Boston Camp Instructors

DH Methods of Education, Inc.

Camp Instructors and Camp Consultants

The Camp Leader is Cindy Biron Leiseca (see Home page). Additional Camp Instructors teach in the hands-on instrumentation courses and lead individual workshops.

Meet the instructors:

Course Leader for Accreditation Workshops

Christine Dominick RDH, CDA, BS, M. Ed

Associate Professor of Dental Hygiene, Forsyth School of Dental Hygiene.

Christine is the former Chair of The Forsyth School of Dental Hygiene, Boston, MA and creator and Program Director of the Mount Ida Dental Hygiene Program in Newton, MA. She has over forty years of clinical and teaching experience. After graduating from Forsyth in 1968 she received her Bachelor of Science degree from Northeastern University in 1972 and a Masters in Adult Education from the University of New Hampshire in 1974. Her first job in education was at New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord, NH. In 1985 her family relocated to Massachusetts and for the next 17 years she practiced clinical dental hygiene and raised a family. In 1997 Christine was asked to start a new dental hygiene program for Mount Ida College in Newton, MA. Always up for a new challenge, she accepted and in the fall of 1999 Mount Ida dental hygiene opened their doors to the first class and a 100% pass rate on the National Board. This endeavor was an education in dealing with CODA requirements and becoming an administrator. In 2003 she became the Chair of the dental hygiene program at MCPHS Forsyth School of Dental Hygiene. Presently she is a member of the faculty coordinating all of the radiology policies, procedures and instruction for the school and is in her fourth year as a consultant examiner for NERB. Christine is presently in charge of her own self-study using the new 2009 standards and is the designated CODA readiness person at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Forsyth School of Dental Hygiene. Her six years as a site visitor for the Commission on Dental Accreditation and completion of over eight visits to dental hygiene programs and distance education satellite programs provided the experience to learn the accrediting process well. Christine has prepared and participated in over 5 site visits to her own schools, serves as an external reader of self-study documents for her peers, prepared numerous self-study documents and reports as well as applying to the commission for a new program and seeing that through a series of successful site visits. We feel that she is highly qualified for her role in our camps.

Christine understands the daunting task that faces all of us when it is our time to undergo the accreditation process. She will supply you with excellent organizational ideas and a process that will get you through the accreditation process successfully. I think that you will find her materials, personal attention and group discussions helpful and supportive.

Co-instructor in DA Accreditation Workshops

Instructor in DA Preclinic Course, and Periodontal Instrumentation Workshops

Michele M. Edwards, CDA, RDH, MS

Associate Professor & Chair of the Dental Health Programs

Tallahassee Community College

Michele has been appointed Chair of both the Dental Assisting and Dental Hygiene Program effective January 1, 2010. Prior to her appointment to the Chair of both programs she served as the Coordinator of the Dental Assisting program from 1995-2009. She now has the responsiblity of serving as Chair of both programs.

Michele has over seventeen years of clinical dental hygiene and dental assisting experience in private practice. She earned an Associates Degree in Dental Hygiene from Tallahassee Community College in 1979, a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Education in 1990 and a Masters in Adult Education in 1995 from Florida State University. She has been teaching for twenty years in both the dental hygiene and dental assisting programs. Her teaching experience includes, Clinic II and Clinic III coordinator in Dental Hygiene, Community Dentistry, Preventive Dentistry, Dental Assisting Preclinic I & II, Dental Assisting Clinic I and II, Expanded Functions I and II, and Radiology and Dental Materials corequisite labs.

She establishes community rotations for the dental hygiene students and recently accompanied dental hygiene students to St. Lucia for community service to underprivileged children.

Michele oversees the clinical experience for the dental assisting students. She also establishes and maintains affiliations with the local dental offices and facilities used for extramural rotation sites for students.

Michele has prepared numerous dental assisting self-study documents and the dental assisting program under her direction received no recommendations, or even a suggestion, at its recent site visit in November of 2008.

