The Miami Herald, Inc.; Monday, December 2, 1991
Rosalind Resnick, Herald Staff Writer

There's a reason: Five patients of the late David Acer, a Stuart dentist, have been infected with the AIDS virus, and news of this has frightened some dental patients.

Savvy marketing, perhaps. But not all dentists are crazy about the idea.

Rather than lead the public to believe that they are virus-free, opponents of AIDS-based advertising say the dental profession should unite in promoting the message that the risk of contracting AIDS from a dentist is very low.

According to the American Dental Association, the late Dr. Acer is the only dentist or doctor in the nation believed to have infected his patients.

"What these dentists are really doing is buying into the public's unfounded fears in order to market themselves individually," said Norman Feigenbaum, a Tamarac dentist who specializes in cosmetic dentistry. "I'm definitely going to join whatever fight I can to turn it around."

Over the last few months, ADA spokesmen have crisscrossed the country attempting to allay the public's fears through meetings with the media. The ADA also has lashed out against the practice of dentists advertising their HIV status, without providing any additional information. Though a negative HIV result shows patients that the dentist was not infected at some point, it does not reflect what the dentist's status might be tomorrow or next week.

Like the American Medical Association, the ADA continues to oppose mandatory testing of health-care professionals for the HIV virus.

Meanwhile, the Florida Board of Dentistry, which regulates the state's dentists, has gone a step further. In August, the board approved a rule requiring that any ad or notice concerning AIDS-test results must include the following disclaimer: "This negative HIV test cannot guarantee that I am currently free of HIV."

The rule also bars Florida dentists from telling the public that they are HIV negative or do not have AIDS.

"People can advertise anything they want," said Richard Chichetti, a Tallahassee dentist and chairman of the Board of Dentistry. "But they can't do it in a way that's deceptive or misleading."

Chichetti says he is not aware of any court challenges to the board's new rule or any cases in which Florida dentists have been disciplined for breaking it.

Meanwhile, for dentists like Feigenbaum, the AIDS controversy continues to loom large in their day-to-day practice. Though Feigenbaum and the three other dentists in his office do not advertise their HIV status, they have made some changes to try to quell patients' fear. For instance, the office's 15 staffers now place sterilized instruments in plastic bags to eliminate any chance of a mix-up with instruments not yet cleaned.

Feigenbaum says he recently was tested for HIV after accidentally puncturing himself during a dental procedure. He says he tested negative. Nevertheless, Feigenbaum, who wears his hair in a pony tail, says he still has to reassure patients that they're safe.

"Good sterilization procedures eliminate the possibility of getting AIDS and transferring it," he said, "but who wants to go to a dentist with a pony tail?"

It isn't every day you get to hire your old boss.

But that's just what Mike Kosnitzky and three other lawyers at Miami's Kosnitzky Truxton de la Guardia & Spratt have done. On Dec. 1, Byron Sparber, a name partner at Miami's now-defunct Sparber Shevin Shapo & Heilbronner, where the four lawyers once worked, quit the 28-lawyer Miami office of Cleveland's Squire Sanders & Dempsey to join Kosnitzky Truxton as a partner.

The nine-lawyer Miami firm has changed its name to Sparber Kosnitzky Truxton de la Guardia & Spratt, giving Sparber top billing.

"He gives us the gray hair that we needed," Kosnitzky said. "We're young. We really needed somebody with a long-standing stake in the community."

As for Sparber's exalted position on the firm's letterhead, Kosnitzky explained: "I can't think of anybody else in this town I would subordinate my name to, but I'm honored to do this with Byron."

"It's going to be great fun," said Sparber, a tax lawyer. "I'm flattered and honored that a group of lawyers of this quality who started out as my firm's employees would want me to be their partner."

* Mark Dresnick, formerly a name partner at Miami's Dunn Dresnick & Lodish, has left to open a solo practice in Coconut Grove. Dresnick, a member of the eight-lawyer firm since 1986, says he will continue to specialize in defending doctors. Deborah Miller, formerly of counsel to the firm, now shares space with him and serves as co-counsel in the physicians' defense cases.

"For my particular practice, it's better to have a smaller firm," Dresnick said. "When physicians hire me, they want me working on their case. That's one of the reasons a larger firm is not necessary."

* The partners at Miami's Buschbom Panter & Panter have gone their separate ways. The Panter brothers, Brett and Mitchell, have regrouped as Panter & Panter, specializing in personal injury cases. Ron Buschbom has formed a solo practice, focusing on insurance defense work. The three lawyers continue to share the same office building, which is owned by Buschbom and Brett Panter and their wives.

Brett Panter says the split was "amicable," adding that he and his younger brother, Mitchell, wanted to "start up a family operation." Brett Panter says they intend to hire associates and expand their practice, possibly in the area of commercial litigation.

Buschbom, for his part, said he teamed up with Brett Panter when Buschbom was 40 and Panter was fresh out of law school. "I told him that one day he and his brother would want to have their own firm and that I would ride into the sunset," Buschbom said. "That days has arrived, but I'm still not at the sunset. I have two little kids to support."

Rosalind Resnick, a former Herald business writer, is a free-lance journalist. Write her in care of Business Monday, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla. 33132.

CAPTION: PHOTO Norman FEIGENBAUM, Byron SPARBER, Mark DRESNICK, Deborah MILLER

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