Brunsden-Villa Pediatric Dental Center Keeps on Giving

Rutgers School of Dental Medicine’s Brunsden-Villa Pediatric Dental Center opened its doors to the community in 2014 and began serving vulnerable patients in New Jersey and beyond. The center turned 10 this year. 

Finding life with the generosity of Nancy Villa ’89 and Cavan Brunsden ’79, the Brunsden-Villa Pediatric Dental Center treated 17,328 patients for a total of 64,644 visits in its first decade. Villa and Brunsden returned to the school for a celebration with their family and the RSDM community. 

“A decade ago, we dreamed of a new treatment center for children and patients with special health care needs to deliver the best care for them and provide the highest training for our students,” said Dean Cecile A. Feldman. “Since its inception a decade ago, the Brunsden-Villa Pediatric Dental Center has enabled us to treat thousands of patients and expand our reach within the tri-state area, where RSDM is one of the few providers in the region equipped to give comprehensive care to patients with special health care needs.”

Brunsden, a pediatric dentist, and Villa, an orthodontist, founded KidZdent in 1985. “Our practice suddenly changed dramatically from just a career to something that was an obligation to our community to always provide everybody everything that we had in our armamentarium,” said Brunsden.  “We became a multidisciplinary pediatric dental practice … and the largest autism treating practice in the Northeast. …  None of this could have happened without the impact of the school and, most importantly, the faculty.”

He attributes this success to the people he met and changed his path. Before dental school, he was a bartender, elementary school teacher, and complex manager, to name a few. “They were just jobs,” he said and added: “When I went to dental school, I began to see myself as a professional … I had to change who I was, how I thought, how I managed life.” At dental school, those they met changed their lives, which is why the couple wanted to pay it forward with this center. “We knew it would be the foundation we had early in our career, not just to have the best equipment, the best place, but also a faculty that loved going to work in a good place,” he said.

Following RSDM, Villa pursued orthodontics specialty training. "My interest in the field of orthodontics began during high school when I was trained as a dental assistant in an office where many children with special needs were cared for," she said. "I was lucky to maintain this job part-time for 10 years before starting ortho school, which made my training so much more enjoyable and a lot easier." 

The Brunsden-Villa Pediatric Dental Center is an exceptional teaching facility and a unique resource for the community. “The center receives many referrals from outside pediatricians, general dentists, and pediatric dentists from across the state,” said Department Chair of Pediatric Dentistry Glenn Rosivack. “In addition to providing routine preventive and restorative treatment for the area’s children and those with special health care needs, the center serves as a safety net, providing emergency care daily for numerous patients suffering from dental trauma, pain, and dental infections.”