Michele was selected as a NISOD Excellence Award recipient for 2009 in Austin, Texas.

She has served as an instructor in the DH Methods of Education, Inc. Instrumentation Camps since 2006.

Course Leader in "Case Based Course" Course instructor in "Periodontal Instrumentation I & II"

Debra Burtoft, RDH, BS

Associate Professor of Dental Hygiene, Tallahassee Community College

Debbie has been Second Year Dental Hygiene Coordinator for the past eleven years, teaching both the Clinic II and Clinic III courses. She has fifteen years of teaching experience, and over 15 years of clinical practice. After graduating from the Tallahassee Community College Dental Hygiene Program, she practiced fulltime and then completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Florida State University in 1995. Her teaching experience includes Preclinic, Clinic I, Periodontology Clinic, Clinic II, Clinic III, Community Dentistry, Periodontology , Clinic and Office Management, and the labs that accompany Radiology and Dental Materials. She is the clinical coordinator for the second-year dental hygiene students and oversees the on-campus dental hygiene clinical experience for these students. She also establishes and maintains affiliations with local dental clinic institutional settings to be used as extramural sites for students. She presents annual updates of the topics “Infection Control in the Dental Office” and “Prevention of Medical Errors in the Dental Office” for all of the faculty and students of the Dental Healthcare Programs at TCC. In addition, she has served as an instructor in the DH Methods of Education, Inc. Instrumentation Camps since 2003.

Course Consultant and Substitute Instructor in "The Complete Dental Materials Course" and "Dental Hygiene Accreditation Workshops".

Brenda P. Maddox, RDH, MS

Brenda is a graduate of Monroe Community College, A.A.S. (Rochester, NY) and Old Dominion University, B.S. and M.S. (Norfolk, VA). From 2002 to the present, she has held the position of Instructor / Department Head within the Department of Dental Hygiene at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, NC. Her current course load includes the Dental Office Emergencies and Materials & Procedures courses as well as all levels of clinic as needed. In addition to her responsibilities as the department head she is a national speaker for Procter & Gamble/Oral-B.

From 1992-2002, Brenda was a faculty member at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) where she completed her service as an Associate Professor with tenure and Certificate Program Director. She was previously an ADA Dental Hygiene Accreditation Consultant for several years. In April of 1997, she was the recipient of the Texas Dental Hygiene Schools Teaching Excellence Award, co-sponsored by the Texas Dental Hygiene Directors’ Association and Procter & Gamble. She also was a recipient of the UTHSCSA Presidential Teaching Excellence Award for 1999. Most recently she was nominated for the 2008 ADHA Procter & Gamble Dental Hygiene Educator of the Year Award.

Course Instructor in "Periodontal Instrumentation I & II"

Marianne Dryer RDH, BS

Marianne is a graduate of the Forsyth School for Dental Hygienists (currently at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences), Old Dominion University and is currently working on her Master's degree in Education from St. Joseph's College of Maine. She was the first year coordinator at Collin County Community College in Dallas, Texas for six years where she was selected for the Outstanding Faculty Award and was nominated for the advisor of the year award by her former students. Marianne relocated back to the Boston area and joined the faculty at Cape Cod Community College in 2007. She teaches Dental Hygiene III and is an instructor in first year clinic. She is active in the local and state dental hygiene organizations and initiates many community dental events for the underserved.

Marianne teaches Periodontology Instrumentation I and Periodontology II in the Boston Camps. She is also the alumni blog keeper for DH Methods of Education, Inc.

Course Leader in Complete Nutrition Course and instructor Periodontal Instrumentation I and II Workshops

Rebecca Sroda, RDH, MS

Associate Dean of Allied Health and Director of Dental Education at South Florida Community College

Becky received her BS in Dental Hygiene from the University of Detroit in 1974 and worked in various clinical practices for six years before giving in to a strong yearning to teach. She continued her education, earning her MS in Dental Hygiene from the University of Michigan in 1980, and has been teaching in various capacities ever since.

