Academics:
Faculty, USC School of Dentistry
Graduate, USC School of Dentistry
Special Qualifications:
Fellow,
Academy of General Dentistry
Fellow, International College of
Cranio- Mandibular Orthopaedics
Fellow, International Academy of
Mini Dental Implants
Fellow, International Congress of
Oral Implantologists
Fellow, Institute for Advanced
Laser Dentistry
Conscious Sedation Permit,
Dental Board of California
Member:
Member, American Dental Association
Member, California Dental Association
Associate Member, American
Academy of Periodontology
Associate Member, Western Society
Academy of Periodontology
Member, American Academy of
Dental Sleep Medicine
Member, American Academy of
Implant Dentistry
Member, American Dental Society
of Anesthesiology
Member, American Academy of
Pain Management
Member, American Academy of
Sleep Medicine
Member, Academy of Microscope
Enhanced Dentistry
Member, Special Care Dentistry
Association
Lectures & Presentations:
San Gabriel Valley Dental Society
San Gabriel Valley Dental
Assistants Society
San Fernando Valley Dental Society
Western Dental Society
Indian Dental Society
Chinese Dental Society
Punjabi Dental Society
Academy for Excellence in Dentistry
University of Texas, Department
of Periodontics
Community Service:
SMILE TALK, KRLA
Radio Talk Show Host, KDAR
KSPA
Columnist, Around Alhambra
Columnist, Cascades
Operation Gratitude
Honors & Recognition:
Doctor of Divinity, Chinese for
Christ Theological Seminary
Lifetime Member, ADA, CDA
USC Dentistry Associates, Dean’s
Member
Recognition for Outstanding Service,
USC School of Dentistry
Radio Transcription
Ep 64: Part 2 of Dr. Chao's Interview with Dr. Charles Goodacre, Dean of The Loma Linda School of Dentistry on the Special Care Dentistry Clinic and Dr. Goodacre's very interesting personal background
Salvador Gaytan: It's time! SmileTalk is on the air, featuring the latest news and developments in dentistry, as well as other fascinating topics that make people smile. I am Salvador Gaytan, and I'm here with?
Dr. John Chao: Dr. John Chao, hi everybody.
Salvador Gaytan: Yeah, Dr. John, and for anyone that wants to reach Dr. John, you can reach him at AlhambraDental.com or 626-308-9104, and that's Dr. John Chao, C-H-A-O. And we're here with the second part of our interview with Dr. Charles Goodacre, the dean of the Loma Linda School of Dentistry, and I'm also here with Dr. John Chao of Alhambra Dental. How are you doing, Dr. Goodacre?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Doing fine, thank you very much.
Dr. John Chao: Thank you for being back on our show again, Dr. Goodacre.
Salvador Gaytan: You came back, you're a brave soul, doctor.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Pleased to do it again.
Salvador Gaytan: Alright, alright.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Some of us are slow learners.
Salvador Gaytan: Well, you know, hey, we got you and we are happy to have you back. We had a lot of interesting things about the Loma Linda School of Dentistry, but Dr. John, he has a saying that you got to -- what is the saying, Dr. John?
Dr. John Chao: You have to mix a little sugar with the medicine.
Salvador Gaytan: Exactly. And so, we're going to get to a little sugar.
Dr. John Chao: No, a little sugar makes the medicine go down. [Laughter]
Salvador Gaytan: That's right; a little sugar makes the medicine go down. So, Dr. Goodacre, we've talked about the Loma Linda School of Dentistry, but we want to talk a little bit about your personal background. You were born on the east coast, and tell the audience where you were born and raised.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: It was in the little town of Cape May, New Jersey, that's the very southern tip of New Jersey, small state. I think if you go diagonally across the state, you have about a 180 miles maximum length of the state. So, that's a small one, but it was the oldest sea shore resort in the United States.
I grew up there, because my father worked for the railroad. He worked for the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines, a merger between the Pennsylvania and Reading railroads, and they only had 90 miles of railroad track between Philadelphia and Cape May, New Jersey.
The only reason they had that small railroad was because of some major manufacturing, RCA Victor, the RCA Corporation started in that area, and needed transportation.
The Campbell Soup Company started in that area of the country and needed transportation, as well as a lot of the glass manufacturing, making the glass jars and particularly back in the days where everybody was canning. Then they used all the jars from that area.
