Three Comprehensive Dentistry icons retire after a collective 66 years of service and achievements
The School of Dentistry celebrated three Department of Comprehensive Dentistry faculty icons in June upon their retirement for their collective 66 years of dedication, service, leadership and instruction. Their influence on the many dental students they have taught has made a lasting impact on the profession and all of the patients their students have gone on to care for.
William D. Rose, DDS, served the School of Dentistry for 25 years and was the director of the Predoctoral Division and a general practice group leader while also providing care for patients in the faculty practice clinic when he retired. He was the former director of the Advanced Education in General Dentistry program. He is a Diplomate of the Federal Services Board of General Dentistry and a Master in the Academy of General Dentistry, receiving their highest recognition, the Lifelong Learning and Service Recognition award. He is a member of the Academy of Operative Dentistry, the American Dental Education Association, the American Dental Association, the Texas Dental Association, the San Antonio District Dental Society, Omikron Kappa Upsilon (past president Mu Nu local chapter) and is a Fellow in the American College of Dentists.
Rose received his bachelor's degree from the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, and his doctor of dental surgery degree from Indiana University School of Dentistry with a GPR program at Letterman Army Medical Center at the Presidio of San Francisco, California and a two-year AEGD program at the US Army Dental Activity at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Before joining the faculty at UT Health San Antonio, he was Chief of Staff for the U.S. Army Dental Command and Assistant Inspector General (dental) for the U.S. Army Medical Command and also spent a few years in a private practice setting.
Rose has received numerous awards, including the inaugural University of Texas Board of Regents Outstanding Teaching Award, the Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence, the Dental School Faculty Assembly Teaching Excellence Award, the Postdoctoral General Dentistry Teacher of the Year Award, the Dental Student Association Professor of the Year Award and has been listed as a Texas Monthly magazine Texas Super Dentist. He has co-authored a chapter in the textbook Fundamentals of Operative Dentistry, 3rd edition, edited by James B. Summitt, J. William Robbins, Thomas J. Hilton, and Richard S. Schwartz.
Edward F. Wright, DDS, MS, served the School of Dentistry for 21 years and as the School of Dentistry’s temporomandibular disorder (TMD) expert. He was the course director for the TMD and Dental Anatomy and Occlusion courses and module director for the TMD Module, Orofacial Pain Module and Dental Anatomy and Occlusion Module. He is a member of the Academy of Craniofacial Pain and American Academy of Orofacial Pain, Master of the Academy of General Dentistry and Diplomate of the American Board of Orofacial Pain.
Wright received his dental degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1977. After practicing general dentistry for ten years, he attended the Air Forces Advanced Clinical Dentistry Program and in 1992 entered the two-year TMJ and Craniofacial Pain Program at the University of Minnesota. He received his MS degree in 1994. From 1994 to 2001, he was the head Air Force dentist for TMD at Lackland AFB’s two-year general dentistry residency program and provided the TMD training for all AEGD, Prosthodontics, Periodontics and Orthodontics residents at the base. He was the military consultant to the Surgeon General for TMD. Prior to joining UT Health San Antonio in 2003, Wright completed a two-year dental research fellowship with the Veterans Health Care System where he studied headache patients treated with TMD appliance therapy.
Wright has received numerous awards throughout his career including the UT Health San Antonio Presidential Award and often being named Professor of the Year. He is the primary author of over 90 publications, past president of the American Academy of Orofacial Pain and was on the board of directors of the American Board of Orofacial Pain. He is the co-author of the book "Manual of Temporomandibular Disorders,"; which is in its 4th edition and has been translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Korean.
Jose M. Gutierrez III, DDS, MS, served the School of Dentistry for 20 years and was a clinical associate professor in the Department of Comprehensive Dentistry when he retired. He is a 1979 alumnus, returning to teach in 2003. Gutierrez earned his Certificate and MS in Prosthodontics in 1995. During his time as a faculty, he was the course director in the DS III Clinical Fixed Prosthodontics Course, co-course director in the DS III Didactic Fixed Prosthodontics Course and the co-course module director in the DS I and DS II Fixed Prosthodontics Lecture Course, DS I and DS II Fixed Prosthodontics Laboratory Course and the Fixed Prosthodontics Module in the International Dentist Education Program (IDEP).
After gaining his DDS in 1979, Gutierrez worked in private practice before becoming a general dental officer at Wright-Patterson, Torrejon and then Lackland Air Force Base. He completed his residency in Prosthodontics in 1995 and remained in the Air Force, serving as chief resident, dental laboratory flight commander and chief prosthodontist. Gutierrez also taught Prosthodontics at the Sheppard and then Barksdale Air Force Bases from 1995 to 2002 before returning to his alma mater, UT Health San Antonio, as a clinical assistant professor in 2003.
Gutierrez received numerous awards during his time in the Air Force, including several Meritorious Service Medals and Air Force Commendation Medals. He received the Teaching Excellence Award: Excellence in Preclinical Lab Teaching from the School of Dentistry and served on the Academic Performance Committee, Scholarship Committee and IDEP Selection Committee. He is a fellow of the American College of Prosthodontists and a member of the American Dental Education Association.
“These faculty represent 66 years of collective teaching service. They each completed successful careers in the military and then joined the School of Dentistry to selflessly teach young dental professionals. They have influenced thousands of our graduates as well as other faculty members. We are so grateful for their years of dedication,” said Scott G. Stafford, DDS, MBA, Interim Chair Department of Comprehensive Dentistry
Please join the School of Dentistry in thanking each of these individuals for the countless contributions they have made to our School of Dentistry and UT Health San Antonio.