Full Circle - Alumni Give Back

Dr. Karen Bruggers Leads Prosthodontics
The newest department head at LSUSD is alumna Karen Bruggers, DDS, MS, who returned to LSUSD in September. After receiving a BS in microbiology from Louisiana State University in 1978, Dr. Bruggers attended LSUSD, earning an associate of science degree in dental laboratory technology. While taking graduate courses in biology at the University of New Orleans, she taught ceramics at the dental school; she then enrolled in the DDS program, graduating in 1986. After dental school she entered a postdoctoral residency at the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry, receiving her MS in prosthodontics in 1988.

Karen Bruggers, DDS, MS, chair of the Department of Prosthodontics

Dr. Bruggers taught full time in the Department of Prosthodontics at the UNC School of Dentistry for three years. In late 1991, she started a solo private practice in prosthodontics in Cary, North Carolina. During this time she was also an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Prosthodontics at the UNC School of Dentistry, teaching in the graduate prosthodontic program. After retiring from private practice in May 2017, Dr. Bruggers and her husband, Dr. Mark Odom, returned to their love of teaching by joining the faculty at LSUSD. Dr. Bruggers is now head of the Department of Prosthodontics. Dr. Odom, also an LSUSD alumnus, is a gratis clinical assistant professor in the Department of Endodontics.

Dr. Bruggers has memberships in the American College of Prosthodontics (ACP), the American Academy of Fixed Prosthodontics, and the International College of Dentists, as well as ADA, LDA and NODA. For nine years she served as secretary of the Board of the ACP Educational Foundation. She also was an editorial advisor for Quintessence Publishing and served for many years on the editorial board of Quintessence of Dental Technology. Dr. Bruggers has lectured throughout the United States.

During the 2017 ACP Annual Meeting, the American College of Prosthodontics Education Foundation presented Dr. Bruggers with the prestigious Founders Society Award in recognition of her legacy of vision, leadership, service and dedication to the Foundation and the specialty of prosthodontics. She was also awarded the ACP President's Award for outstanding vision and leadership. Recently, she was appointed vice chair of the ACP Education Foundation.

Alumni Speak at Student Event
This fall two of alumni spoke at two of our most important student events. Dr. William Ledoux, a 1977 graduate and part-time faculty member in the Department of Orthodontics, was the keynote speaker at the White Coat Ceremony on October 6. Nick Rauber, a 2006 graduate, was the keynote speaker at the F. Harold Wirth Ethics Ceremony on November 10. The White Coat Ceremony symbolizes the transition from classroom student to clinician; the Wirth Ceremony stresses the importance of ethical conduct for students and professionals.

Dr. Ledoux, who has taught in the orthodontics department for nearly forty years, is course director of the Orofacial Anomalies course and a member of the craniofacial team at Children's Hospital. He has been a long-time board member of the J.M. Chadha Orthodontic Foundation.

White Coat Ceremony participants (l-r) Lacey Galliano, second year DDS class president; Dean Henry Gremillion; Dr. William Ledoux; Sarah Bourgeois, 2nd-year dental hygiene class president

An avid outdoor sportsman and philanthropist, Dr. Rauber started Swollfest, a fishing rodeo that has raised over $1.4 million for various charities. Founder of other charitable events, including Dancing for Dystrophy and the Outdoor Wish Foundation, he is an 18-year volunteer for the Muscular Dystropy Association.

Wirth Ethics Ceremony speakers (l-r) Lawrence Frye, Patty Hanson, and Dr. Nick Rauber

Other speakers at the Wirth ceremony were Patty Hanson, RDH, from the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry; Lawrence Frye, LSUSD alumnus and instructor of laboratory technology in the Department of Prosthodontics; and senior dental student Jonathan Doucet.