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Head of School
Welcome to the February 2019 edition of the School of Dentistry and Oral Health newsletter.
The year has commenced with several projects. In Learning and Teaching we are formalising the curriculum refresh of the dentistry program as recommended in the School review and developing a Bachelor of Dental Hygiene program for a 2020 start. Along University guidelines we have clustered the BDentHealSci/MDent programs and appointed Prof M. Abuzar as Program Director and the BDentTech/BDentPros cluster will be directed by A/Prof J. Evans. Under these clusters there will be Program committees to work on operational aspects of the programs.
In November there will be a meeting of the IADR - Asia Pacific Region in Brisbane and the School's Research Committee is planning a significant presence of the School at the meeting underlying our research strengths.
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Staffing Update
Dr Santosh Tadakamadla
Senior Research Fellow
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Dr Santosh Tadakamadla joined Griffith University as a Senior Research Fellow at Griffith University in January 2019. Before moving to Australia, Santosh worked in research and academic roles at dental schools in India and Saudi Arabia.
Recently, he was awarded a prestigious National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship. Santosh is a Global Burden of Diseases Collaborator and serves on the editorial board of such reputable journals as BMC Public Health and PLoS One. Santosh's research interests include health promotion, preventive dentistry, dental education, oral epidemiology, health inequalities, quality of life, and other areas of population oral health. Santosh has published more than 90 peer-reviewed articles, serves as a reviewer for many journals and has received a number of research grants.
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Dental Council of Hong Kong's External Examiner
Head of School, Professor Robert Love, has been appointed as the Dental Council of Hong Kong's External Examiner. The role will oversee the Council's registration exams and adds to Prof Love's international regulatory profile with involvement in regulatory authorities in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and now Hong Kong.
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Welcome 1st Years!
Orientation 2019
The DOH student cohort for 2019 were welcomed during their Orientation event on Thursday 21st February. The full day event was a great success with our new students meeting the key staff members who will be guiding them through their courses as well as hearing an informative talk from Dr Norah Ayad, Senior Vice President for Australian Dental Association (QLD) who provided insight into the profession on which our students are about to embark.
The information session was followed with a tour of the Dental Clinic and Anatomy Laboratory with other highlights from First Year Coordinator, Dr Mahmoud Bakr, who facilitated a range of activities and challenges to break the ice. We would like to make special mention of our 2nd year student mentors who did a wonderful job assisting staff throughout the day ensuring our new student cohort were well looked after and made very welcome.
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ADA 2018 study grant awarded to Griffith Student
Hannah Lonergan shares how the Australian Dental Association study grant helped her studies.
As part of its commitment to improving the oral health of Australians, particularly in disadvantaged communities, the Australian Dental Association offers a range of study grants to dental students from rural and remote Australia and those who identify as being from an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background. These competitive study grants worth $5000 each are offered annually, seek to support students financially with the cost of their studies.
Hannah is currently studying her Master of Dentistry and is a Griffith Student Ambassador and mentors Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander high school students through the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience program.
“Through my studies I have learned that oral health is mostly neglected not because of negligence but because of lack of knowledge. I would love to be a rural dentist and work to improve Indigenous oral health through education and prevention programs which are mobile, and travel to rural and remote areas”.
“I am so very privileged and blessed to be an Aboriginal student who has been accepted into dentistry. Having the opportunity to work in communities like this and help people to understand the importance of oral health and oral hygiene would be a tremendous achievement”.
Congratulations Hannah!
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Australian Dental Research Foundation present Research Grant
Faeza Ebrahimi awarded the Leonard Hansen Prize
Graduate Faeza Ebrahimi has recently been awarded the Leonard Hansen Prize for 2018 and for preparing the best final report arising from the Australian Dental Research Foundation Dental Student and Trebitsch Research Grant programme for 2017/18. The project was entitled: Bone invasive properties of OSCC and its interactions with bone cells via stimulation of cell-adhesion molecules.
We congratulate you on this prestigious Award.
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New Periodontal and Peri-Implant Classification
Last Friday the School of Dentistry and Oral Health hosted a complementary scientific event on the new Classification System of the Periodontal and Peri-Implant diseases and conditions.
Professor Quaranta and the other Perio Staff Members, joined by Dr. Orozco, a Periodontist from Brisbane, presented and discussed with the audience the 'tricks and tips' of the new Classification System.
Guests concluded the night networking over a light dinner.
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Botulinum Toxin & Dermal Fillers in Lower Face Rejuvenation
Dental Practitioners were given the opportunity to broaden their skills
Dr. Bakr and Dr. Meer ran a very successful CPD event 'The uses of botulinum toxin and dermal fillers in lower face rejuvenation' at the School of Dentistry and Oral Health over the weekend (23rd and 24th of Feb 2019) with thirty three participants from QLD, NSW and VIC. Over the first day, participants learned about the anatomy of the face, concepts of beauty and facial symmetry, treatment complications, and different TGA approved cosmetic injectable products available in the Australian market. The afternoon focused on the risk analysis and legal aspects of these procedures from our guest speakers, Dr. Mike Rutherford from DPL Australia, followed by Dr. Toheed Nasir from the UK who demonstrated the different injection techniques and doses.
On the second day, participants enjoyed the hands on experience after passing the anatomy and complications quiz. Participants spent the day applying the knowledge from the theory part of the course in treatment planning and injecting four cases of our state of the art silicone models (Andy, Pam, Claire and Debbie). The feedback obtained from this course was very positive and warrants another offering of the course in November this year and possibly a more advanced course next year.
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Another student exchange completed!
Saveetha Dental College Students visit Griffith
Dr Mahmoud Bakr hosted two exchange students from Saveetha Dental College - India. Throughout their stay the pair attended interactive lectures and clinical observation sessions within the School of Dentistry and Oral Health. The School expects to host more students from Saveetha Dental College throughout the year.
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Delivering life changing gifts to people in need!
Professor Peter Reher and Dr Vanessa Reher return for the annual visit to Dili, East Timor.
Professor Peter Reher and Dr Vanessa Reher have been featured in the Courier Mail QWeekend magazine for the phenomenal work they do with The Uniting Church in Australia (Glebe Road, Ipswich) in association with Timor Children’s Foundation. In advance of their last trip, Vanessa prepared an inexpensive false tooth for Petrus Tallo, who's decayed tooth had been removed on a earlier visit by the team. Petrus is a council member of the church that facilitates the School dentistry visit. Though it wasn’t a massive operation, Petrus was thrilled with his new tooth!
Peter and Vanessa will be visiting East Timor again this year in June and will be taking a Griffith team who include:
Dr Vanessa Reher
Prof Peter Reher
Dr Michael Doust
Dr Graeme Westacott
Bill Li (5th-year student)
Ailee Jones (2nd-year student)
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General News & Updates
We are pleased to advise that one of our Administrative Support Officers, Mrs Carena Van Wijk has recently transitioned into the position of Academic Support Officer (ASO). Carena has been part of the Admin Support team for over 2 years and is highly regarded by her colleagues for her knowledge and work ethic. In Carena's replacement, we have welcomed Mrs Jesse Hill who previously worked in the PASS Health Program at Griffith.
We wish them every success in their new roles and look forward to the positive impact their input will continue to have on our School.
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Contributions invited
Email contributions or feedback to the School of Dentistry and Oral Health newsletter administrator.
School of Dentistry and Oral Health website
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