Faculty Members Received Prestigious IADR Awards
IADR Awards Recipients with their team members and supervisors
Six members from the Faculty received awards or fellowships at the 2022 International Association for Dental Research (IADR) / Asia Pacific Region (APR) General Session & Exhibition Virtual Experience.
Dr Reinhard Chau, student of MSc in Community Dentistry cum Research Assistant in Restorative Dental Sciences and Applied Oral Sciences & Community Dental Care
Dr Reinhard Chau is grateful for the guidance and support from the Faculty
One project, two awards! Research project titled: Accuracy of Artificial Intelligence-designed Single-molar Dental Prostheses: A Feasibility Study won Neal Garrett Clinical Research Prize of IADR Prosthodontics Research Group and 2nd Place of IADR Southeast Asian Division Hatton Award Competition.
“The winning study aimed to assess the accuracy of our AI-designed single-tooth dental prostheses in terms of biomimetics. The AI was previously developed by our research team to automate the design process of single-tooth prostheses,” said Dr Chau.
When a patient suffers from a missing tooth or missing parts of a tooth, dentists would restore the patient’s intra-oral defects by installing dental prostheses such as dental bridges, crowns, veneers and dentures. Conventional restoration is time-consuming for dentists, lab technicians and patients. Dentists need to operate chairside for a long period of time to get the right data to produce prostheses that fit the patients; lab technicians are required to create the prosthesis and sometimes modify templates from Computer-Aided-Design libraries. For installation and adjustment of the prosthesis, patients may need to visit their dentists multiple times, which is hardly enjoyable.
The winning study aimed to assess the accuracy of our AI-designed single-tooth dental prostheses in terms of biomimetics. The AI was previously developed by our research team to automate the design process of single-tooth prostheses.
In view of this, the research team seeks a solution that enhances the efficiency of prosthesis design as well as improves the patient experience. They hypothesized that AI may provide an answer, and thus took a deep dive into it. With a positive research result, the team wishes to study further with other teeth and hopes to translate it into practice.
Being awarded, Dr Chau is grateful for the guidance and support from the members of HKU Faculty of Dentistry - Professor Colman McGrath, Clinical Professor in Dental Public Health; Dr Walter Lam, Clinical Assistant Professor in Prosthodontics and Dr Khaing Myat Thu, Senior Research Assistant in Restorative Dental Sciences, as well as Professor Richard Hsung, Honorary Associate Professor in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of HKU Faculty of Dentistry, who is also Associate Professor in Department of Computer Science of Chu Hai College of Higher Education and Professor of School of Information Engineering of Guangdong University of Technology. “It is a team effort! Without them, I would not be able to do this research project. I am also thankful to my family and friends who have been supporting me.”
Dr Qianyi Deng, PhD student in Paediatric Dentistry
From left: Dr Hai Ming Wong, Dr Qianyi Deng and Dr Simin Peng
Dr Deng’s outstanding research project, Salivary Profile and its Correlation with Dental Caries and/or Obesity, won the IADR MeiraGTx Salivary Research Award. The research aims to present findings that could form the basis of future studies on the underlying mechanisms of the association between dental caries and obesity.
“I am surprised and honoured to receive this award,” Dr Deng said. She deeply appreciates her supervisors, Dr Hai Ming Wong and Dr Simin Peng, Clinical Associate and Assistant Professor in Paediatric Dentistry respectively, for their support and guidance.
Dr Duangporn Duangthip, Senior Clinical Practitioner in Cariology
Dr Duangthip will continue to enhance her research capability in the area of caries management
Recognising her active engagement in child oral health research and caries management, Dr Duangthip was given the IADR John Clarkson Fellowship 2022.
The Fellowship allows the awarded investigator to obtain training and experience in dental public health at a centre of excellence outside the home institution or country. Dr Duangthip feels very honoured to receive this award.
Besides, she has been appointed as a President-elect of the IADR Paediatric Oral Health Research. “I will promote and encourage research in caries prevention and management and child oral health to benefit the people in Hong Kong and beyond,” she said.
Dr YuanYuan Han, PhD student in Applied Oral Sciences & Community Dental Care
Dr YuanYuan Han, on an exchange program in the USA, is glad to receive the IADR Award
With the project on dental stem cell-based pulp regeneration supervised by Dr Waruna Dissanayaka, Assistant Professor in Oral Biosciences, Dr Han won the IADR Colgate Research in Prevention Travel Award.
