FIRST THURSDAY
COLLEGE OF DENTISTRY NEWS: APRIL 2023
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A College of Dentistry faculty member and Doctor of Dental Surgery students travel to Jordan on a mission trip -- stopping briefly at the ancient city of Petra. |
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From Dean Carroll Ann Trotman
This edition of First Thursday begins with a story about our students’ recent mission trip to a refugee camp in Jordan. Dr. Matt Messina, a faculty member in the Division of Restorative and Prosthetic Dentistry and the Director of Ohio State’s Upper Arlington Dental Clinic, led the college’s first mission trip since the pandemic began. Working in tandem with Jordanian dentists, Dr. Messina and eight DDS students provided dental care and oral health education for refugees in need. I am proud to share this story because this is what we are about -- caring for dental patients who need our skills and expertise wherever they may be.
Other news items showcase our students and faculty who have won awards. One special celebration was held last month. It was the Student Government Association’s annual presentation of teaching awards. The faculty who receive awards are chosen by dental and dental hygiene students for their teaching excellence in pre-clinical, didactic, clinical, and specialty instruction. The students’ positive feedback and gratitude have a profound effect on the faculty they honor. Likewise, the faculty who are committed to teaching excellence have an impact on our students that will last for decades.
Other items to brag about include the Graduate School awards for seven students entering our advanced education programs: Jeffrey Hage, Parker Heiner, Ezinne Nwadinobi, Kendall Latshaw, Simran Sarao, Sadia Tasleem, and Patrick Mugabe; several wins and recognitions for students and faculty at the recent meeting of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research: including Dr. Sarah Peters, Dr. Leblebicioglu, Ms. Natalie Andras, Mr. Michael Chavez, Ms. Kazune Pax, Ms. Michelle Scott, and Dr. Shifa Shahid; an award given to first-year resident, Dr. Jie Liu, from the American Association of Orthodontists Foundation; oral biology PhD student, Dr. Shifa Shahid, won a prize at the university’s Hayes Research Forum; and Mr. Joseph Linser, a D3 student, was chosen as the next Speaker of the House for the American Student Dental Association.
We also showcase the achievements of Dr. Martha Harden Wells, an alumna of our pediatric dentistry program. She is the new Chief of Dentistry at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and she is the first dentist to serve as a full faculty member at that institution. Our “faculty feature” this month is about Ms. Rachel Kearney, Chair of the Division of Dental Hygiene. As a dental hygienist, senior administrator, and a doctoral student in Ohio State’s College of Education and Human Ecology's Department of Educational Studies and Learning Technologies, her research examines the efficacy of online dental hygiene courses, and the impact of social media as a tool in dental hygiene programs.
I am always proud to share a sampling of our many “good news” stories. They demonstrate the achievements we are making, and the fact that our students, staff, and faculty go well “above and beyond” in their endeavors.
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O-H-I-O! Faculty Member and Dental Students Take Mission Trip to Jordan
From March 11- 18, Dr. Matt Messina and eight of the college's DDS students provided dental care for patients at the Al Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. Located about 10 kilometers east of the city of Mafraq, the refugee camp is home to about 80,000 Syrians. Established by the United Nations in 2012, the camp gradually evolved into a permanent settlement with residents whose needs include dental care and oral health education.
Stepping in to help meet those needs, the student members of the college's Arab Dental Society (ADS) worked to organize and raise funds for the "Refugee Smiles" mission trip. They asked Dr. Messina, a faculty member in the Division of Restorative and Prosthetic Dentistry and the Director of Ohio State's Upper Arlington Dental Clinic, to lead the effort.
Dr. Messina gladly agreed to accompany the students, provide organizational support, and supervise their work with patients. But he gives the student group credit for making the trip into a reality. He said, "The ADS students worked with the international group Atlantic Humanitarian Relief that runs the clinic in the Al-Za'atari camp to get approval for us to provide dental care while we were there. The students who organized and joined the trip are Mina Mousa, D4; Rita Rizkala, D4; Elias Kanneh, D4; Jordan Tretbar, D4; Alwilleed Kalout, D3; Lana Shoukair, D3; Zeenet Ahmed, D3; and Mohamed Alodat, D2."
Dr. Messina added, "I was proud of the professionalism, skill, and caring of our dental students. They certainly impressed our Jordanian hosts. As dental education in Jordan begins right after high school, many of the local dentists were about the same age as our students, even though they've been in practice for a couple of years. The mutual respect and commitment to caring for patients created a strong team dynamic right from the beginning."
