a Saturday morning. I had to report to start helicopter fl ight school in Texas the following day.
Flight school lasted about a year. I ended up fl ying Huey gunships and was then selected for the fi rst USMC Cobra attack helicopter squadron. I reported to RVN where I fl ew a lot to support Marine grunts (infantryman in ground combat) and allied forces. Over a period of 13 months, I fl ew more than 950 missions providing close air support on all missions (medevac, resupply, insertions and extractions of reconnaissance teams I Corp, northern South Vietnam). I learned to take care of the troops at all costs.
We were young, felt invincible and learned about commitment to do anything, anywhere, anytime to support our troops. “The best medal is a live man’s smile” became our mantra. I was assigned to the Naval Air Training Command in Pensacola as a fl ight instruc- tor upon return. We were training pilots to go into combat. I loved it, and I was ready for transition to fi xed wing but “She Who Must Be Obeyed” was not in favor of staying in the Marine Corps. While receiving my own dental treatment, I asked the doctor lots of questions and he suggested that I should look into dentistry. So, I took several courses and the Dental Admission Test, and as an overture to my wife, Ann, I applied to SIU and once accepted, our dental life began.
Your CV states you are a member of three diff erent soccer halls of fame for your excellence as a referee and that you won two presti- gious U.S. Soccer Awards named after legends of the game. Where did this passion for soccer—and refereeing originate? Do you see similarities between soccer and dentistry? Notably, when this edition is published, we will be in the middle of World Cup mania. Do you have any special plans to attend? Do you have a favorite player or team to watch?
I played four years in college and three years during my time in Pensacola. And I loved it. We had very competitive, great games all over the south against military base teams. When I got to dental school, I started offi ciating for fun. First, it was for youth recre- ational teams, and then I moved on to competitive youth then high school, college and amateur teams. Eventually, I was selected for pros. During my 40 year “soccer career,” I was able to travel all over the U.S. eventually getting into instruction, administration and assessment of the game’s referees at all levels; this meshed well with my schedule in dental school, followed by my burgeon- ing private practice. My simultaneous offi ciating career and my developing private family dental practice kept me busy, and it was all successful in large part due to great family support. Interesting- ly, in the Squadron I fl ew with in Nam, four of us became dentists. Only a few of the thousands of referees I met during my 40-year- referee career were dentists. I do not see similarities between dentistry and soccer other than the fact that I had lots of fun doing both! The U.S. defi nitely knows how to put on a show, and I anticipate the upcoming World Cup will be a real happening. I’ll follow Team U.S. but at present, I have no plans to attend. While I was a season ticket holder for the STL City pro team, (with great seats: top row at mid-fi eld), I have now passed them on to the next
Dr. Silva, my son Jon.
For the past decade you have served in various faculty positions with MOSDOH. How did your previous life experiences inform your instruction style? What do you consider to be essential qualities for being a good clinical instructor? What do you hope your students take away from your time with them?
Following my active duty and after dental school, my wife and I decided to go where we wanted to live and raise our family. I started a dental practice from scratch and waited for the practice to grow around us. Things were pretty lean in the beginning. That’s when my soccer career took off , and I was putting hotdogs on the grill to feed my kids as they kept coming along.
My commitment as our practice developed was to the family of the practice. I mean I had staff that worked with me for 30+ years, and we had patient families who would bring the kids of their kid—so, ultimately, we were a true family practice.
I think I learned that in the military: make a commitment to staff and patients. After I sold the dental practice and sat on the couch for fi rst day of “retirement,” my wife opined that this new plan was not going to work. So, I immediately interviewed at the new dental school opening in St. Louis. I presented as a candidate with success training pilots to go into combat, training referees to work with parents and professional crowds (both sometimes felt like combat) and having 38 years in my own dental private practice— so, why not give me a try and see if I can train dental students? I have been at the A.T. Still University-Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-MOSDOH) ever since.
I see our students as future colleagues. We work with them in St. Louis in their third and fourth year of dental school, as they transi- tion from their fi rst- and second-year experiences with manikins to treating human beings. They’re good academic students, but learning to transition from academic classes to increasing their clinical skills along with signifi cant changes in interpersonal com- munication and organizational skills can be challenging. “Con- trol the controllables”—something I learned early in combat—is something we instill as soon as they start. We try to teach them all to be prepared, be on time and be receptive to input. We also re- mind them that they are going to make mistakes because they are students. The mistakes help them to learn to do things diff erently and better than before.
After any procedure debrief, we ask what are their “takeaways” from the experience? What would or should they do diff erently the next go around? They must serve as the advocate for their patients, and be aware of a patient’s chief complaint, signifi cant medical history, meds and more. Ultimately, they identify options for addressing the patient’s needs while learning sequencing, documentation and the like.
I try to address the students with a touch of humor when ap- propriate, recognizing the stress of dealing with all of the above expectations. I’m big on focusing on their organizational skills, which include addressing the problems presented by their con-
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