6 Endodontic practice Volume 4 Number 2

Practice Profile

What can you tell us about your background?From complicated root canal treatments (RCT) to climbing up a mountain, I am not someone to look back on my life and say, “I wish I had….” My aim is to do it all, no matter what obstacles might be encountered. My goal is to try and end my day smarter than I started or in better physical shape. I grew up in a loving and contemporary home in Philadelphia. My mother, Bea, was a music teacher in the Philadelphia school system, and my father, Sam, was a full-time clinical endodontist who also taught part-time at the University of Pennsylvania. He and his brother Fred regularly returned home to the aroma of potato latkes prepared by my grandmother who also lived with us. “Gramsy” came from Russia at the turn of the century and knew that boys needed discipline, a dime in their pocket, education, culture, and enormous quantities of food. Of course, this all happened in the good old days before Lipitor! Even though my father was a well-established endodontist, I didn’t immediately look at entering the dental profession. Sure the influence to lean toward endodontics must have been in my DNA, but I earned a dual major in biology and music, and attained a teaching degree. Upon graduation, I wanted to teach and thought that if I could make $100 a week, I would be “living the good life.” Teaching in the public school system proved frustrating, so I began looking into the medical or dental professions as a way of continuing the pursuit of my educational interests. Dentistry provided me with more personal interaction with patients and it also allowed me to take advantage of the eye-hand coordination that I had developed while playing the clarinet.

When did you become a specialist and why?Following the completion of my dental degree in 1975, I entered the University of Pennsylvania endodontic program, continued to pursue courses in periodontics, and carried forward my research while looking toward the future. I had considered a career in full-time academia, but the pull of my father’s influence and practice won out.

Is your practice limited solely to endodontics?This is a second-generation endodontic practice. My father, Sam, and I were the first father/son Diplomates of the American Board of Endodontics.

Why did you decide to focus on endodontics?As a dental student at the University of Pennsylvania, I was able to work my way through school on a summer science grant that enabled me to combine my biochemistry research passions in collagen and elastin. I always thought periodontics would be my love until I heard my father lecture in Wilmington, DE, one evening. He asked me to change his slides for him, and it was at that moment that I realized endodontics involved bone, healing, pharmacology, microbiology, and all the subjects that I learned to love through research.

Do your patients come through referrals?All of my patients are referred to the office. As the oldest second-generation practice in Philadelphia, many patients have referred other patients, patients return to the practice, patients request to be referred to the practice or they are

Through the keyholeDr. Louis (Luigi) Rossman, who always enjoys a challenge, shares his experiences in his endodontic practice

Louis Rossman, DMD, is proud to report that he has

3 staff members who have been with the practice

for a combined total of 50 years. He has been in the

same building as his father, prior to joining him. The

office is designed for two practitioners. Dr. Rossman

can be reached at 215-563-5181 and louisrossman@

gmail.com.

Dr. Rossman in one of his favorite operatories. Although only one patient is seen at a time, the office was designed for the addition of other endodontists

Entrance to the four operatories, with the business office to the left. Patients notice the art, lighting, and cleanliness of the office. The skyline of Philadelphia can be seen from each room

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Practice Profile

straight referrals, or are new patients to the office. This has added to the richness of the practice—the interactions and help that has been provided to individuals who appreciate great care. The staff has been stable in the office. When patients return, they recognize the staff and remember their names. It’s almost like friends or family returning home.

How long have you been practicing endodontics, and what systems do you use?I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and continued on to its graduate program in endodontics. I finished in 1977 and then completed my Board examination and recognition in 1981. In no way does today’s practice of endodontics resemble the 70s except with patient care. I was trained to use my eyes, and hand instrumentation and lateral condensation. Salt sterilization was used to render the instruments sterile. Today, the office is completely different. First, there is no darkroom to develop conventional film. Using the new Schick CDR Elite sensors, the clarity of the radiographs are superb when viewed on the monitor. I use a ZEISS microscope, and all photos can be swept into the patient’s record using PBS Endo® software. Paperless is possible, but somehow, paper is still ordered for the office. Instrumentation is performed using a combination of hand instruments and rotary. The preferred systems used are Dentsply Tulsa Dental’s ProFile® Vortex™ rotary files. If access to the apex is difficult due to calcification, PathFile™ instruments are combined with hand instruments. Obturation is performed using either lateral condensation or vertical condensation. Vertical is achieved with the Calamus® Dual unit, also from Dentsply Tulsa, which provides warmed gutta percha and a vertical plugger. Surgical endodontics has dramatically improved. Decades ago, the ability to see the apex greater than 4 power and to have an instrument small enough to prepare the apex following an apicoectomy was only a dream. Now with the microscope, the ultrasonic unit, the ultrasonic tips, and better sealing materials like MTA, the dream has been realized.

What training you have undertaken?Everyday provides training—journals, lessons, experience. My best training started in the graduate program at the University of Pennsylvania, continued as I prepared for my Boards, and was enriched when I served on the American Board of Endodontics and the American Association of

Endodontists. It continues, as it has for 35 years, through teaching. I have volunteered at Penn Dental Medicine for 35 years.

