Fixes outlined for troubled UNLV orthodontics program

UNLV won't accept students into its troubled orthodontics program next year and will recommend drastic changes to the program, including cutting class sizes.

Officials will take a year to reconstruct the program that has suffered from numerous setbacks, including a scathing accreditation report and a failed relationship with a donor.

They plan to reduce class sizes, beginning as soon as fall 2009, from eight to three or four students.

They also plan to expand from a two-year program, where students graduate with a certificate in orthodontics, to at least a 30-month program, where students graduate with a master's degree in orthodontics.

Orthodontics is the branch of dentistry that specializes in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of dental and facial irregularities.

The changes, which the Board of Regents is expected to approve in January, will bring the program into the mainstream of orthodontics programs in the United States, according to University of Nevada, Las Vegas officials.

"This is a move in a good direction for the school, the university and the program," School of Dental Medicine Dean Karen West said. "The program as it existed, or exists, had difficulties in supporting itself."

"And it had difficulties with PR," she added. "There was a lot of negativity with the program."

The decision comes after a turbulent year in which the program's accreditation was placed in jeopardy and plans to improve it were met with resistance by some regents.

The program never recovered financially after its partnership with a private company and benefactor fell through last year.

University officials now are looking toward the future.

The Dental School will continue to teach current students, who will officially graduate from an accredited program. Patients also will continue to be served during the transition.

When the orthodontics program was founded two years ago, it had one of the largest orthodontics class sizes in the country, at 16 students. It cut its class sizes to eight students this fall amid suggestions from the Commission on Dental Accreditation.

When it shifts to three or four students in each class, the program will be comparable in size to most other institutions, West said.

Also, the program will change from a commercial model, in which it earned money for the dental school, to an academic model, which will not make money.

But the model announced this week is a far cry from the one presented to the Board of Regents last week that would use millions of dollars of general student fees to support the program.

Regent Steve Sisolak, who harshly criticized a plan that would have used general student fees, said the new program would be "a very positive move."

Regent Mark Alden said he was "more than pleased" with the changes.

Tuition, which is $100,000 for a two-year program, will increase slightly as the length of the program increases, West said. The regents considered boosting tuition to $135,000 for a 30-month program.

The orthodontics program still will have hurdles to overcome, however.

It still has to meet the Commission on Dental Accreditation's recommendations by February or have its accreditation revoked.

The commission found this year that the program didn't have enough faculty, its students weren't seeing enough patients, and the students didn't have training in basic areas such as headgear.

In January, West plans to present the revamped program to the accreditation commission and seek any approvals that it requires.

West also plans a fundraising campaign.

UNLV's proposal for an orthodontics program was initially met with resistance by local orthodontists four years ago. But some local orthodontists were upbeat this week about the proposed changes.

Dr. George Rosenbaum, president of the Nevada Dental Association, said the original number of students in the program "was totally ridiculous."

"We really felt that the program had way too many (students)," he said. Proposing to drastically reduce the number of students "was probably a fairly wise decision, I think."

Dr. James Gibson, a Henderson orthodontist who teaches at the UNLV program part time, said the program had flaws at the beginning, but that it now has an opportunity to become one of the best in the country.

With the changes, UNLV officials said the school will move away from its failed marriage with Orthodontic Education Company and its founder, Gasper Lazzara.

The Board of Regents, under the urging of Chancellor Jim Rogers, approved an unusual agreement with Lazzara and OEC in 2003 that would require UNLV orthodontics graduates to work at Lazzara's clinics. In return, Lazzara would pay the tuition of those students and donate millions of dollars to the university.

But when OEC last year backed out of its deal with UNLV -- and several other universities -- UNLV was left to find a way to cover the sudden drop in revenue.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0440.