- Award
- Expressions Summer 2022
Caries Prevention Research
Dr Manchanda received the plaque at General Assembly at the 75th Annual Session of AAPD in late May in San Diego
PhD Student Receives International Award
PhD student Dr Sheetal Manchanda’s journal article “Horizontal Transmission of Streptococcus Mutans in Children and its Association with Dental Caries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” has recently received the Paul P. Taylor Award for the best manuscript published in Pediatric Dentistry (journal) in 2021 from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD).
Dr Manchanda is interested in the identification of the risk factors for the development of early childhood caries and wishes to tailor interventions to reduce or stop the development of those risk factors. Dedicated to helping the public prevent caries, especially among children, she deep dove into various research projects, including the one presented in the winning journal article.
“Dental caries is one of the most common potentially communicable diseases in children. It has been known to be transmissible from mother to children and thus was previously called Maternally-derived-Streptococcus mutans disease. However, in our paper, we found that there might be a transmission of Streptococcus Mutans among siblings and classmates,” she stated. With this finding, she wishes to research further in the phase of clinical trials and be able to translate the findings into preventive strategies to create a cavity-free future.
Dental caries is one of the most common potentially communicable diseases in children. It has been known to be transmissible from mother to children and thus was previously called Maternally-derived-Streptococcus mutans disease
She is honored to receive the AAPD award and grateful to her supervisor, Professor Cynthia Yiu, Clinical Professor in Paediatric Dentistry at HKU Faculty of Dentistry, for her guidance and enlightenment. She also thanks her co-authors who provided valuable inputs during the research and at the peer-review stage of the manuscript. She also extends her gratitude to Professor Noel Childers, who provided additional information during the review process.
Dr Manchanda attended the General Assembly at the 75th Annual Session of AAPD in late May in San Diego, California. She was pleased to receive the plaque and would like to encourage all the researchers, “You are almost there; keep going!”
The Paul P. Taylor Award is given to the lead author of the most prestigious journal article in Pediatric Dentistry from the previous year. This award is determined by the AAPD Editorial Board.