Who has inspired you?Growing up and working in Philadelphia exposed me to many dental luminaries, including several endodontists. Each was a mentor with a different story to tell, including Drs. Abrams, Amsterdam, Cohen, Dannenberg, Freedland, Grossman, Oliet, Rappaport, Rose, Rosenbloom, Seibert, Seltzer, Silverstein, Stewart, Trachtenberg, Trowbridge, Weisgold, and Zurkow. Each one of them has encouraged me to develop as a teacher and a clinician, as well as give back to my profession. I wanted be just like them. Another strong mentor and inspiration in my life was I.B. Bender. Our friendship strengthened while I was one of I.B.’s graduate students and then continued to mature when I was appointed chair of the graduate program in endodontics at Albert Einstein Medical Center from 1985 through 1993, where Dr. Bender also taught. There are so many stories to tell. I.B. would call five times a week, and when my wife picked up the telephone and heard it was him, she knew that I would be busy for the next hour. The conversations always ended with a lecture on bone. My father once told me, “Listen to I.B. and do whatever he says”—he was so right.

What is the most satisfying aspect of your practice?I am a “two or more visit” endodontist. I treat endodontic problems as infections, and treat patients as people. I have four operatories, even though I only use one at a time. I like to talk to my patients and get to know them and call them to check on their health. My patients are friendly, appreciative of the service, and they get to know a little bit about me too. Many have written thank you cards or letters, bring gifts for my staff or me, know my staff by their names, and have friends or relatives who were treated by my father. I educate them and explain the biologic approach to treatment, and as a result, there are minimal complaints about a return visit. All of this gives them ownership of their treatment, and they are proud of what was provided, and get in return for the services; they feel ownership of their restored tooth.

Professionally, what are you most proud of?Serving as president of both the American Board of Endodontics and later the American Association of Endodontists. Teaching students for 35 years at both the

Patients are greeted in the waiting room by this mirror designed and painted by Mrs. Val Rossman. The mirror gives the impression of space and roominess. This is the only room without windows, and the mirror is an added bonus. The mirror resembles a mouth, a smile, or whatever your imagination believes

The mirror, a wood and acrylic creation, was designed to display instruments used by Dr. Samuel Rossman, one of the first endodontists in Philadelphia. Notice the forceps and rubber dam clamps

Dr. Rossman worked with ZEISS microscopes, Adec Dental, and Schick Technologies to have a dual track system for his overhead lighting and microscope mount

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Practice Profile

As president of the American Association of Endodontists, Dr. Rossman is pictured with his staff of a combined total of 50 years of employment—Karen, Cathy, and Barbara

At 7 am after a Platoon workout, Val, Ben, Alexis, and Luigi enjoy a pose at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

University of Pennsylvania and Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia.

What do you think is unique about your practice?The ability to treat people like people and to take as as much time as necessary to render the highest level of service for the patient. The office, located in center city Philadelphia, is spotless and bright. Upon entering, patients are embraced by the visual comforts of the office. The lighting is done with halogen lighting to give it a clean and bright appearance. The magazines and newspapers are current and up-to-date. They are selected for interest to the patient. There is no question that this practice is at the cutting edge of technology and that it is clean and sterile yet comfortable. Patients are taken exactly on time, and no one is ever kept waiting. The office walls are adorned by bright colorful and large abstract pastels and paintings. My wife, Val, is a nationally recognized and collected abstract artist (valrossman.com), and the waiting room, office hallways, and treatment rooms have selections of her work. In the waiting room is a large mirror. The mirror’s frame is an abstract shape suggestive of a mouth and colorfully painted with thick, bright acrylics. Embedded in the acrylic are the very instruments used by my father when he developed one of the first endodontic practices in the country. Val’s pastels and acrylic paintings bring the office to life.

What has been your biggest challenge?Traveling through these last few years during the economic downturn, I have had days with nothing to do, and then, all of a sudden everything picks up. The old days of economic boom might be over—when you call your referrals, and they can take the telephone call, they are also not busy. The students of today have to set their goals lower. Personally, the biggest challenge has been to develop, grow, and provide for my wonderful family. My wife has been extremely supportive of my profession. We have a beautiful relationship of 37 years and have raised two wonderful children, each of them attending Ivy League Schools. Alexis, after completing undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, is now completing law school at Villanova, and Benjamin, a history and pre-med major, is playing D-1 lacrosse for Dartmouth College.

What would you have been if you didn’t become a dentist?Something in the health sciences; probably a physician or researcher.

What is the future of endodontics and dentistry?The future is bright. Endodontics today is vastly different from yesteryear. We have so much to look forward to in categories such as instruments, filling materials, site-specific pharmacology, and stem cells. Saving the body’s natural parts are more important than replacing them.

What are your top tips for maintaining a successful specialty practice?Take care of people. Take them on time; call them at night. Take as long as you need to accomplish your goals. Treat your referral base and patients as friends. If you turn a patient away because your diagnosis is that they do not require treatment, remember that they will be back when they need a procedure.

What advice would you give to a budding endodontist?Pick a place you want to live, remember to give back to your specialty through the Foundation and teaching, get your Boards, and give it 5 years!

What are your hobbies, and what do you do in your spare time?I do an army boot camp “Platoon” from 6 am until 7 am 6 days a week in the rain and the snow and the fine weather. Sometimes, this is the only hour that I am laughing, sweating, screaming, and taking care of myself. Other than that, I love golf, skiing, biking, and would love to get back to rock climbing.

Top 10 List

1. Root ZX® Apex Locator2. Dentsply Vortex™ Files3. Dentsply Calamus® Unit4. Schick Radiograph Sensors5. PBS Endo® Software Program6. ZEISS Surgical Operating Microscope7. Dentsply Ultrasonic Unit for apical surgery and calcified canals8. Tulsa X-Smart® Easy Portable low-speed handpiece9. A-dec® Dental Units10. Dentsply hand instruments

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