8
New Mexico Dental Journal, Summer 2015
practice and student teaching. The divi-
sion has received commendations for
achieved accreditation standards and is
one of the select programs active in the
transformation project of the American
Dental Hygienists’ Association. Long
time part-time faculty, Sandy Bartee and
Kristen Peterson, are not only active in
student instruction, but also in orga-
nizing continuing education courses
for community dental providers, and
providing humanitarian dental care,
thus furthering UNM Department of
Dental Medicine’s mission.
Enter the Dentists
With dental hygiene established, and
with dental hygiene’s assistance, atten-
tion turned to the need for more expan-
sive dental services at UNM. In 1999,
Dr. Walt Wolford, the then NM State
Dental Director for Department of
Health, requested a seed grant to help
fund the dental program at the Univer-
sity of New Mexico. With this grant
and an ever-growing need for dental
services at UNM Hospital, the School
of Medicine was able to hire Dr. Stephen
Beetstra. Dr. Beetstra worked as dental
surgeon under the Department of
Surgery in the hospital and staff dentist
for Novitski’s dental hygiene program. In
that same year, Dr. Charles Tatlock and
Dr. James Strohshein, were also hired as
staff dental surgeons. Dr. Tatlock began
dental outreach programs in Lordsburg
and Silver City. He was one of the first
dentists to practice in these two under-
served areas, and in 2000, Dr. Tatlock
received a Department of Health grant
to start a dental clinic in Albuquerque’s
Southeast Heights dedicated to treating
patients who did not have access to
routine dental care.
Building a Residency
In 2001, UNM Division of Dental
Services formed within the Department
of Surgery and Dr. Beetstra was named
Chief. This same year, Dr. Wolford,
having retired his post with the Depart-
ment of Health, and Dr. Gary Cuttrell,
were hired. Dr. Cuttrell was tasked to
begin dental anesthesia support for the
division. 2003 was a productive year with
Dr. Cuttrell beginning two dental anes-
thesia/outreach hospital programs, the
first to Eastern NM Medical Center in
Roswell and the second, Artesia General
Hospital three years later. July 2003,
Dr. Cuttrell began performing dental
anesthesia in Albuquerque’s South-
east Heights Dental Clinic alongside
his dental surgical colleagues, and Dr.
Wolford started work on a U.S. Depart-
ment of Health and Human Services
grant for a dental residency. This grant
was completed with the help of Drs.
Beetstra, Tatlock, and Cuttrell.
In 2004, with dental care and education
support from Senator Jeff Bingaman, the
UNM Advanced Education in General
Dentistry residency program was inau-
gurated with five residents and Albu-
querque’s Northeast Heights Dental
Clinic opened. This “hybrid residency”
is unique in that it ties the dental clinic
private practice knowledge of a standard
AEGD with a Level I Trauma Center
hospital operating room surgical envi-
ronment found in a General Practice
Residency. UNM’s AEGD residency,
first housed in Novitski Hall, had rota-
tions in advanced general and surgical
procedures, anesthesia, pediatrics, and
hospital dentistry with a focus in public
health dentistry, and is the only post-
graduate dental educational program
in New Mexico. Dr. Tatlock served as
Interim Residency Director until in
2005, when Dr. Peter Jensen was hired
as AEGD Residency Director. That
A Proud Tradition of Dental Education in New Mexico,
continued