So, you either lived up by Philadelphia or you lived down by Cape May, so he chose to live down there by Cape May. And my father actually studied as a sign painter and artist, but during the depression times, there was obviously no money to be made doing artwork, so he started shoveling coal on the railroad and worked there in his life on the old steam engines, eventually graduating from diesel engines.
The reason I mentioned the railroad is, that's what got me interested in dentistry. Nobody in my family had ever been able to receive an education. In fact, I was the first person in the family ever that got a college education, no less the dental school.
So, my father, when he was working for the railroad, that was back in the days where you could actually take people on the train for a ride. And it turned out that there was a dentist who was assigned to the United States Coastguard, their boot training camp is in Cape May, New Jersey.
This dentist happened to be a Loma Linda graduate, and he happened to be a train fan. So, that was the first professional person I'd ever met in my life, he somehow got to know my dad, and we'd go for rides on the train.
So then he came over to the house, and I met him in the seventh grade, and decided that I was going to be a dentist and go to Loma Linda. It's kind of a convoluted story, but…
Salvador Gaytan: So, in the seventh grade, you were already hooked on dentistry?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Absolutely.
Salvador Gaytan: So, what fascinated you about, "Hey, I want to be a dentist."? What got you so juiced up about that?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Well, I was always interested in doing things with my hands, and while my father worked on the railroad to make some extra money on weekends, he would work doing his sign painting, and in those days, as a sign painter, we didn't have the computers, everything was hand done, and including you had to build the sign, like the signs along the highway, all of the lettering on all the commercial trucks.
It wasn't like you did it on a computer and made something and you stuck it on the side of the vehicle, everything had to be hand-lettered. So, my dad was always doing that on weekends when I was around, and I watched him, and I would help him build these signs, and we'd take them out after he painted them and install them.
So, I always enjoyed doing things with my hands, and I saw what this dentist enjoyed doing also. And so, it just seemed as a great interest, and I never changed my mind, and I still enjoy it.
Dr. John Chao: So, actually the difference between engineering and carpentry and signs building is different from dentistry only in terms of the size, isn't it?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Yes, the dentists, we're building miniatures.
Dr. John Chao: Miniaturized in a dark area that's wet.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Yeah, [laughter] a good way to put it.
Dr. John Chao: It's more challenging.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Yes.
Salvador Gaytan: Definitely more challenging. Well, you know…
Dr. John Chao: So, you actually had an advantage before you went to dental school. You were able to work with your hands a lot already, so you probably did very well in terms of hand skills when you were in school, didn't you?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Well, it seemed to come a little bit more natural, not that I didn't have to work hard, but I was able to develop the skills, because of all the things that I learned from my dad.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, I noticed that in my classmates, some are just more adept. In fact, one was a dental technician, he really excelled, and other people who are machinists and so on, they usually had a much faster start than the rest of us.
I was raised in a family where both parents were Christian preachers, so we were very cerebral and I didn't have much chance to practice with my hands until I got to the dental school. So, I was a slow starter, I've been struggling ever since, but it's been a great, fascinating journey.
Salvador Gaytan: Dr. John, you're a little too modest, Dr. John, a little too modest. Now, Dr. Goodacre, how many people were in your town when you were growing up?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Well, in Cape May, New Jersey, it was one of those towns where they said they roll up the sidewalks in the winter time, because it was a seashore resort where people would come from Philadelphia and New York in the summer time.
So, it was basically a town that was thriving with lots of people between Memorial Day and Labor Day. And the day after Labor Day, everything closed up, all the businesses and everything, and there were just a very small number of local individuals. The public school that I went to, had all of the grades in one room, so it'd give you an idea.
Dr. John Chao: A one room school?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Yeah, that's exactly right.
Salvador Gaytan: So, that was like Little House On The Prairie almost.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Yeah, very different than what you would typically expect of New Jersey, but that area of New Jersey, of course, was very rural, not populated and only active during the summer.
Salvador Gaytan: So, how many people stayed around all year round, where you lived?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: I have no idea about the population, but certainly not a lot.
Salvador Gaytan: Do you think it was like more 500, a 1000 or…?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Yeah, I would guess somewhere in that range they would probably have been. And that would be in the town, I would suspect maybe 500 people I'm guessing.
Salvador Gaytan: So, were the kids excited when summer was coming, and hey, there's going to be a lot of hustle and bustle, did you look forward to that time of the year?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Oh, absolutely. That was the time of the year where things came alive, and of course the activities in that area, the great swimming and the ocean, and then the boardwalk, what was called Wildwood, New Jersey, still a great place to go in the summertime for all of the amusements.
