Postgraduate resident scholars of the Department of Periodontics at the Amrita School of Dentistry recently won numerous accolades at the 4th Mid Term Society of Periodontists and Implantologists of Kerala (SPIK) Conference.
Drs. Neethu Suresh, Remys K. S., Keerthy S. Menon, Sai Megha Menon, Reshma Suresh and Maya Rajan Peter of Amrita won prizes for paper and poster presentations and a quiz competition. All of them are currently enrolled in a three-year residency program in periodontics.
A branch of dentistry, periodontics focuses on the study and treatment of the tissues surrounding and supporting the teeth.
“During our residency program, we attend to and manage different types of gingival and periodontal diseases and perform all phases of non surgical and surgical therapies which comprise of aesthetic and implant therapies as well,” explained the scholars.
At the conference, Dr. Neethu Suresh received the best paper award for her paper titled Ligaplants.
“Ligaplants represent an important new therapeutic tool to replace lost teeth. They are a combination of periodontal ligament cells with implant biomaterials,” Dr. Neethy explained.
The third prize in paper presentations was won by Dr. Remya K. S. for her paper titled Platform Switching – A Boon to the Periodontists. Dr. Remya emphasized higher levels of crestal bone preservation and improved aesthetics in her paper.
“Crestal bone is the most coronal portion of alveolar bone that supports the teeth. In platform switching, there will be modification of stress distribution around the implant and location of the bacterial infiltrate which will be favouring the crestal bone preservation, which in turn improves the aesthetics,” she said.
Amrita students received laurels for their poster presentations also.
Dr. Keerthy S. Menon won the second prize for her poster titled Biologic Width – A Physiologically and Politically Resilient Structure.
“The violation of biologic width between teeth will create pain and inconvenience to the patient. Hence, it is an important anatomic and physiological concept among dentists for successful restorative margins, crowns and bridges and implants,” she explained.
Drs. Sai Megha and Reshma Suresh shared the third place for their posters. Dr. Sai Megha’s poster highlighted Dental Tribology, a new concept wherein toothwear processes result in dentinal hypersensitivity. Dr. Reshma’s poster explained Cell Homing, a biological substitute for dental implants.
Drs. Maya Rajan Peter and Sai Megha added yet another feather to the Amrita cap, when they won the third position in the state-level quiz competition conducted during the conference.
All scholars acknowledged the constant support and encouragement received from their professors and mentors, Dr. Jayachandran P., Dr. Angel Jacob, Dr. Rajesh Vyloppillil and Dr. Anuradha Bhaskar.
December 11, 2012
School of Dentistry, Kochi