Her clinical practice has been varied and diverse; general and periodontal practices in Michigan and South Carolina, a Veteran’s Hospital, and Rehabilitation Center.

Educational affiliations; University of Detroit – Department of Periodontics, Oakland Community College, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Asheville-Buncombe Technical College, and South Florida Community College

Becky has taught pre-clinic instrumentation for 20 years and advanced instrumentation for 15, using the methods in Jill Gehrig’s “Instrumentation for the Dental Hygienist” textbook and those used at the DH Methods of Education, Inc. Boot Camp.

Becky is a published author and just completed the 2^nd edition

of her textbook titled “Nutrition for a Healthy Mouth” , contributes three chapters to “Periodontics for the Dental Hygienist” by Jill S. Nield-Gehrig, and co-author (with Jill Gehrig) of the chapter on Instrumentation in the Mosby DH Review text.

You may recognize Becky as the clinician in the textbook “Periodontal Instrumentation and Advance Root Instrumentation” and its accompanying DVD, both by Jill S. Nield-Gehrig.

Becky has taught in the camp instrumentation sessions in Miami, Orlando, and Jacksonville.

Course Leader for "The Complete Preclinic Course"

Course Instructor in "Periodontal Instrumentation I & II"

Virginia M. Wagner, CDA, RDH, BHS

Associate Professor of Dental Hygiene, Tallahassee Community College

Ginny has been the First Year Dental Hygiene Coordinator for the past 5 years, teaching both the Preclinic and Clinic I courses. She is currently transitioning and taking on the role of Radiology Supervisor. She has sixteen years of teaching experience, and over 30 years of clinical practice. After graduating from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1976 she practiced full-time and then completed her Bachelor of Health Science degree from University of Florida in 1986. Ginny is currently pursuing her Masters in Science in Health Professions Education at Florida Gulf Coast University. Her teaching experience includes Preclinic, Clinic I, Oral Histology & Embryology, Oral Pathology, Community Dentistry, Local Anesthesia & Pain Control, Nitrous Oxide Sedation and the labs that accompany Radiology, Dental Anatomy, Medical Emergencies and Dental Materials.

In the DH Methods of Education, Inc. camps, Ginny teaches the “Preclinic Course” and team teaches in the Perio Instrumentation I & II sessions. Ginny has taught in camps in Tallahassee & Jacksonville, FL and Boston, MA.

Course Instructor in "The Complete Ethics Course", and "Periodontal Instrumentation I & II"

Robin Blatt Matloff, RDH, BSDH, JD

Associate Professor of Dental Hygiene,

Mount Ida College, Newton, MA

Robin graduated from Westbrook College (currently University of New England) in Portland, Maine with her AS degree in Dental Hygiene and University of Rhode Island with her BS in Dental Hygiene, with a Specialty in Health Education. She was EFDA (Expanded Functions Dental Auxiliary) trained at University of Pennsylvania Dental School in 1981. She also graduated form University of New England School of Law in 1986 with a JD in Law.

Robin’s career spans over thirty-four years of clinical and teaching experience. She has been a full-time faculty member and taught both didactic and clinical courses at Forsyth School of Dental Hygiene in Boston MA, as well as Quinsigamond Community College, in Worcester, MA. Since 1999, Robin has been teaching at Mount Ida College in Newton MA, where she served as Program Director from 2003-2007. She has also been a CODA examiner since 2004.

Robin is First-Year Clinic Coordinator at Mount Ida College. She teaches Pre-Clinic and Clinic 1. She coordinates and teaches Medical Emergencies Lecture and Lab, as well as Dental Ethics and Practice Management. She is a clinical instructor in the Pain Management/Local Anesthesia Lab. She has presented training courses for graduate Dental Hygienists at Mount Ida College, in Local Anesthesia, since August of 2005, the year that it became a delegable duty for Dental Hygienists in the state of Massachusetts.

