The first Continuing Dental Education (CDE) program by the alumni of Amrita School of Dentistry (ASD) was organized at the mini auditorium of the School on February 25, 2020, from 9 am to 4 pm.

The resource person was Dr. Rajeeve S. Pillai (2003 batch BDS Alumnus) and the topic was ‘Rubber Dam Isolation and Importance of Patient Documentation’. The target audience for the program was the current batch interns of Amrita School of Dentistry.

35 alumni members attended the inaugural function of the program along with all the faculty members and non-teaching staff of Amrita School of Dentistry.

Registration started at 8.30 am on the third floor. All alumni were provided with Reconnect Badges after getting the Registration/feedback forms filled up.

Master of the ceremony was Dr. R. Venkitachalam, Assistant Professor in Department of Public Health Dentistry (2014 MDS Alumnus).

The formal meeting commenced at 9.00 am with prayer by Arathy Anil and Sukanya N. R. (Interns) and pooja by Chitharanjan Achan.

Dr. Venkitachalam delivered the welcome address. The inaugural address was delivered by Dr. Balagopal Varma, Principal Amrita School of Dentistry. A one-minute silent prayer was observed in fond remembrance of late Mr. M. N. G. Nayar, a former campus alumni coordinator.  This was followed by lamp lighting by the dignitaries.

Dr. K. Narayanan Unni, Chairman ASD, Dr. Rakesh S., Vice Principal ASD, offered felicitation.

Dr. P. G. Nayar, Campus Alumni Coordinator & Professor in Department of Pharmacology, offered felicitations.

Faculty representative Dr. Vinod Krishnan shared his feelings and experiences with the audience.

Dr. Krishna S. Kumar, Alumni Coordinator, ASD, who is an alumna of 2006 BDS batch introduced the chief guest and resource person for the day, Dr. Rajeeve S. Pillai. Dr. Rajeeve graduated from Amrita School of Dentistry in the year 2008. He has a clinical experience of over 12 years with special interests in Aesthetic and Biomimetic Dentistry. He has been propagating the importance of rubber dam isolation, magnification and case documentation in clinical practice and maintains an exclusive rubber dam practice in his clinic Susmitham Dental Care, Venmony, for the past five years. He currently holds the position of CDE convener of the Mavelikkara IDA branch.

Dr. Rajeeve started his first session by 9.15 am and gave an introduction to basic rubber-damology, followed by detailed lectures on basic single tooth isolation for RCT, anterior quadrant isolation techniques, posterior quadrant isolation techniques, anterior isolation for laminate veneers, isolation for closure of midline diastema, winged, wingless and brinkers tissue retraction clamps. This was followed by a short tea break at 11.30 am.

The second session started by 11.45 am and there were detailed interactive sessions on how to make floss ties, Teflon wedges and dam inversion techniques. Dr. Rajeeve also spoke about the need for documentation and on the basics of documentation protocols and dental photography. He highlighted the importance of the use of mirrors, contrastors and external lighting while taking patient photographs. He also described in detail how mobile phone cameras can be effectively utilized for taking photographs.  This was followed by lunch.

Hands-on session on rubber dam and photography started by 1.30 pm. Live demonstration of the techniques was given initially which was followed by detailed interactive sessions. Dr. Anu Krishnapriya, Dr. Rajeeve’s wife and Chief Dental Surgeon of Susmitham Dental Care, gave the detailed hands-on session on tricks and tips in taking effective photographs for patient documentation.

During the valedictory function, Dr. Balagopal Varma gave away mementos and certificates as a token of appreciation to Dr. Rajeeve and Dr. Anu Krishnapriya for enlightening the audience with their knowledge and skills on rubber damology and patient documentation.