005 South Carolina Dental Association’s (SCDA) New Dentist Award.   On April 28, Cayouette was recognized at the SCDA annual meeting in Myrtle Beach. An assistant professor of dental medicine and director of the dental implant division, Department of Prosthodontics in the College of Dental Medicine, Cayouette helped to build and establish quality dental implant services to patients, while teaching the value of implants in modern dentistry to dental students and practitioners around the state.      “I was both surprised and honored to receive this award,” said Cayouette. “I would not have achieved this success without the help of so many others, especially my assistants.”   “Dr. Cayoutte has done an excellent job in promoting dentistry in South Carolina,” said Hal Zorn, SCDA executive director. “She’s worked hard to build the future field of dentistry within the state by inspiring young men and women through her teaching and advocacy efforts.”   Dr. Monica Cayouette and husband Scott after receiving the SCDA Young Dentist award. A 1996 graduate of the College of Dental Medicine, Cayouette returned to Charleston after completing her master’s in prosthodontics at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio in 1999. She joined MUSC’s Department of Prosthodontics to lead and open a new dental implant program—complementing the established fixed and removable prosthodontics programs already in place. Since then, the dental implant program has bloomed.   “The goal of MUSC’s Implant Clinic is to train students and statewide general dentists that have never had any formal training  to learn how to provide a treatment plan and restore basic implant restorations,” Cayouette said. “We want to provide our students with an understanding of sound implant principles which they can continue to build upon.”   Aside from running the clinic and treating patients, she also teaches dental students in fixed prosthodontics clinics. According to Cayouette, the field of dental implantology has not been traditionally taught within predoctoral dental curriculums and has mostly been reserved for graduate residency programs. But with today’s standard of care promoting the use of implants, dental educators realize the need to introduce students to this dental field while working to teach and prepare practitioners about restorative implant dentistry. MUSC is among the first in the country to provide this type of training and expertise.   Despite her busyness, Cayouette remains focused keeping the words of a professional maxim close by her office desk. It defines the field of prosthodontics as “a dental specialty responsible for diagnosis, treatment, planning, rehab and maintenance of patients with complex clinical conditions using biocombatible substitutes including implants to replace missing or deficient teeth and/or craniofacial tissues.”   Cayoutte and her husband, Scott, also a 1996 MUSC dental medicine graduate  working in private practice, share a passion for activism within their profession. Through SCDA, they’ve organized their time to participate in various projects from lobbying the state Legislature for funding support of SCDA’s Rural Dentist's Incentive Program—a program designated to help graduating dental students and faculty repay dental school debts by allowing them to practice in rural areas of South Carolina. She has also been instrumental in influencing student involvement through organizations regarding student and professional issues. A former SCDA delegate, Cayouette was recently asked to serve as the program chairperson for SCDA’s 2007 annual meeting.   Also significant to Cayouette’s professional success working these past five years in academia and clinical dentistry is her balanced role as wife and mother. In December 2003, she gave birth to son Caleb.     “I am amazed and fascinated by Dr. Cayouette’s service to academic and clinical dentistry in the past five years,” wrote Tariq Javed, DMD, associate dean for Academic and Student Affairs and professor of the College of Dental Medicine in a nomination letter written to the SCDA. “Based on her qualifications, clinical skills, professional disposition and support of organized dentistry, she is a role model to other young professionals and an exemplary ambassador of what a new/young dentist should be in South Carolina.”     Friday, Sept. 16, 2005 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. 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