Table clinic
winners for 2001 represent specialties in dentistry; show trends in the
field
| Dentistry—1st place/clinical table clinic winners: (l-r) Michael Erickson, Todd Ehrler, and Byron Diehl for “Clinical evaluations of OTC vs. professional whitening agents.” |
Winners have been selected from 47 table clinics completed by dental
and dental hygiene students for this year’s Alumni Student Convention
table clinic competition.
Each winning table clinic and several others which ranked high in our School’s competition will be entered in upcoming competitions—dental table clinics will compete in the California Dental Association competition in April, and several winning dental hygiene clinics will represent the School in the CDA competition in April. Other winning dental hygiene clinics will be presented at the California Dental Hygiene Association annual scientific meeting in Anaheim in April.
One dental table clinic will be selected to represent the School at the annual convention of the American Dental Association in September.
“The major specialties in dentistry,” comments Carlos Muñoz, DDS, MSD, director, Center for Dental Research, “including periodontics, endodontics, and restorative dentistry were represented.”
Each year basic sciences and specifically microbiology are fully represented in the student table clinics.
Joni Stephens, MS, EdS, professor, dental hygiene, teaches research courses to the students each year.
“Dr. James Kettering along with his laboratory assistants Ray Aprecio and Bill Keeler,” she informs, “work exceptionally hard to assist in the completion of 15 to 20 clinics. In fact, LLU has also been called the ‘Kettering Institute’ because so many of Dr. Kettering’s laboratory studies win at the CDA Convention.”
According to Dr. Muñoz, the students are encouraged to select areas for research that will provide relevant data that clinicians can take home to enhance the care they provide to their patients.
“Two of the winners of this year’s competition,” he adds, “focused on teeth whitening. This demonstrates that this is one of the current hot topics in dentistry.”
“Ms. Stephens spent countless hours mentoring the students as they progressed through the various stages of their research,” confides Dr. Muñoz.
According to Ms. Stephens, the students’ research comes from original concepts designed by the students. They are required to come up with the idea, design the protocol, and if studies are done on humans, go through the Institutional Review Board.
As students use their curiosity and knowledge to pursue in-depth studies that will benefit the profession, a key person who helps them evaluate data they collect is Jay Kim, statistician for the School of Dentistry. “Dr. Kim worked very hard,” says Dr. Muñoz, “to help our students get their statistics completed on time.”
Dr. Muñoz would also like to thank the panel of judges who viewed
each table clinic, and whose combined expertise provided invaluable input
as they evaluated the students’ work.
Since 1989, LLU dental students have placed first seven times in CDA competitions;
second place four times; and third five times. And dental hygiene students
have placed first eight times and captured second seven times.
Abstracts from first place student table clinics which win in CDA competitions are published in the CDA Journal.
All contents copyright © 2001 Loma Linda University.
All rights reserved. Revised February 14, 2001
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