They have a boardwalk there, and I can't remember how many miles long. It's either six, seven, maybe eight miles long. So, people have no idea, they typically would never have seen a boardwalk with piers that go out, like the Santa Monica Pier and some of these others that go out in the ocean. There will be five or six of those along this long run of great beach.
Salvador Gaytan: Oh, that’s fantastic. And for anyone just tuning in, you're listening to SmileTalk with Dr. John Chao of Alhambra Dental, and we're having a fascinating interview with Dr. Charles Goodacre, the dean of the Loma Linda School of Dentistry.
You can contact Dr. John at AlhambraDental.com or 626-308-9104. And Dr. Goodacre, what is the website for the Loma Linda School of Dentistry?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: It's LLU, for Loma Linda University, http://www.llu.edu for education.
Salvador Gaytan: Fantastic.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, we don't want the audience to forget that the co host is Sal Gaytan.
Salvador Gaytan: That is true, that is me.
Dr. John Chao: You did not introduce yourself.
Salvador Gaytan: Well, that is true. We're so caught up in the fascinating stories here, that that one slipped. So, but I guess just kind of wrapping it up, where you were raised Dr. Goodacre, what interests did you have growing up as a kid?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Well, as I mentioned, because of my father working as a sign painter and artist on the side, he would build signs. And so I always have enjoyed carpentry and building, and then as a kid I always enjoyed sports and playing all types of different sports. At that time in history, it was primarily baseball, basketball and football.
Dr. John Chao: Now, I understand where you're raised, there's a lot of history to that. Could you tell us a little bit about the historical background of the place you were raised?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Well, Cape May being the oldest seashore resort in the United States, it had its own history. There is a wonderful old hotel there on the main street that still takes great pride in the fact that President Lincoln used to come there for vacations and stay there in the hotel.
Then areas surrounding that of course have a lot of history to it. There is an area north of the county of Cape May. It's closer more to the center of the state, but in the southern half, and it's called the Pine Barrens, and that was an area very remote.
Actually, during the Revolutionary War, the army, George Washington and the group, they had their munitions supply there. They made the cannonballs and all the different things, because it was so remote and barren that nobody knew it was there.
So, there's a lot of that old history there. Another little known fact; during the First World War, and I believe it was President Roosevelt commissioned the building of three concrete ships.
That sounds a little bit bizarre, but they actually made and floated three concrete ships, and they had them anchored off of Cape May, and a terrible storm came up and sunk two of the ships.
And the third one got brought in close to shore, sunk on a sand bar. And so it sat there for many, many years, and it was quite a tourist attraction. People came and they could see slightly offshore, here is this crazy concrete ship.
Dr. John Chao: Now, what was the purpose of the concrete ship?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: They were just experimenting to see if you could build a ship more rapidly and less expensively by making it out of a thin wall of concrete.
Dr. John Chao: Wow.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: So, they showed it could be done, but I guess it obviously never turned out to be very practical.
Dr. John Chao: That reminds me, you know this is historical too. The Empress Dowager of the Ch'ing Dynasty in the late 1800s actually built a ship in the lake, a concrete ship in the lake, just for her own enjoyment.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Interesting.
Dr. John Chao: When China at that time was not able to put its resources into its own navy and military establishment. So, she received a lot of criticism for the way she spent the money. Now, the ship is still there. It's a concrete ship in the west lake over there in Nanking.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Yeah, and what I mentioned, this was the First World War when they did those three ships. I couldn't remember if I mentioned that.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, that's amazing.
Salvador Gaytan: Yes, indeed. So, Dr. Goodacre…
Dr. John Chao: No, actually I was going to say -- I interrupted myself, there's a little bit of history that involves you, because you're a dean of a dental school, of a very, very prominent, prestigious dental school. And I will bet you are the only one from Cape May that has become the dean of a dental school. That adds to the history of where you were brought up, doesn't it, Dr. Goodacre?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Yeah, it does, and actually another interesting point. Because of where I grew up, it was a relatively remote area, and not a lot of people live there, and I was of course the first person in my family to have an education.
When I came to dental school, course my parents didn't have the capacity to pay for my education. So, I needed to borrow some money. And when I went to the local bank, that was back in the days where they had state guaranteed loans that you could get, lower interest that would help you with your education, and I of course qualified for that.