Although the need for dental care is widespread in the refugee camp, Dr. Messina says the "Refugee Smiles" team made a difference. "We helped to provide extractions, endodontic treatments, composite and amalgam restorations, fluoride treatments and oral hygiene instructions. We also gave many children their first-ever toothbrush and showed them how and why to use it," he said.
Speaking on behalf of the students, Ms. Mina Mousa, the ADS group leader and a senior dental student, said, "The Refugee Smiles service trip was a lifetime experience. The ADS group had to overcome many obstacles along the way, but I am very proud that we were able to meet those challenges. We never lost our focus on the primary goal, which was to provide quality dental care for those in need. As the ADS leader, I want to emphasize that this was a group effort, and it would not have been possible without the efforts and support of the board members and faculty. We are looking forward to the next mission."
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Annual SGA Awards Event Recognizes Teaching Excellence
Faculty, staff, and students gathered at Ohio State's Longaberger Alumni House on Wednesday, March 29th to recognize outstanding faculty at the college's annual Student Government Association (SGA) Teaching Awards event. The faculty who receive awards are chosen by the college's dental and dental hygiene students for their teaching excellence in the areas of pre-clinical, didactic, clinical, and specialty instruction.
Welcoming the attendees to the event, Dean Carroll Ann Trotman said, "It makes me proud to know our dental and dental hygiene students have such positive feedback and appreciation for our faculty. Teaching is a job that requires everything you’ve got, if you want to do it right. So, it is a special pleasure for me to be part of this event that honors our outstanding faculty members. "
The Student Government Association Teaching Award winners are as follows:
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Dental Hygiene Class of 2024: Didactic - Bridget Wright, MSDH; Clinical - Denise Kissell, BSDH, MPH
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Dental Hygiene Class of 2023: Didactic - Joen Iannucci, DDS, MS; Clinical - Mhairi Johnston, BSDH, MDH
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Dental Class of 2023: Full-Time Clinic - Robert Gardner, DDS; Debra Mendel, DDS; Mark Morrison, DDS; James B. Stone, DDS; Assistant Professor - Salvatore Lowry, DDS; Michael Masonbrink, DDS; Specialty - Mark Gordon, DDS, MS; Lisa Knobloch, DDS, MS; Didactic - Sarah Fowler, DMD, MS
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Dental Class of 2024: Didactic - Matthew Messina, DDS; Clinical - Leonardo Nassani, DMD; James B. Stone, DDS
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Dental Class of 2025: Didactic - Lisa Knobloch, DDS, MS; Pre-clinic - Leonardo Nassani, DMD
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Dental Class of 2026: Didactic - Dawne Stefanik, DDS, MA; Pre-clinic - Leonardo Nassani, DMD
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Classes of 2023 and 2024: Honorary Residents - Aktham Adams, DDS; Veeshesh Patel, DDS
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Binnaz Leblebicioglu, DDS, MS, PhD, Honored as Fellow of AADOCR
A professor in the college's Division of Periodontology, Dr. Binnaz Leblebicioglu was recently honored as a Fellow of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR). The Fellows program recognizes individuals who have served the AADOCR in various ways throughout their careers, and whose efforts support the organization's goal of strengthening its mission to drive dental, oral, and craniofacial research to advance health and well-being.
Dr. Leblebicioglu received her MS degree in periodontology and her PhD in oral biology from the college. As a longtime faculty member, she has extensive experience in teaching, mentoring, and conducting research. She currently serves as the Interim Chair of the Division of Periodontics, and she is a practicing periodontist and a Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology.
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Sarah Peters, MS, PhD, Receives AADOCR's William Butler Fellowship
Dr. Sarah Peters joined the college in 2020 as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Biosciences. Prior to that, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Cell, Developmental, and Integrative Biology in the School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She brought with her a K99/R00 grant of $981,028 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) - National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) that funds her dental pulp research.
Dr. Peters was recently selected as the inaugural recipient of the William (Bill) Butler Fellowship from the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR). The Butler Fellowship was created in recognition of Dr. William Butler’s contributions to research in mineralized tissues, and his prominence as a mentor and role model in the field. The fellowship supports researchers in the early stages of their scientific careers.
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Wittwer Fellowships Awarded to Graduating Residents
The Wittwer Graduate Fellowship fund was established in 1975 by Pauline C. Wittwer, a long-time administrative assistant for the college's post-graduate programs. The endowed fund provides support for graduating residents and graduate students who intend to pursue an academic career and have financial need.
