Navnoor Randhawa, a third-year dentistry student, explains her research project that’s focused on evaluating how often the initial diagnosis of an oral lesion matched the final diagnosis confirmed in the lab.
Students’ research shines at dentistry poster competition
Students and residents presented their findings at the annual Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry research poster competition.
The event, held in conjunction with the Manitoba Dental Association’s (MDA) annual convention in April, featured 16 participants who proudly showed off their research posters at the RBC Convention Centre.
The three award winners were Navnoor Randhawa, a third-year dentistry student; Garry Goel, a second year master of science in oral biology learner; and Dr. Brayden Patterson, a second-year resident in oral and maxillofacial surgery.
“The quality of research of the poster winners was outstanding and ranged from basic research using fish models to the investigation of complex dental problems in clinics,” said Dr. Prashen Chelikani, associate dean (research) and professor of oral biology at the Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry.
“The MDA convention is the biggest annual dental conference in Manitoba. It gives a unique opportunity for the residents and students to showcase their research and obtain valuable insights and great feedback from their professional colleagues.”
It was Randhawa’s first-ever research project, and she appreciated winning an award.
“It felt really good to win because it’s a lot of work to do – juggling schoolwork and research – so having that win was almost like a cherry on top, and it really was sweet,” she said.
Randhawa’s research focused on evaluating how often the initial diagnosis of an oral lesion made by a dentist, specialist or oral pathologist matched the final diagnosis confirmed in the lab. The study reviewed 217 cases that were biopsied at the Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry.
“The overall agreement rate between what clinicians observed and what was confirmed in the lab was 67 per cent, which is good,” Randhawa said.
“I found that after doing a literature review, I didn’t see any similar research happening in Canada. In North America, I found one to two studies, so we don’t have any baseline values in Canada. This study would be one of the first ones that are starting with that baseline level. It would be cool to look at several other schools to see how well we’re doing as a province compared to others.”
Randhawa’s research is supervised by Dr. Vimi Mutalik, associate professor of dental diagnostic and surgical sciences, and division head of oral diagnosis, and Dr. Dieter Schönwetter, professor and director of academic services at the UM dental college.
Garry Goel
Goel said he was surprised to win an award because his research wasn’t focused specifically on dentistry.
“It was a very happy moment because it was one of my first conferences where I won something,” he said.
Goel’s research examined the Mexican tetra fish as a model to study the human inner ear hair cell.
The fish has cells along its body that detect water movement and are like the sensory cells in human ears. Goel said that when the cells are damaged, they start to grow back within a few days, suggesting the fish might be a helpful new model for studying how ear cells get damaged and how they might regenerate.
“Even though fish seem like a very distant organism, or unique organism, that can’t be applied to humans, you can always learn something from using animal models and try to apply them to human research in the future,” Goel said.
His research is supervised by Dr. Devi Atukorallaya, associate professor of oral biology at the UM dental school.
Dr. Brayden Patterson
Patterson said it was great to win the award.
“It’s obviously a team effort for this particular project,” Patterson said. “I’m super thankful they selected me for the award.”
His case study was on a patient with progressive degenerative joint disease who needed jaw joint replacement surgery. He said a damaged part of the jaw joint was replaced with a prosthetic component, which was the first surgery of its kind performed in Manitoba.
“The patient, at six months, already had a normal range of motion, and at her one-year follow-up, she is happy. Her life has improved beyond just her jaw and mouth in terms of her general quality of life. We can see that the overall result of the surgery was very good,” Patterson said.
He is supervised by Dr. Adnan Shah, professor and department head of dental diagnostic and surgical sciences at the UM dental college.