The 9th annual Dr. Phillip Earle Williams Lectureship

Dr. Phillip E. Williams Jr.

The 9th annual Dr. Phillip Earle Williams Lectureship, presented by Baylor College of Dentistry’s Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and the Southwest Dental Conference of the Dallas County Dental Society, was held Jan. 20 at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas.

The topics of this year’s symposium were trigeminal neuralgia and post-traumatic neuropathic pain. The lectureship hosted two featured speakers, and Dr. John R. Zuniga.

Dr. John R. Zuniga

Williams, a neurologic surgeon with the neurosurgery department at Presbyterian Medical Center in Dallas and eldest son of Dr. P. Earle Williams, presented “Being in the right place at the right time: historical reflections.” A member of the Parkland Hospital surgical team that treated President John F. Kennedy and Gov. John Connally after the two were shot in Dallas in 1963, Williams shared his memories of the events that shaped that historic day in November. He also reflected on the development of the specialty of oral and maxillofacial surgery in North Texas and his father’s influential roles therein.

Zuniga, professor and chair of oral and maxillofacial surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, presented “The role of the maxillofacial surgeon in the management of trigeminal neuralgia and post-traumatic neuropathies.” A nationally recognized expert on the subject, Zuniga spoke on the contemporary approaches to diagnosing and managing patients, and dilemmas and controversies relating to those conditions. He received his doctor of medical dentistry degree from Tufts University School of Dentistry in Boston and his master’s degree and a doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y.

Williams (left) and Zuniga (right) with Dr. Gil Triplet, chair of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery at Baylor College of Dentistry.

The lectureship is sponsored by Baylor College of Dentistry and hosted by the college's Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. This annual continuing education event for oral and maxillofacial surgeons is held free of charge each year in memory of Dr. P. Earle Williams, a 1926 BCD graduate and Colonel in the U.S. Army Dental Corps.

The first board-certified oral surgeon in North Texas, Williams spent 65 years in private practice and served on the teaching faculties at BCD and UT Southwestern Medical School – where he served as chairman of the oral surgery department for seven years. He held numerous leadership positions in local and national dental organizations. Williams is remembered not only for his contributions to his profession but also for his compassionate spirit.

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