But it was quite a -- you had to go to a local bank, and it took a long time for them to figure it out, because I was the first person in Cape May County that had ever applied for that. So, people there just -- at that time, there weren't very many people that sought an education.
So, I was able to get the loans that I needed, because nobody else was applying for them in the whole county.
Dr. John Chao: And so you were one of the first college graduates who applied for college, for the scholarship or for the loan, and then after your college, you decided to become a dentist and you went to Loma Linda.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: I certainly wasn't the first college graduate from that county, but at the time I was there, and they introduced that new program of state supported, government supported loans, and I was probably the first one that applied for that.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. But certainly you were the only person to have become an educator and have a position of dean from that area and from that locality.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: I imagine that's true.
Dr. John Chao: They must be very proud of you.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Well, I haven't been back there for years, so who knows?
[Laughter]
Salvador Gaytan: When was the last time you were back there?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Well, it was when my children were probably 10 years old, I wanted to take them back and show them the beaches and the boardwalk that I had talked about. So, we took the kids back there, we had a great time and I took them over to the boardwalk.
They've been hearing about all this, and they were probably thinking, "You know, my parents are exaggerating things. So, we went over and took them to our favorite pizza place there on the boardwalk, and we got it all done, had a great evening, and they insisted on going back the next day.
Salvador Gaytan: Really? Now, what -- how has the town grown since you left it, or is it the same size?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: No, it's grown quite extensively. It has one of the largest collection of beautiful Victorian homes that are present anywhere in the United States, and they are quite famous for that.
When I was growing up as a kid, all of those were closed up, boarded up, rundown and weren't taken care of at all. And then as positively happens in a lot of areas, after I left and was gone, then people began to see the potential there.
So, they've now come in and restored all these beautiful Victorian homes that had been built way back when. And so, it's quite a popular area to go to on the East Coast.
Salvador Gaytan: So, you wish you would have picked up a couple of those homes when they're boarded up, huh?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Yeah, I've never been great at guessing great investments.
Dr. John Chao: I tell my audience over the year that there is a sure way to get rich, I guarantee it, on the air I'm going to say so. "You sell when I buy, and you buy when I sell." You'll make millions and millions and millions.
[Laughter]
Now, I do want to ask you -- now, I remember when I was accepted to dental school, it was one of the highlights of my life. I remember the moment that I talked to Dr. Rutherford on the phone, and he said, "Don't tell anybody. I'm just going to tell you that you're accepted to USC Dental School." Now, do you remember the moment that you got notified by Loma Linda that you're accepted at dental school and…?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Yeah, I remember getting the letter, absolutely.
Dr. John Chao: Okay, and now, what did you do, and did you say something to your father, and what did he say?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Well, of course they were all just happy as could be. It was a great thrill for them. And my father, when he started working for the railroad, he put aside out of every paycheck, a $25 U.S. savings bond to put toward the education, amazing.
Dr. John Chao: Wow, that's great. I remember I wrote to my father that I was accepted to dental school. He was on a preaching tour at the time, and incidentally I mentioned to him, I said, "I also got named as the Philosophy student of the year at the college."
And he wrote back, he said, "Son, I am very happy that you are accepted to USC Dental School, but I'm even prouder of you that you were named Philosophy student of the year." To him, as a minister, being recognized for philosophy was a higher honor than getting into dental schools.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: That must have been a great experience for him, absolutely.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, he was very proud of me that I was able to distinguish myself in philosophy.
Salvador Gaytan: That's right. And for anyone just tuning in, you're listening to SmileTalk. I'm Salvador Gaytan, here with Dr. John Chao from Alhambra Dental. We're having a fascinating interview with Dr. Charles Goodacre.
Dr. John Chao: A very enjoyable one, I have to add.
Salvador Gaytan: That's right. He is the dean of the Loma Linda School of Dentistry. You can contact Dr. John Chao at AlhambraDental.com or 626-308-9104.
Dr. John Chao: Or contact if you're in the area -- we should actually say for our audience that Loma Linda University serves that area, and people who need dentistry and want to have it done at the school of dentistry, can go there. Isn't that right?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: That's correct, absolutely.
Dr. John Chao: And it involves a lesser expense, and has the same quality of care as in a private practice. However, of course, it takes a little bit more time, doesn't it?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: If you have a dental student working on your mouth, and of course it takes more time, because they are a little slower, and they are also being supervised by very experienced dentists, faculty members, who then look at the work that they do at different stages, and approve it.
