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nmdental.org
The Trailblazers
I
n 1961, Dr. Monica Nov it sk i,
Director of Dental Programs Divi-
sion, founded the University Of
New Mexico (UNM) School of Dental
Hygiene. Within the year, two more
faculty members Irene Navarre and
Louise de Fault were hired to coordinate
clinical teaching. In 1972, the program
was able to move from WWII wooden
Army barracks into the newly built
Dental Programs Building, later to be
renamed Novitski Hall in 1978 to honor
Dr. Novitski. As a children’s dentist and
former hygienist, Dr. Novitski bridged
the future relationship of these two
professions to further the journey of oral
medicine.
As a pioneering institution, UNM
Dental Hygiene was the first program
to graduate a male student in 1965, Jack
Orio. Dental hygiene became a School of
Medicine program in 1994 and was the
first program in the Southwest to have
a Master of Science Degree in Dental
Hygiene in 2002.
Dental Hygiene Education
The dental hygiene’s original two-
year program underwent curriculum
changes st ar ting with an upward
mobility Bachelor of Science degree
completion program for former gradu-
ates in the 1970s to an entry-level B.S.
degree in 2000. The curriculum was
further heightened with the creation
of the Master of Science degree in
2002. The uniqueness of this program
is further underlined by the fact that
it is the only DH program in the U.S.
to be housed within a medical school.
The program, with its focus on public
dental health, has national recognition
as a premier institution for graduating
dental hygienists with the skills to
develop innovative programs and has
had notable contributors. Christine
Nathe, RDH, MS, serves currently as
professor, Division of Dental Hygiene
Chief, and Vice-chair for the depart-
ment. Demetra Logothetis, RDH, M.S.,
served as Vice-Chairperson and Chief
of Dental Hygiene Division prior to
Christine Nathe. Both Demetra Logo-
thetis and Christine Nathe have success-
fully authored several prominent dental
hygiene texts and exam preparation
courses. Current dental hygiene faculty,
assistant professors Diana Aboytes,
RDH, MS, and Vicki Pizanis, RDH,
MS, are committed to both facult y
A Proud Tradition of Dental Education in New Mexico
By Jason R. Flores, RN, DDS
History of UNM Department of Dental Medicine
continues
