Dentistry

Robert A. Waite, 79, a West Philadelphia dentist for 43 years who spoiled his daughter with candy on the condition that she brush her teeth after eating it, died Oct. 2 of a stroke at Chestnut Hill Hospital. He lived in West Mount Airy. "My father knew I had a sweet tooth. He worked long hours, and before he left his office, he would call me and ask if I wanted a treat," said daughter Roberta Lites. "My favorite was 'Now and Later' - probably the worst candy for your teeth. " Born in 1929, the son of a steel-mill worker, Dr. Waite was raised by his eldest sister in Youngstown, Ohio, after his mother died when he was 9. After earning a bachelor's degree in 1951 from Youngstown State University, he was drafted into the Army during the Korean War. Dr. Waite was a paratrooper and served stateside until being discharged in 1953.

Howard Goldstein, 59, a Cherry Hill urologist and former board member at Temple Emanuel, died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer at Virtua West Jersey Hospital Marlton. Dr. Goldstein, who grew up in the Bronx, graduated in 1974 from SUNY Buffalo Medical School and completed his residency at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. In the 1980s, he moved to Cherry Hill, where he practiced pediatric and adult urology for 26 years with Associated Urologic Specialists. From a young age, Dr. Goldstein wanted to be a doctor, relatives said.

Jay H. Eshleman, 97, of Chestnut Hill, a dentist in West Mount Airy for nearly seven decades and a passionate advocate of his profession, died March 10 at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital of complications after a fall. Raised on a tobacco farm in Lancaster County in the Church of the Brethren, he was the eldest son of eight children. He attended a one-room elementary schoolhouse and then walked five miles a day to Elizabethtown High School, where he graduated in 1927. Dr. Eshleman rebelled against the tradition of the eldest son's taking over the family farm.

If every trip to the dentist were this much fun, there wouldn't be so many tears and tantrums. At Burlington County College yesterday, boys and girls got their faces painted, met the tooth fairy, and spent time with Swoop, the Eagles' mascot. It was all part of Give Kids a Smile Day, a nationwide project that provides a wide range of free dental services to low-income children. Occurring every year at the beginning of February, the day ushers in the start of National Children's Dental Health Month.

Who says you have to pay full price for full service? Discount rates and special offers are available at many area schools, colleges, and training centers in the Philadelphia area, if you're willing to put yourself - or your car, or your dog - in the hands of their students. What might otherwise be a staggering bill for a service performed by a professional becomes the best bargain in town when it's done by a professional-to-be. That doesn't mean the quality of the work will suffer.

Assemblyman Lou Greenwald has worked hard for his Camden County district. But that doesn't earn him a pass for actions that at the very least offer the appearance of ethical impropriety. An Inquirer article Sunday revealed that Greenwald works for an engineering firm that has benefited from hundreds of thousands of dollars in state grants approved by the Assembly budget committee, which Greenwald chairs. Many towns used these economic development grants to pay for engineering services.

The New Jersey Joint Commission on Ethical Standards needs to stop ducking an investigation of State Sen. Wayne Bryant, who is accused of trading political influence for a $35,000-a-year sinecure at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The committee recently wasted a four-hour meeting approving minutes and arguing over whom to appoint chairman. The Bryant question was deferred on the excuse that U.S. Attorney Chris Christie had to sign off that a legislative investigation wouldn't interfere with ongoing criminal probes.

The revelation that 20 dentistry students at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey cheated on performing clinical procedures is a sad commentary on how prejudice against such behavior has eroded in our consciences. Pragmatism reigns supreme now. The idea that ends justify the means has become part of the fabric of our daily lives. This way of thinking didn't arrive in a neat package. The notion that honesty is admirable has been whittled away in the same way that our abhorrence of violence has been blunted gradually by exposure to violent video games, television shows and movies.

Gov. Corzine, who has declared ethics his highest priority and cast a disparaging eye on waste at state universities, yesterday issued a statement of emphatic support for beleaguered State Sen. Wayne Bryant. The Camden County Democrat is under investigation on allegations he used his position as chairman of the Senate budget committee to steer millions to a part-time employer, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Corzine rebuffed GOP calls to remove Bryant from the helm of negotiations on the freshman governor's proposed $30.9 billion spending plan.

In plans that could stitch together the goals of transforming downtown Camden into a health-care and college mecca, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey is looking to expand its campus significantly, with the possibility of bringing a four-year medical school to the city. The university is in preliminary discussions with the city to construct at least two multistory buildings with space for classrooms, clinical care, research, education and retail. The school is studying building on a block near Cooper University Hospital.