DCG Digs into Research with Table Clinic Day

The Dental College of Georgia hosted the 34th annual Research and Table Clinic Day (RTCD) on Wednesday, March 8, in conjunction with the Georgia Section of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (GA-AADOCR). Dr. John O. Burgess, Clinical Research Director at Louisiana State University, gave the 8th Annual David H. Pashley Lecture.

RTCD is the annual research expo that the DCG hosts to promote scientific research and innovative clinical care with a focus on current practices and projects being conducted at the Dental College of Georgia. DCG students, residents, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, pre-doctoral dental and dental hygiene students are welcomed each year to display a summary of their research progress and have discussions with peers and faculty about their work and its impact. The event culminates in a recognition ceremony, awarding researchers for the best work.

Award Winners in Literature Review 1

First Place: Arnav Jain and Luke Merenuk, Dental Hygiene – “Use Of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles In Effective Biofilm Removal”

Second Place: Mya Johnson and Shivam Patel, Dental Hygiene – “How Can Social Media be Implemented in Dentistry”

Third Place: Summer Cooper and Daisi Ruiz, Dental Hygiene – “Boric Acid Treatment with Nonsurgical Periodontal Therapy for Chronic Periodontitis”

Award Winners in Literature Review 2

First Place: Jewel Flanigan and Abby Bentley, Dental Hygiene – “The Effects of Subgingival Air Polishing with Erythritol in Adjunct to Scaling and Root Planing”

Second Place: Madison Hooks and Claire Pond, Dental Hygiene – “The Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy on People With Dental Anxiety”

Third Place: Rebekah Tappendick and Deysi Teran, Dental Hygiene – “Is Photodynamic Therapy an Effective Oral Cancer Treatment of the Whole Person”

Award Winner in Faculty Research

Dr. Todd Schoenbaum, Professor of Restorative Sciences – “Implant Abutment connections and their effect on Implant survival rates and changes in marginal bone levels (delta MBL): a systematic review and meta-analysis of 45,347 oral implants”

Award Winners in Clinical Treatment & Materials

First Place: Sergio Munoz – “Implant site development requirements in an advanced dental education program: A series of 290 implants”

Second Place: Elizabeth Floodeen, Oral Maxillofacial Surgery Resident – “Numb Chin Syndrome as the Initial Symptom of T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in a 14-year-old Female”

Third Place: Pratik Patel, Oral Maxillofacial Surgery Resident – “An Extended Scope of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery: A Case Report of Lower Extremity Reconstruction”

Award Winners in Basic Science: Pre-dental/Dental Students

First Place: Tigerwin Yang, Pre-Doctoral Student – “P.gingivalis Induces Senescence of Gingival Keratinocytes: A Novel Mechanism of Periodontitis”

Second Place: Cathy Tran, Pre-Doctoral Student – “Engineered Human Dendritic Cell Exosomes as Effective Delivery System for Reprogramming Immune Response in Periodontal Disease”

Third Place: Nathalie Paladines, DCG Affiliate – “Mitochondrial biogenesis drives adenosine anti-inflammatory effects in gingival stromal cells”

Award Winner in Basic Science: Graduate/Residents

Harshit Singhania, Graduate Student – “EPS8 Regulates SOX2, Contributing to HNSCC Stemness”

The DCG also announced the students who had earned their Doctor of Dental Medicine and will graduate with a Distinction in Research. Those students are Amber Durand, Caroline Carlock, Katherine Bigham, Lindsey Brown, Melanee Wang, Rebecca Gaillard, Thomas Shepherd and Veronica Xia.

In addition, we celebrated the awardees of the 2022 Interdisciplinary-Collaborative Grant Program. Dr. Prajakta Shreeram Kulkarni, Assistant Professor, and Dr. Rafael Rocha Pacheco, Associate Professor in the Department of Restorative Sciences; and Dr. Mohamed Meghil, Associate Professor in the Department of Periodontics, were awarded $5,000 for “Analysis of Mechanical and Microbiological Properties of Novel 3D.” Dr. Evila da Silva Lopes Salles , Assistant Research Scientist, and Dr. Ahmed El-Marakby, Professor in the Department of Oral Biology and Diagnostic Sciences, were awarded $5,000 for “Novel rewiring mechanisms of CBD on the tongue tumor microenvironment.”

Finally, the DCG bid farewell to Dr. Jaspreet Farmaha, Research Operations Coordinator in the Department of Periodontics, who has lead the event planning for RTCD for several years. She is leaving the DCG for a new position at Augusta University.

The event was sponsored by the Kappa Lambda chapter of Omicron Kappa Upsilon, the national dental honor society, by the GA-AADOCR, by the DCG Dean’s Office and by Ivoclar Vivadental. Thank you to the DCG faculty who served as judges, and to the members of the RTCD Committee for their hard work, including Dr. Babak Baban, RTCD Committee Chair, and Dr. Kevin Frazier, RTCD Committee Vice Chair.

Congratulations to all of our participants and winners!