Six students were selected as winners in the 2005 American Dental Association/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program held on Saturday, October 8 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA during the 146th Annual ADA Session.

This year's program featured representatives from nearly every dental school in the United States and Puerto Rico. As has been the custom, students participated in one of two categories: Clinical Application and Techniques or Basic Science and Research.

An Awards Program was conducted that evening in the Wyndham Ballroom of the Wyndham Philadelphia Hotel at Franklin Plaza. George Rhodes, DENTSPLY's Vice President for Professional Relations and Corporate Communications, served as official host for this event.

All participants were presented individually to the assembled guests and took their place on stage. Mr. Rhodes then introduced Dr. James B. Bramson, Executive Director of the American Dental Association. Dr. Bramson, a past SCADA President, congratulated all the student clinicians and extolled them as future leaders of the profession.

Dr. Paul F. Kattner, Chairman of the Council on ADA Sessions, then announced the winners in each category and called the students to the podium where each of the winners addressed the audience.

First Place in the Clinical Category went to Aaron J. Cregger from the University of Missouri at Kansas City for “A comparison between three digital x-ray detectors: Defining digital radiography in terms of patient comfort and ease of operation.” Megan Robl was his co-clinician. The pair states that radiographic image quality and, consequently, diagnosis are both very closely related to radiographic technique. Radiographic technique is affected by a number of factors which include operator's experience, radiographic equipment and settings, handling of the image receptors (film or digital detectors) and patient acceptability. The winning clinic discussed the aim of the study and the materials and methods and closed with a review of the statistical analysis and results.

Lee D. Pham from the University of California at Los Angeles claimed the First Place Award in the Basic Science and Research Category for his presentation on “Prostanoids induce egrl gene expression in OC-CM cementoblastic cells.”

According to Mr. Pham, uncovering molecular signaling cascades that regulate cementoblast biology and promote differentiation will help develop effective treatments for successful periodontal regeneration. This clinic examined egrl induction by anabolic prostanoids and characterized signaling pathways that mediate this induction in OC-CM cells.

Both Mr. Cregger and Mr. Pham received a travel prize to attend the 2006 Midwinter Meeting of the Chicago Dental Society (CDS) from February 23 through 25 when they re-presented their winning clinics as part of the official CDS scientific program.

Other winners in Category I, their schools and clinic titles were: Second Place, Amy E. Suhr - State University of New York at Buffalo, “Risk factors for bone graft failure in reconstructed cleft palate patients: A retrospective study” and Third Place, Scott W. Joslin - University of Detroit Mercy, “The virtual lab technician & prosthodontist.”

Other Basic Science and Research Category winners were: Second Place, Joseph R. Karam - University of Pittsburgh, “Tissue engineering tooth structure in vitro from dissociated tooth buds” and Third Place, William R. Allen, Jr. - University of Kentucky, “Is the herpes simplex virus Type 1 Latency associated transcript anti-apoptotic?”

Both Second Place Winners received a cash prize of $1,000 and each of the Third Prize Winners earned a cash prize of $500.

Following the announcement of the winners, the student clinicians and all invited guests adjourned to a nearby ballroom for a Reception hosted on their behalf by DENTSPLY International.

All the winners extended their stay in Philadelphia for an additional day, courtesy of the Company. Along with the international guests attending the ADA Annual Session, they re-presented their winning demonstrations on Sunday morning at the Pennsylvania Convention Center and were guests of DENTSPLY for an evening dinner at a prominent Philadelphia restaurant.

Aaron J. Cregger from the University of Missouri at Kansas City claimed the First Place Award in the Clinical Application and Techniques Category. His co-clinician was Megan Robl. Their winning presentation was titled: “A comparison between three digital x-ray detectors: Defining digital radiography in terms of patient comfort and ease of operation.”

 

 

 

Amy E. Suhr from the State University of New York at Buffalo earned the Second Place Award in Category I for: “Risk factors for bone graft failure in reconstructed cleft palate patients: A retrospective study.”