Health
Dental Hygiene Students Screen for Oral Cancer
By Beth Dunham on November 23, 2009 10:46 AM
- Shoana Chau, USC Dental Hygiene Class of 2010, administers an oral health screening to USC staff member Todd Henneman.
- Photo/Beth Dunham
Members of the USC School of Dentistry’s Dental Hygiene Class of 2010 provided oral health screenings and tobacco cessation advice for USC students, staff members and visitors during the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout on Nov. 19.
Marked every November with outreach events across the nation, the American Smokeout is designed to help smokers find effective methods to help them quit smoking and highlight the benefits of giving up tobacco.
Better oral health and dramatically decreased risk of deadly oral cancer is one huge benefit, said dental hygiene student Allison Clark. Just outside of Bovard Auditorium, the student manned a table stocked with information on oral cancer - including shocking photographs of the damage caused by the disease - and helpful advice on how to successfully quit smoking.
Dental hygiene student Lauren Levine said that smokers who turned in at least one cigarette received a prize pack that included a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste, as well as smoking cessation supplies such as gum and information on quitting resources and techniques. They also received a raffle ticket for a chance to win an electric toothbrush.
Dental hygiene students conducted oral health screenings at both the USC Pharmacy and School of Dentistry on the University Park campus. Even nonsmokers took the opportunity to receive a free oral health checkup. Staff member Todd Henneman said he thought having a screening was a good idea even though he doesn’t smoke.
“I figured that I might as well take the opportunity to make sure there were no problems,” Henneman said.
Staff member and USC alumna Lauren Sherrell said she is “very much into preventive measures.” Though she doesn’t smoke, she opted for an oral health screening as soon as she saw the signs outside the pharmacy.
Diane Melrose, chair of the USC dental hygiene program, said the students had conducted more than 120 oral screenings and spoke to more than 500 people about the effects of smoking on the oral cavity.
Coupled with activities that took place all over the country, Levine said she hoped lots of smokers got the message and found advice on quitting.
“It’s really cool that it’s not just about our efforts here at USC but also nationwide,” she said.
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Los Angeles Times featured the USC Rossier School’s centennial gala, which took place February 1. USC President Steven B. Sample was honored with the Global Education Leadership Award, and USC alumna Cindy McCain was honored with the Dean’s Alumni Achievement Award. “It’s rare for someone who’s lived as long as I have in politics with my husband to be speechless, but I truly am,” McCain said. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa introduced Sample, recounting his work in raising USC’s stature globally, being open to international students, and understanding USC’s position in Los Angeles as “the gateway to Asia and Latin America.” Nearly 350 people attended the event, including Sen. John McCain; Ed Roski, chairman of the USC Board of Trustees; Barbara and Roger Rossier, for whom the Rossier School is named; John Katzman, Princeton Review founder and benefactor of an endowed chair at the Rossier School; and alumni and longtime USC supporters Debbie and J. Terrence Lanni and Verna Dauterive.
The Chronicle of Higher Education included USC in a chart on international fundraising by higher education institutions. USC has received $2.9 million from international philanthropic funds, and is estimated to have more than 6,000 foreign alumni, the story stated.
The Chronicle of Higher Education featured Paul Debevec of USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies, who won an Academy Award for co-creating a light stage capture device and image-based facial rendering system that has been used in movies like “Avatar.” The award will be presented at a formal dinner on February 20, the story noted. Asked whether the technology could be applied to education, Debevec said: “Absolutely, yes. Maybe there’s a little rendering of a chemistry professor at the side of the screen who smiles at you when you get the question right and frowns when you get the question wrong. [In perhaps 10 years] that computer might, through its Web cam, look back at you, see where you’re looking on the screen, see how engaged you are, and actually adapt itself to trying to teach you in the way that it seems to be working the best. Just like one-on-one tutoring.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education featured linguist Paul Frommer of the USC Marshall School, who created the language Na’vi for the Golden Globe-winning movie “Avatar.” “Doing this kind of work as an academic is not going to advance your research reputation. It’s not going to result in publications in peer-reviewed journals,” Frommer said. “But it just may push the world forward in the way it’s turning on young people to the wonders of language”
Los Angeles Times reported that the 22nd annual USC Libraries Scripter Award was given to “Up in the Air” novelist Walter Kirn and to USC alumnus Jason Reitman and Shelton Turner, who adapted Kirn’s book for the screen. Los Angeles Times ran a second story about the Scripter Award.
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