Robin has lectured for the Massachusetts Dental Society on various topics. She has also presented numerous lectures at the Yankee Dental Congress over the years, which is the fifth largest Dental Convention, held yearly in Boston, MA. She was granted Tenure at Mount Ida College in May of 2005.

Course Instructor for: Evidence Based Solutions to Nonsurgical Periodontal Therapy: Power Scaling and Pain Management

Renee' C. Graham, RDH, Med

Renee' received a dental hygiene degree from Darton College and both a Bachelor of Science in Education and a Master of Education degree from Valdosta State University. Renee’ brings 19 years of clinical experience in general and periodontal practices and 11 years of academic experience to the Division. For the past ten years, she has held the position of Director of Dental Programs at Valdosta Technical College in Valdosta, Georgia.

Renee’ has served as a site visitor for the Commission on Dental Accreditation since 2003 and has been very active with regional testing agencies, the Georgia Dental Hygiene Educators Association, and dental hygiene and assisting curriculum development for the State of Georgia. Her speaking engagements have encompassed international, national and local engagements.

Co-Instructor In: "Allied Dental Health Teaching Methodology"

Delaney Kirk, Ph.D., SPHR

Delaney J. Kirk, Ph.D., SPHR

Dr. Kirk is a Professor of Management with 27 years experience in teaching Employment Law, Human Resource Management, Organizational Behavior, Managing Diversity, and Operations Management. She has conducted teaching workshops at numerous academic conferences and schools including Columbia University, Duke University, University of Washington, University of Arkansas-Ft Smith, Graceland University, and Metropolitan Community College. She was the featured expert for the Chronicle of Higher Education’s online chat on classroom management on September 15, 2004, and has earned the prestigious Drake University Board of Governor’s “Excellence in Teaching” Award. Her book, Taking Back the Classroom: Tips for the College Professor on Becoming a More Effective Teacher, was re-released by Tiberius Publications in October 2008

Cathleen A. Korondi, RDH, Ed. M.

Dental Hygiene Instructor, Illinois Central College

Cathy has been an instructor for the past 5 years, team teaching in Preclinic and Clinic. She teaches Nitrous Oxide Sedation and Pharmacology. She has over twenty five years of clinical practice. After graduating from Illinois Central College in Peoria, IL in 1979, she practiced full-time in general dentistry practices for over 18 years. She was a Regional Representative for the Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Dental Health for three years. Cathy completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Health Arts from the University of St. Francis, Joliet, IL in 2005 and her Masters Degree in Education with a focus on Community College Teaching and Learning from the University of Illinois in 2008. She is currently pursuing her Master Online Teacher Certificate from the University of Illinois. Aside from teaching, Cathy continues to work in public health in a school based dental sealant program. She has worked for 4 years with a team that provides preventive services to children 2-18 years of age that have no access to care. Cathy also owns and operated a commercial embroidery business for 10 years.

Course Instructor for "The Complete Dental Materials Course" and Periodontal Instrumentation I & II"

Lane Wilson Meeks,CDA, RDH,BS

Assistant Professor, Tallahassee Community College.

Lane earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Florida State University in 2001 and an Associate of Science degree in Dental Hygiene from Tallahassee Community College in 2005. Lane attended the dental assisting program in 2003 and obtained her CDA. Lane has served as an adjunct faculty member since graduating from the dental hygiene program in the fall of 2005. Her teaching responsibilities have included Oral Histology and Embryology, Dental Office Emergencies, Dental Materials, Directed Individual Study course to prepare for National Boards, Community Dental Health Lab, team teaching in Dental Hygiene clinical courses, and several Dental Assisting clinical courses and labs. In addition to her teaching responsibilities at TCC, Lane has been practicing dental hygiene in general dentistry at the office of Dr. William Cooke since 2005. She has contributed to the program’s recent accreditation process as well as the development of the TalEval computerized clinical grading system. She is a member of Sigma Phi Alpha. Lane is one of the newest authors of the upcoming 11th Edition of Clinical Practice of the Dental Hygienist, by Esther Wilkins. Lane has taught periodontal instrumentation in the following camps: Winter Camp Las Vegas, Winter Camp Jacksonville, and private Summer Camp at Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis. Lane will be presenting the Complete Dental Materials Course in Summer Camp Boston 2010. She will share two versions in one course, one for dental assisting and one for dental hygiene as she has taught it in both disciplines.

