News

Once again this year the Dalhousie Faculty of Dentistry was well represented at the annual session of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) and the general session of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR), both of which took place in Seattle, Washington on March 16-19, and 20-23, 2013.

The IADR General Session and Exhibition is held in combination with the American Association of Dental Researchers and the Canadian Association of Dental Researchers annual meetings every other year and attracts over 6000 participants. Symposia, as well as oral and poster presentations sessions, are held on current dental and dental-related research. This year Faculty of Dentistry members were lead or presenting authors on six IADR oral and poster presentations.

Dr. Ed Ghiabi presented the results of the “Oral Health Status of Recent Immigrants and Refugees Study”, a survey of 45 recent immigrants and 41 Bhutanese refugees in Nova Scotia. The survey found very high rates of oral disease among these populations with a marked discrepancy between self-reported and clinically determined need for care.

Dr. Mary McNally gave an oral presentation on “Brushing up on Mouth Care: Evaluating a Comprehensive Care Program” which described the integration of a daily mouth care program for dependent older adults into continuing care settings.

Dr. Debora Matthews presented a poster authored by Summer Research Student Amanda Demsey: “Kungatsiajuk: Examining the Oral Health of NunatuKavut Children in Labrador Canada”. This poster described the initial results of a study of the oral health status, perceptions regarding oral health, and oral health services for NunatuKavut children and adolescents. The study found that NunatuKavut children and adolescents experience more oral disease than non-Aboriginal children living in Canada, “However, compared with the Canadian Inuit Oral Health Survey and other Labrador communities, the children and adolescents of southeast Labrador are more satisfied with their oral health, have better oral health care habits, and have better oral health as indicated by prevalence and severity of dental decay.”

The PriceLab was represented by three presentations:

• Dr. Pierre-Luc Michard gave a poster presentation called “Relevance of Non-Uniform Light Output from Curing Lights”. This research used beam profiling to map the irradiance of the light output from four different curing lights and concluded that the single irradiance value and emission spectra provided by light manufacturers is not adequate to describe the non-uniform irradiance found across the tips of lights.
• Dr. Sachin Seth presented a poster on the “Effectiveness of Using MARC-PS to Teach Light Curing to Dental Students”. This study found that students who received training using the MARC®-Patient Simulator delivered significantly more energy and had better light curing technique than students who had not received training using MARC®-PS.
• Dr. Richard Price gave an oral presentation on “Matching the Light Beam Profile to Resin Microhardness Maps” which concluded that the beam profile of the irradiance across the tip of a curing light can affect the microhardness across the surfaces of a light-cured resin restoration, particularly when cured for a short time. Dr. Price was also co-author on four additional presentations at IADR 2013.

The ADEA annual session provides an opportunity for dental educators, administrators and students to share and learn about research into dental and allied dental education. Three faculty members led sessions or made presentations at the 2013 conference.

Dr. Blaine Cleghorn presented two interactive web-based courses, that he developed, at the ADEA TechExpo. One is an open-access mock OSCE exam that helps students prepare for their Dental Board exams. The second is a cross-platform Dental Anatomy Course that integrates small group seminars, laboratory sessions, multimedia and interactive self-assessments and quizzes.

Dr. Cynthia Andrews co-hosted a workshop on “Interprofessional Education (IPE) at your Institution: Strategies for Success”. The session discussed approaches to IPE and lessons learned about the process of developing an IPE curriculum.

Dr. Cara Tax presented two posters: “Course Evaluation Using a Reflective Approach” and “Integrating Photo-Stimuable Phosphor Plate Imaging into Pre-Clinical Radiology”. The first poster described a systematic self-evaluation process used in the Teaching Methodologies Practicum of the Bachelor of Dental Hygiene program. The second poster presented the results of a study of the number and types of errors students make when using PSP plates for imaging as compared to using film. The study concluded that students make similar numbers of errors but the types of errors may differ with the two techniques. Recommendations for consideration when teaching imaging techniques using PSP plates were made.