Committing to the Advancement of Orthodontic Education and Research

Scott Barlow and Yoo Jin Kim

Dr. Hovhanness Ivan Shnorhokian was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon. He attended the American University of Beirut, where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Biology. While Dr. Shnorhokian had always had an interest in dentistry, the only dental school in Lebanon was on a French system. He set his mind to learning the French language and spent a summer working in France in order to immerse himself in the language. Ultimately, Dr. Shnorhokian followed his dreams and overcame personal, professional, and language barriers to receive his D.D.S. from Faculte Francaise de Medicine Et Ecole Dentaire, in Beirut, Lebanon. When reflecting on this experience, Dr. Shnorhokian remarked that “with motivation and drive, you are able to achieve anything you strive for.” Following completion of dental school in Lebanon, Dr. Shnorhokian entered work in private practice as a general practitioner. His interest in craniofacial growth and development motivated him to pursue specialty training in orthodontics, and he moved to the United States after being accepted to the orthodontic program at the University of Pittsburgh where he received his Master of Dental Science in Dentistry and Certificate in Orthodontics. Dr. Shnorhokian continued his post-doctoral studies at the University of Pittsburgh and earned his Ph.D. in Higher Education in 1990. While in his orthodontic residency program, Dr. Shnorhokian had the first of his three children. His oldest daughter, currently working as a lawyer living in San Diego, has blessed him with two grandchildren. His second daughter works as a therapist in a hospital in Long Beach, and his third is a biomedical engineer working in Santa Monica. After serving as the Acting Chairman of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Orthodontics, Dr. Shnorhokian moved to Los Angeles to join the USC Orthodontics Department as Clinical Associate Faculty. Dr. Shnorhokian also serves as the Co-Director of the Undergraduate Orthodontics course and thoroughly enjoys spending time with his students. As part of a continuous journey to construct an intellectually rewarding curriculum, his current goal is to allow DDS Class of 2024 students to use iTero scanners to analyze their own occlusion in preparation for the 2nd year Orthodontics course. Dr. Shnorhokian hopes that this exercise will allow students to better understand evolving diagnostic technologies and help new clinicians to determine which of their future patients may benefit from referral to an orthodontist. After students complete the pre-clinical Orthodontics module, Dr. Shnorhokian hopes that they feel confident in properly identifying orthodontic needs.

During his career at the University of Pittsburgh Department of Orthodontics, Dr. Shnorhokian was involved in various research projects. His earlier studies focused on the effects of sickle-cell disease on skeletal maturation of the dentofacial complex in American black children. The cephalometric results showed that patients with sickle-cell disease exhibit significantly retruded maxillary and mandibular incisors as well as a tendency to have a more protrusive maxilla and a more forward growth of the mandible. His work has since been cited by recent studies that focus on managing orthodontic treatment with sickle cell disease.

The following year, his research regarding the influence of perennial allergic rhinitis with an allergic component (PRAC) on facial type was published. While working towards his Master of Dental Science degree and lat-

er as an Assistant Professor, Dr. Shnorhokian and his co-investigator received a research grant from the NIH for this project. In this study, Dr. Shnorhokian studied a group of children aged 5-10 years with PRAC to determine if allergy management is able to alter the facial growth pattern. His research showed that his group of patients showed a significantly greater palatomandibular angle and lower anterior facial height compared to the matched control sample. Additionally, transverse cephalometric measurements of the PRAC patient showed significantly narrower bilateral orbital breadth, bizygomatic, and binasal dimensions than the control sample. Although his study indicated that PRAC with chronic mouth breathing can affect midface development, his pilot study of PRAC patients who received 2 ½ years of allergy management showed no significant dento-facial dimensional change, and thus, the effect of allergy therapy on altering facial growth pattern is still uncertain.

Another research study conducted by Dr. Shnorhokian compared the dentofacial morphology of 35 bruxers to 28 non-bruxers. Anthropometric spreading calipers were used to measure direct head and facial size from which cephalic (head width vs. head length), facial (face height vs. face width), and “gonial” (gonial width vs. zygomatic width) indices were calculated to determine the headform and facial type for all subjects. Results showed no difference in the dentofacial morphology between the two study groups, but a predominant craniofacial type and dental morphology of both study groups were identified, which included dolichocephalic headform, euryprosopic facial type, and Angle Class I dental occlusion.

Dr. Shnorhokian continued to delve into dentofacial morphology patterns by retrospectively analyzing the effectiveness of Class II, division 1 treatment in terms of two outcome variables. These variables included the percentage change in a valid and reliable occlusal index, the Peer Assessment Rating (PAR) score, and the duration of treatment were calculated from a population of 250 subjects with Class II, Division 1 malocclusion who were treated in the Orthodontic Department of the University of Pittsburgh over the span of 12 years. Multiple regression techniques were used to evaluate the relationship between the outcome and the treatment variables. While the pretreatment PAR score was the only variable that influenced the percentage change in PAR, there were five treatment variables that were significantly associated with the duration of treatment, which included (1) the pretreatment PAR score, (2) the number of treatment stages, (3) the percentage of appointments attended, (4) the number of appliance repairs, and (5) whether the patient was treated with or without extractions.

Outside of school, Dr. Shnorhokian immerses himself in serving his community. He regularly volunteers for the Armenian Evangelical Church and works for the Armenian Benevolence Organization, which oversees churches all over the world. Amidst the pandemic, Dr. Shnorhokian has continued to actively contribute to the Ostrow community, maintain involvement with his church, and find ways to connect with his family. Dr. Shnorhokian is an integral member of the USC Orthodontics Department, and his contributions to the field continue to inspire his students and colleagues.