Two fellowship recipients were recently selected from the class of 2023. The first is Sehrish Javaid, BDS, MS, PhD, a third-year resident and MS student in the advanced education program in oral and maxillofacial pathology. She will join the Texas Tech University School of Dental Medicine as an Associate Professor this summer. The second recipient is Kyulim Lee, DMD, PhD, a second-year resident and MS student in the advanced education program in pediatric dentistry. She will join Nationwide Children’s Hospital as a pediatric dentist this summer, and will also serve as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the college's Division of Pediatric Dentistry. Both will receive a one-time monetary award.
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Graduate School Awards Fellowships and Scholarship to Dentistry Students
The university's Graduate School recently awarded six fellowships and one scholarship to students who will enter the College of Dentistry's graduate and residency programs this summer. The fellowships were awarded through a university-wide competition and will provide full tuition support and a stipend for the 2023-24 academic year. The scholarship provides a one-time monetary award.
Fellowship recipients include Dr. Jeffrey Hage, a 2022 graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine; Dr. Parker Heiner, a 2023 graduate of the Ohio State's College of Dentistry; and Dr. Ezinne Nwadinobi, a 2023 graduate of the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. All three will join the college's advanced education program in orthodontics in June. Dr. Kendall Latshaw, a 2023 graduate of Ohio State's College of Dentistry, will join the advanced education program in prosthodontics.
Dr. Simran Sarao, a 2022 graduate of the University of Alberta School of Dentistry, will join the advanced education program in endodontics; Dr. Sadia Tasleem, a 2018 graduate of the University of Western Ontario’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, will join the college's advanced education program in periodontics; and Patrick Mugabe, a 2023 graduate of the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine, received an ENGIE-Axium Recruitment Scholarship. He will join the advanced education program in endodontics in June.
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Graduate Students Win Research Awards
Jie Liu, DDS, MS, PhD, a first-year resident in the advanced education program in orthodontics, received a 2023 Research Aid Award grant from the American Association of Orthodontists Foundation. The grant was awarded through a national competition and will support her research project titled, “Bone Morphology Characterization of Paget’s Disease and Osteoporosis by Artificial Intelligence.”
Shifa Shahid, BDS, a student in the PhD program in Oral Biology, won the first- place prize in the Health Sciences Division of the 2023 Edward F. Hayes Advanced Research Forum with a poster presentation titled, “Characterization of Enamel Defects Associated with Adam10 Mutation in Mice.” The Forum was co-sponsored by the Council of Graduate Students, the Graduate School, the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, and the Enterprise for Research, Innovation, and Knowledge.
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DDS-PhD Student Natalie Andras Wins Awards at AADOCR Meeting
Ms. Natalie Andras, a student in the college's combined DDS degree and oral biology PhD program, won several awards at the recent meeting of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR).
Ms. Andras was the first-place prize winner in the Basic and Translational Science Category in the Student Competition for Advancing Dental Research and its Application (SCADA). She was also selected as the recipient of the 2023 AADOCR Student Research Fellowship. And she won the first-place prize in the National Student Research Group (NSRG) 411 Rapid Research Competition.
Her faculty advisor is Brian Foster, MS, PhD, a researcher and Associate Professor in the Division of Biosciences. |
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Joseph Linser, D3, is ASDA Speaker of the House
At a recent meeting of the Annual Session for the American Student Dental Association, D3 student Joseph Linser was elected as the Speaker of the House.
In that role, he will serve as the American Student Dental Association's parliamentarian, presiding over the 2024 House of Delegates meeting.
As a member of ASDA's Board of Trustees and Executive Committee, Mr. Linser will play an important role in achieving the association’s goals for the coming year.
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DDS-PhD Students Receive Bloc Travel Grants from AADOCR
Through its "Bloc Travel Grants," the American Association for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) supports travel for dental students and NIH-supported trainees to attend the AADOCR - Canadian Association for Dental Research (CADR) Annual Meeting and Exhibition for the presentation of scientific papers on dental research. Grant recipients are selected on the basis of the quality of an abstract accepted for presentation at the AADOCR-CADR meeting.
Three of the college's students in the combined DDS degree and oral biology PhD program received Bloc Travel Grants. Mr. Michael Chavez, Ms. Kazune Pax, and Ms. Michelle Scott were awarded grants to support their travel and scholarly presentations.
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Pediatric Dentistry Alumna Martha Harden Wells is Chief of Dentistry
Dr. Martha Harden Wells is a graduate of the College of Dentistry's advanced education program in pediatric dentistry. She was recently appointed as Chief of Dentistry at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and she is the first dentist to serve as a full faculty member at the institution. Prior to joining St. Jude's, Dr. Wells was a faculty member at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center's College of Dentistry where she served as Director of the Pediatric Dentistry Residency.
