After a successful three-year run as Director of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry-affiliated Crest Smile Shoppe at the Robert R. McCormick Boys & Girls Club in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, Clinical Assistant Professor Dr. Marila Montero has returned to the College with a new charge: developing a new Infant Clinic in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry.
“The Infant Clinic will allow us to take care of the little ones who need so much anticipatory guidance and hopefully keep them free of caries,” Dr. Montero said. “It has great educational potential for our students and postgrads.”
Dr. Montero also is involved in postgraduate and undergraduate clinic supervision in Pediatric Dentistry. “Previously, my interaction with the postgrads was minimal—just when they came to the Boys & Girls Club in their community clinic rotations,” she noted. “Now I will have the opportunity to interact more with the residents and dental students, with more continuity.”
Both the McCormick Clinic and the Infant Clinic are part of a goal stated in the College’s mission statement of addressing community healthcare needs through outreach initiatives. “I am grateful for the opportunity and trust that was given to me by Dean Bruce Graham and Dr. Indru Punwani [Pediatric Dentistry Department Head] to start the Boys & Girls Club dental clinic,” Dr. Montero said. “Despite the challenges we faced, the clinic is well-established and it is a great exposure for the dental students and pediatric dental residents. Now I am ready for a new challenge. Drs. Punwani and Shar Fadavi [Postgraduate Program Director, Pediatric Dentistry] will be guiding me in the development of the Infant Clinic.”
After earning her DDS from the Federal University of Ceara in Brazil, Dr. Montero studied advanced general dentistry at the Eastman Dental Center in Rochester, NY; did a general practice residency at the University of Rochester; a pediatric dentistry residency at the University of Connecticut; and a postdoctoral fellowship at the College’s Department of Pediatric Dentistry. She has been on the faculty of the UIC College of Dentistry since 2001.