And so all that takes a little bit more time, but you can get some excellent care at all schools of dentistry. And in dental schools, there are actually multiple levels of care that you can receive.
There are students studying dentistry, and for most of the routine work that needs to be done, then they can provide that care, and then that's substantial savings. There are also dentists who are coming back to a school to learn a specialty.
And they would be able to do more complex procedures, and you still would save some money relative to a dental specialist in a private office, but it will of course be more expensive than having a dental student do it.
And then, the third level, our dental schools have faculty members, teachers, who work part-time, and then they provide services at comparable fees to what dentists would be charging in the community. It's just that they have, in some cases, special areas of interest and special expertise that patients would be benefited by.
Dr. John Chao: And those special areas would be such services as implants and root canals?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Yeah, implants and root canals and surgical procedures, and orthodontic treatment.
Dr. John Chao: Even orthodontics can be taken care of.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Yeah, orthodontics and pediatric dentistry for children, where there are some difficult things that need to be done.
Salvador Gaytan: So, Dr. Goodacre, if a potential patient walks in, and they need some services. Do you say, "Well, you can have a student or you can have someone who practices once in a week, who has already graduated?" How does that work out?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Well, we have faculty who examine the patients, and then match the needs of the patients to the expertise of the individuals. And of course, a lot of things can be done by students, and so we then would refer those patients to a dental student, because that's going to be the most cost effective for the patient.
And then if it's more difficult that we feel it couldn't be done by a dental student, then we would send them to a specialty student. And then for the limited number of patients that can't be treated by either one of those groups, then we would suggest to them that they see one of our dental specialists or see a dental specialist in the community.
Dr. John Chao: Do you have special services for the disabled?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Yes, we operate a very large clinic here. It's called Special Care Dentistry. It's actually a hospital certified outpatient treatment facility for individuals who need general anesthesia for their dental care. They can't be treated with just a local anesthetic or even some medication. They really need to be asleep for their dentistry.
Most of those individuals are severely handicapped adults or children. I think we do about 60% children, they would be institutionalized and very severely handicapped, just not manageable in a traditional dental office.
So, we operate that clinic, and we actually have an advanced education or specialty program in dental anesthesiology, where we train dentists how to become a dental anesthesiologist. And then in that clinic, we are able to then treat those patients that otherwise would never get any care.
And we do about 4,000 or 5,000 patients a year, that would be very severely handicapped, and it's a great service for those individuals.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. It's not just a service that the private practitioner can offer. This is a special service that requires the hospital setting, isn't it?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: That's right. If we could do it in a regular dental office, of course that's a better process for everybody, but some things you just can't do that way.
Salvador Gaytan: Sounds excellent. Well, Dr. Goodacre, we're coming to the last minute or so of our show. It's gone by fast. I think the sugar, it made the show go by really quick.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, it's really, really exciting and interesting. We do want to ask Dr. Goodacre about the program that Loma Linda University has for public service dentistry, dentistry for the community and I understand you have a kind of a rural program also for dentistry. And would you come back in the next show and continue to talk to us about that program?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Would love to, absolutely.
Dr. John Chao: Great.
Salvador Gaytan: Fantastic. We probably have other interesting items to talk about as well. But for anyone tuning in, you've been listening to SmileTalk with Dr. John Chao of Alhambra Dental. I'm Salvador Gaytan, and we've been interviewing Dr. Charles Goodacre, the dean of Loma Linda School of Dentistry. The dean since 1994, isn't that right, Dr. Goodacre?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Yes, that's correct.
Salvador Gaytan: You are a war veteran down there, aren't you?
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Well, I guess I'm getting to be that way.
Salvador Gaytan: You're getting to be that way, right. You are experienced, I like that.
Dr. John Chao: Well, sometimes a dental school may seem like trench wars.
Salvador Gaytan: That's right.
Dr. John Chao: No, to the student anyway, but it's all for the good. When we graduate, we look back at those difficult days and we become very proud of it, that we went through that rigorous training.
Salvador Gaytan: Well, you must be doing a fantastic job down there, because they've kept you around for a long time, Dr. Goodacre.
Dr. Charles Goodacre: Well, I guess I've learned a few things, and the important thing is I still enjoy it.
Salvador Gaytan: That's right.
Dr. John Chao: That's great.
Salvador Gaytan: So, that's the conclusion of our show. We'll be back with Dr. Goodacre on our next show. Goodbye everybody.
Dr. John Chao: Goodbye everybody.
[END OF AUDIO]
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