Active in many scholarly areas, Dr. Wells was selected as an editor for the sixth edition of the foundational textbook, Pediatric Dentistry: Infancy through Adolescence. She is also a member of the Board of Editors for Pediatric Dentistry, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), and she serves on the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry’s Qualifying Examination Committee and the AAPD’s Annual Session Scientific Programming Committee.
Dr. Wells is a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and she has been named as one of Augusta University’s Top 20 Emerging Alumni Leaders.
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Rachel Kearney, BSDH, MS, Examines Social Media Use for Dental Professionals
Ms. Rachel Kearney was appointed as Chair of the Division of Dental Hygiene in 2017, but her connection with Ohio State extends beyond her selection as the division’s senior leader. An Ohio State alumna, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene degree, followed by a Master of Science degree in Allied Medical Education. In 2007, she joined the college as a dental hygiene instructor and was soon promoted to the position of Assistant Professor. She was later appointed as the Graduate Program Director and was also promoted to the rank of Associate Professor. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in the university’s College of Education and Human Ecology's Department of Educational Studies and Learning Technologies.
In 2016, Ms. Kearney co-authored the textbook, Dental Hygiene: Applications to Clinical Practice, a publication that presents foundational knowledge integrated with clinical procedures and techniques. She also conducts her own research that focuses on technology and education, with a special emphasis on the use of social media and networking in the profession of dentistry and dental hygiene. She said, “Social media is integrated into our everyday lives, but we don't know much about how social media is and can be used by dental professionals. So I set out to discover what role it plays in the field.”
In some of her early work, Ms. Kearney found that just over 50 percent of dental practices actively use social media for marketing -- and that number is likely much higher today. While protecting the privacy of their patients was dentists’ primary concern, survey respondents also expressed concerns about what to post and how to make their social media efforts reach the most people.
Answering those questions became a focus of Ms. Kearney’s research. Articles of note have been published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Dental Education. They include: A Survey of Social Media Policy in U.S. Dental Schools; and An Examination of Social Networking Professionalism among Dental and Dental Hygiene Students. Publications in other journals focus on the practical applications of social media in the dental academic environment. One example is an article in the Journal of Dental Hygiene titled The Use of Social Media in Dental Hygiene Programs: A Survey of Program Directors. Ms. Kearney's work has extended to examining how dental boards utilize social media in communications and enforcement, as presented in the Journal of Dental Hygiene article titled Social Media Use Behaviors and State Dental Licensing Boards.
As chair of the Dental Hygiene Division, Ms. Kearney works to ensure that the college’s students are aware of the need for digital professionalism and have the ability to use social networking sites in a positive and productive way. “Social media is an integral part of our students’ personal communications,” she said, “but we’re educating them about the professional use of social media so they are better prepared to lead dentistry in the future.”
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9th Annual Oral Pathology and Radiology Symposium: Friday, April 28
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Join us for this annual symposium that presents various oral and maxillofacial conditions that are encountered in general and specialty dental practices. The symposium is designed to support dental practitioners who want to enhance their diagnostic skills and management strategies for patients' oral diseases.
Format: In-person
Date: Friday, April 28
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Location: The Fawcett Center, Ohio State's main campus
CE Credits: 7
Presentation: A Practical Approach to Evaluating Patients with Oral Pathology in Clinical Practice
Presenter: John Wright, DDS; Regents Professor, Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Texas A&M University School of Dentistry
Summary: Patients don't present with specific diseases; rather, they present with signs and symptoms. This presentation is case-based, interactive, and focused on differential diagnoses. Conditions will be reviewed by their common clinical presentation; i.e. white lesions, red lesions, pigmented lesions, ulcers, soft tissue swelling and radiographic bone pathology. Developing and working through a differential diagnosis provides the most effective way to arrive at a correct, definitive diagnosis of patients presenting with pathologic conditions.
Presentation: Uncovering the Diagnostic Power of 2D/3D Images and Selective Histopathology in Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology
Presenters: Ahmed Abdelkarim, BDS, MSc, MSD; Assistant Professor-Clinical, Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, The Ohio State University College of Dentistry; and Susan Mallery, DDS, PhD; Chair, Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, The Ohio State University College of Dentistry
This highly interactive session will feature a radiology-pathology clinical case correlation. Dr. Abdelkarim will present 2D and 3D radiology cases, and Dr. Mallery will lead additional discussion on select cases with distinct oral pathology features and management challenges.
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The Ohio State University College of Dentistry
Postle Hall, 305 W. 12th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210
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