The project is about stabilizing the expression of hypoxia-induced factor 1α (HIF-1α) of stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) to enhance the cell viability and vascularization after implantation of SHED into the root canal.
Working in the laboratory all the time is challenging, but I wish I can solve clinical problems through research to improve patients’ quality of life.
Dr Han is excited to receive this award. “I felt that all my effort, diligence, and the time I have spent on my research paid off,” she smiled. Dr Han expresses her greatest gratitude to her supervisors, Professor Chengfei Zhang, Clinical Professor in Endodontics, and Dr Waruna, for their guidance and inspiration. Besides, she is thankful to her husband, family, and friends for their endless support and encouragement.
Inspired by her supervisors, she aspires to be an ingenious, diligent and perseverant researcher and scientist. “Working in the laboratory all the time is challenging, but I wish I can solve clinical problems through research to improve patients’ quality of life,” Dr Han said.
Dr Yifan Lin, Clinical Assistant Professor in Orthodontics
From left: Dr Lin Yifan and Dr Yang Yanqi
Dr Yifan Lin received the IADR GC Centennial Research Grants for her project on periodontal ligament cells. Periodontium is essential for bone haemostasis and orthodontic tooth movement. The periodontal ligament cells of periodontitis patients have impaired regenerative capacities. However, it is uncertain whether these capacities can be recovered when periodontitis is treated and the periodontal condition stabilizes.
Dr Lin’s project identifies how P. gingivalis differentially modulates the osteogenic differentiation of periodontal ligament cells. “In the project, we have isolated periodontal ligament cells from periodontally healthy, inflammatory periodontitis. We treated stable periodontitis patients, and examined their regenerative capacities and responses to bacterial challenge,” she explained.
In the project, we have isolated periodontal ligament cells from periodontally healthy, inflammatory periodontitis. We treated stable periodontitis patients, and examined their regenerative capacities and responses to bacterial challenge.
Dr Lin feels honoured to receive this award and extends her sincere gratitude to Professor Lijian Jin, Clinical Professor in Periodontology, and Dr Yanqi Yang, Clinical Associate Professor in Orthodontics, for their guidance and support. “I am thankful to all my collaborators and colleagues. The award gave us an excellent opportunity to showcase our research and make professional connections with global scholars at the international conference,” she expressed.
This award is a remarkable achievement for Dr Lin, and she aspires to explore more in the periodontium. “I believe conducting impactful research is a lifelong endeavour. The award motivates me to carry out research that achieves demonstrable benefits to the broad society,” she said.
Professor Colman McGrath, Clinical Professor, Dental Public Health, Division Coordinator of Applied Oral Sciences & Community Dental Care
Professor Colman McGrath devotes to oral health promotion globally
Professor McGrath received the annual IADR Giddon Award for Distinguished Research in the Behavioral Sciences as part of his team. The award recognizes a single research paper in the fields of social and cultural anthropology, education, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, and social work applied in dentistry.
He co-wrote the awarded paper, Consensus Statement on Future Directions for the Behavioral and Social Sciences in Oral Health, which was published in a dentistry’s leading journal, the Journal of Dental Research. The paper reflects the current knowledge in the behavioral and social oral health sciences and identities future directions for the field.
The awarded paper is a consensus statement that arose from the 2020 Behavioral and Social Oral Health Sciences Summit. It provides an international consensus outlining the action needed to advance and further integrate and translate behavioral and social sciences into oral health research, oral health promotion and health care, and the training of those working to ensure oral health for all.
The behavioral and social sciences are central to understanding and addressing dental, oral, and craniofacial health, diseases, and conditions and are relevant to every discipline in dentistry. “The awarded paper is a consensus statement that arose from the 2020 Behavioral and Social Oral Health Sciences Summit. It provides an international consensus outlining the action needed to advance and further integrate and translate behavioral and social sciences into oral health research, oral health promotion and health care, and the training of those working to ensure oral health for all,” Professor McGrath explained.
Professor McGrath is delighted to receive this award. “It was truly an honour to be part of the international team of leading scientists in the field and particularly so being the only dental scientist clinician on the team,” he said. In the future, he plans to continue to promote oral health globally by advancing the robust application of behavioral and social sciences.