Anyone who’s ever watched a medical drama on TV knows observation galleries are commonplace in operating rooms at many university teaching hospitals. But that’s hardly the case in the field of dentistry, even though students could benefit just as much from watching skilled professionals perform intricate procedures.
Of course, the model is more difficult to apply to dentistry, where procedures are performed in the small oral cavity, and are only observable from a direct bird’s-eye view.
Now, thanks to a visionary gift from Dr. Newton C. Gordon, BSc’66, DDS’70, McGill’s Faculty of Dentistry has a state-of-the-art surgical suite, equipped with two-way audiovisual equipment that allows students to observe procedures as if they were standing next to the dentist.
Although the room resembles a regular surgical suite, used for oral diagnosis, oral surgery and emergency treatment, it is anything but ordinary. It allows for two-way communication between the surgical suite and two separate classrooms. There are in-wall and ceiling microphones and speakers, as well as two cameras. One camera is discreetly fixed on the wall and remains focused on the patient’s chair. The other is mounted on an adjustable arm at an appropriate distance from the patient, and has zoom and HD resolution capacities. Dentists can also hook their loupes microscope into the AV system to project exactly what they are seeing.
While a dentist works on a patient in the surgical suite, a live feed streams the procedure in the Active Learning Classroom or the Pre-Clinical Laboratory. Students can watch treatments in real-time, and interact with the instructor via microphones and speakers in their classroom.
The Faculty is also using the filming capabilities to create a media library of instructional videos that will be easily available for students. Dr. Bassel Kano, Director of the Division of Endodontics at the Faculty, is an early adopter of this technology. It allows him to demonstrate procedures he’s performed hundreds or thousands of times, and to narrate what he’s doing without compromising the outcome. Students get to see the positioning of dentist and patient, and the placement of the instruments.
Kano also thinks it’s important for the students to hear how he interacts with the patient. “They can hear the empathy, the professionalism, the compassion, the confidence, the humility, the knowledge or concerns,” he says. “This aspect of teaching is missing when we add a recorded video to our lecture presentations,” he adds.
There are other benefits to witnessing a live procedure, notably when it doesn’t go as expected. “The students need to see how we deal with complications and difficulties,” Kano says.
Gordon, who was delighted to help with this funding opportunity, hopes the new facility will enrich the student experience. He decided to name the facility after his McGill mentor, Dr. Kenneth C. Bentley, former Dean of the Faculty and oral and maxillofacial surgeon. “Dr. Bentley directed me to my final career path. He was fantastic as an educator, a very gentle man, and very knowledgeable,” he says.
According to Gordon, Bentley and his time at McGill were invaluable to his own success. “McGill’s a great institution. It matured me, and made me what I am today,” he says. Gordon came to McGill University from Jamaica on a scholarship. While at the University, he was President of the Dental Students’ Society and Assistant Resident Director in the student residences.
Gordon continued to assume leadership roles throughout his career in California, including becoming President of the San Francisco Dental Society. He credits McGill with allowing his leadership skills to flourish: “It was unparalleled. I had never seen the type of institution McGill is, and the way they treat their students. And this was back in the ’60s! I’ve not seen that in any other institution in the United States. And I’ve been all over.”
Today, Gordon is Health Sciences Clinical Professor Emeritus in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of California San Francisco and retired Chief of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. He started his career at both institutions in 1973 and retired in 2010. Since retirement, he has been on-recall for two days per week at both institutions. He is also the chair of Great Shape!, the largest humanitarian operation in Jamaica, providing medical, dental and educational services in the country.