Camp Consultants

There are experts in dental assisting and dental hygiene education who serve as consultants to advise the camp instructors on the courses and workshops they teach. They are evaluators of our course materials and on occasion they sit in on the workshops to observe and provide us with feedback. They are not all identified on this website. The following consultants have given us permission to share their pictures and bios:

Jeffrey Dryer, DDS

Dr. Dryer received his undergraduate degree from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He earned a DDS from the University of Texas Dental Branch in Houston in 1992. Dr. Dryer established a private dental practice in Plano, Texas in 1993. He also served as a clinical instructor at numerous DDS and RDH programs, in addition to teaching dental materials at Collin County Community College Dental Hygiene Program in Texas. After relocating his family to Massachusetts in 2007, he and his wife Marianne Dryer, RDH (one of our Boot Camp Instructors) created the first hybrid dental materials course for Collin County Community College. The didactic portion of the course was delivered online from Massachusetts by Dr. Dryer; while the laboratory portion continued to be presented by faculty on campus in Texas. Dr. Dryer observes classes in the Boston Camps and volunteers as an advisor on course content and evaluation.

Ellen B. Grimes RDH, MA, MPA, Ed.D

Dr. Grimes is the Dental Hygiene Program Director at the Vermont Technical College. Prior to the transition of the program to Vermont Tech she taught in the Dental Hygiene Department at the University of Vermont since 1984. Her areas of expertise are the Dental Sciences, Medical Emergencies, Clinical Dental Hygiene, Oral Pathology and the Administration of Local Anesthetics. She was the recipient of the 2001 UVM Kroepsch Maurice Award for teaching excellence.

Ellen received her Baccalaureate Degree in Dental Hygiene Education from the University of Bridgeport, Fones School of Dental Hygiene. She earned a Master's Degree in Educational Psychology from Montclair State University and a second Master's Degree in Public Administration from the University of Vermont. She earned a Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at UVM in 1999.

Ellen was the President of the Vermont Dental Hygienists' Association from 1993-1994 and has served that organization in numerous capacities over the past 25 years. In 1998 she was honored with the VDHA Outstanding Dental Hygienist of the Year Award. Presently, she is serving as the Immediate Past President of the Summa Chapter of the Sigma Phi Alpha Dental Hygiene Honor Society. Ellen was appointed as an accreditation site visitor for the ADA Commission on Dental Accreditation in 1999 and served on the Dental Hygiene Review Committee for the commission from 2003 - 2007. She is a consultant for the Northeast Regional Board of Dental Examiners and was serves on its Examination Committee. In addition, she was appointed to the Dental Hygiene National Board Test Construction Committee in 2008. Ellen volunteers as an advisor and consultant to DH Methods of Education, Inc. camps and workshops.

Jill S. Nield-Gehrig, RDH, MA

Jill has been a dental hygienist for 41 years. She is a graduate of Temple University School of Dental Hygiene from Temple University, Philadelphia, PA; has a B.S. in Education from Millersville University, Millersville, PA, and an M.A. Degree in Mental Health Counseling from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX. Jill is the Author of 3 textbooks, “Fundamentals of Periodontal Instrumentation and Advanced Root Instrumentation”, Patient Assessment Tutorials in Dental Hygiene” and Periodontics for the Dental Hygienist”. She began her teaching career as an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba School of Dentistry, continued on as Associate Professor of Dental Hygiene at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio where she taught for 13 years. Jill is Dean Emeritus, Division of Allied Health and Public Service Education, Asheville-Buncombe C.C. Jill is an expert in dental hygiene education and volunteers as an advisor and consultant to DH Methods of Education, Inc. camps and workshops.