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06 Fall

Meet Dr. Gozalo

("z" pronounced "th")

Alison Fronczak


Dr. Gozalo
Ask students who is one of the best additions to CU's faculty team and they will likely proclaim? Dr. Gozalo! Dr. Gozalo's office door seems to be constantly revolving with students. In the clinic, he often has a line of students waiting anxiously with articulators in hand to discuss their projects. Students eagerly gravitate to him for his help and he always appears to have time (and patience) to discuss any of their questions. But there is a lot more to Dr. Gozalo than just implants and dentures. Here is what we found out:

Education:
  • Undergraduate Education: Colegio La Salle Bonanova, Barcelona, Spain
  • D.D.S.: Graduate University of Costa Rica, San Jose
  • Prosthodontics MS: Ohio State (he is a HUGE Buckeyes fan)
  • In 2004 Dr. Gozalo completed a fellowship in Implantology.
  • January 2006 started as a full-time faculty member at CU Dental.

Why Dr. Gozalo became a dentist:
Sibling rivalry guided his decision to become a dentist. Dr. Gozalo comes from a family filled with professionals. He said his younger sister, a physician, is "smarter than him" and he did not want to be outshined by her in the same profession, so he decided to be a dentist.

What was it like working as a dentist in Costa Rica?
Dr. Gozalo worked on a dental mobile unit in Costa Rica where he would drive a Jeep and travel on a small boat to remote towns in need of dental treatment. He said, "A lot of kids who have nothing in these small towns are still so happy. Money is not important to them. Often, the more you know, the more difficult it can be to be happy."

Why Dr. Gozalo is an expert on tooth color:
For his master’s thesis, Dr. Gozalo determined a formula as to how to best approach the color of the central incisor according to a patient’s skin, lips and gums. He is currently working to publish his thesis.

A highlight for Dr. Gozalo while growing up in Spain:
In Spain there is no Santa Claus but three kings who bring gifts to children January 5th. He said since in the U.S. Santa Claus is only one guy and in Spain there are three guys, kids get a better deal in Spain.

Can Dr. Gozalo cook?
Dr. Gozalo proclaims, "I cook very good." His forte is Spanish food and he particularly enjoys cooking seafood. (Dental students must be aware of his strength in the kitchen because dinner at his house went for the highest bid at the Student Auction.)

What is up with the aviation stuff in his office?
Dr. Gozalo is passionate about aviation and hopes to be a pilot someday. He considers being a pilot as the "ideal career" because it is ""nice to see everything from the top."

Dr. Gozalo's best interview quote:
"If you only eat fish, you think this is the best but you haven't eaten shrimp." He said this when stressing to students that they should try products from different implant companies and not only use one brand of implant.

Hopes to make SOD Implant Center

Dr. Gozalo's goal is to use resources that the new dental school affords us in order to be one of the best dental schools in the U.S. and maybe the world. Dr. Gozalo believes CU has great potential to become an advanced implant center.


Dr. Gozalo at work
The possibility that an implant center will soon exist at CU and be a success is strengthened because of CU's high tech radiology department and its future periodontics program. Dr. Gozalo has been working hard to provide funding for his proposal, and if an implant company finds interest in it, the undergrad students will have hands-on experience with implant dentistry beginning from the diagnostic stage to the surgical stage and ending with the restorative stage. More patients will be eligible to place implants due to the decrease of implant prices. At the present time the CU dental school had placed more implants than ever before. The patients are encouraged to consider implants as a possible option in their treatment plans. Moreover, two implant mandibular over-dentures are presented to patients as the first standard of care plan with the total cost of less than $2,200. Currently, the cost of a single implant is $1,600 compared to a three unit bridge for $1,050 at our school. The future goal is to make implants even cheaper, so that patients will have a very good reason to choose an implant!!