Dentistry teacher of the year awards

College of Dentistry, Melvin Benson, D.D.S., clinical assistant professor

Benson is the recipient of the College of Dentistry’s Teacher of the Year Award for his excellence and innovation in teaching head and neck anatomy with clinical correlation, temporomandibular disorders, the psychosocial aspects of orofacial pain and splint fabrication to help with certain types of orofacial pain.

Benson directs of the Parker E. Mahan Facial Pain Center’s fellowship program. He is a 1981 graduate of Oklahoma University College of Dentistry. He maintained a private practice in Clinton, Okla., from 1982 to 1995, after which he completed a two-year fellowship in craniofacial pain and dysfunction at the UF College of Dentistry under the mentorship of Henry A. Gremillion, D.D.S., and Parker E. Mahan, D.D.S., Ph.D.

“Because of the many years I spent working in private practice,” Benson said, “my desire is to teach students to consider the patient as a whole and to do dentistry in the manner I would like to see dentistry done on myself.”

College of Dentistry, James Haddix, D.M.D., associate professor

Haddix has been chosen by dental students to receive the College of Dentistry’s Teacher of the Year Award for his clinical instruction of endodontic treatment. He teaches clinical root canal treatments using gutta-percha obturation — where the diseased nerve is removed from the tooth and the nerve canal is filled with a rubber material — using state-of-the-art nickel-titanium instrumentation, which flexes to follow the natural curve of the root canal.

Haddix graduated from the college in 1977 and worked in private practice until 1984. He then joined the college as a faculty member and currently serves in the endodontics department as director of the predoctoral endodontics program.

“I expect excellence from my students, and I try to create an environment where students achieve excellence by breaking tasks down into measurable steps so they can evaluate for themselves how things are progressing,” he said.