August 2008
It was good to see the profile of Professor Deborah White in the news section of the British Dental Journal.
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Here is a picture of Anna Jephcott (Lecturer in Oral Surgery) on her wedding day on the 2nd August. Kirsty Hill took the picture of Anna and husband Anthony. Congratulations from the School on their wedding day.
July 2008
My Holidays beckon and it seemed a good idea to catch up with the news
First off a young man called John Lumley completed a sponsored Lands End to John O’Groats cycle ride. The reason for telling you this news is that his old man Phil Lumley, Head of School, went along as well. Yesterday they made it to the final destination. Phil sent his usual brief but to the point email
“Just to let you know have safely arrived at John O Groats. 3 new wheels, 4 new spokes, 8 punctures and around 1050 miles later”
Here is a picture of the team on route (spot the guy with the shades)
– congratulations and well done to the team !! More details can be found at www.justgiving.com/4sorebottoms
Staff have been active and here is a snap shot of some of their activities
Dr Mellisa Grant, Post doctoral fellow, joined 30 other researchers at the first of four Crucible Labs being run by The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. Melissa relished this opportunity and came back very excited by the experience. You can learn more at
www.newscentre.bham.ac.uk/buzz/staffnews/Staff_News_June_2008.shtmlCrucible
www.nesta.org.uk/nesta-gives-researchers-room-to-experiment-together/
hecticium.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html
Dr Owen Addison, Lecturer in Restorative Dentsitry, has been successful in achieving funding for a research collaboration with dental colleagues at the Department of Preventive and Restorative Dentistry, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre,
At annual Research Poster and Networking Conference hosted by the Graduate School, Amal Linjawi (PhD student) was the 1st runner up in the Life & Health Sciences Section. Her subject was eLearning in Orthodontics. Amal went forward to represent the School and the University at the regional competition at Keele University on 4th July 2008.
Dr Paul Cooper has been successful in achieving funding from the Wellcome Trust for a MicroCT Instrument which will enable researchers at the school to undertake non-destructive 3D imaging and densitometric analysis of hard and soft tissues. This was a combined proposal from applicants in Dental Tissue Injury & Repair, Biomaterials, Oral Pathology and Dental Ultrasonics. This will enhance Cutting edge research projects that are already ongoing between all these disciplines. Freccia Williams (4th Year) has been awarded a bursary for £1000 by the British Society for the Study of Prosthetic Dentistry to assist with her elective studies I am sure there are other items of news that I may have missed (apologies if I have) and finally before I go there is one landmark that will be disappearing over the summer. Edward’s House on St Mary’s Row adjacent to the Dental Hospital will be demolished to make way for a new improved facility providing accommodation and support to families of children at Birmingham Children's Hospital. It will be strange to see this go but exciting to see what the new building looks like.
Some news in about our students
Peter Neighm (1st Year) has been offered a place on the Study China programme to go to Jinan. He has also been awarded one of the bursaries of £500 to help with the additional costs.
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Bernie Felver one of our PhD students is from Austria and he had been promising to bring in some Strudel for the secretaries in School Office. Here it is and it tastes really good!
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Today is the last day of teaching clinics and the 3rd and 4th years finish term for 6 weeks. However the academic staff will stil be busy catching up with many administrative and research tasks that are outstanding. It will also be a chance to take our own holiday breaks but will be returning to catch up with outstanding work.
All the best to our students and hope you have a great holiday. See you in September!
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The Annual Staff - Student Cricket Match
It was a glorious evening in the south of the city. Moseley cricket club was the setting for a contest of giants; the staff versus students Annual cricket match. The match was held under 20:20 rules and the students went in first. The sun was high in the sky and the crowd was settling down to an enjoyable contest. The first three student batsman quickly knocked up the runs and the boundary was under continuous threat. Those three batsman amassed 30 runs each and the students were looking very menacing. The spectators soaked up the sun and went to buy drinks confident that the students were on the way to a great win. However the staff bowlers came back strongly and the tail enders were quickly taken out. The students were 138 runs over 20 overs.
Professor Dietrich had not seen a cricket match before and was trying to liken it to Baseball however he was slowly catching on and by the interval had worked out what was happening.
The staff team got padded up and wandered out to the crease but where were the students? They were in the club house eating the food that had been prepared. Maybe this was the turning point as the light was starting to fade. The staff started well but the runs were slow in coming. But then after a few wides and leg byes, the score started to add up and the opening batsman started to put together a few strokes. Before long it was looking very good for the staff. The staff support got more raucous and the students slowly realised that the game was slipping from them. Finally it fell to Yogesh Bulsara to hit the boundary with a four to win the match with the staff making 139 in under 20 overs.
In the clubhouse Shiralee Patel presented the trophy to Louis McKenzie who gave a speech thanking everyone who played, came to support the teams and the organisers. Then it was time to talk about the game and the slow realisation that the end of term was only a few days away.
For the record the teams were as follows
| STUDENTS Nikunj Amin Mehul Patel Jin Patel Ronak Patel Aashish Thanki Rishi Joshi Waseem Khan Jay Benani Krunal Desai Will Story Rob Mew |
STAFF Peter Rock Dick Shelton Yogesh Bulsara Louis Mackenzie RodriWilliams Nasser Patanwalla Chris Dakin Carl Horton Giles Round Don Robertson Geoff Wright |
Graduation Day – The Birmingham Way
Prize giving was held at the Dental School in the morning at 10.45am. We all thought it was at 11.00am but luckily an email was sent out just in time. Just as well as it gave Professor Smith a shock and he got from home to the Prize giving in double quick time. Dr Peter Rock was the guest of honour and after the prizes were awarded he gave a speech using “Last of the Summer Wine as his theme. This was followed by Prof Lumley who outlined the numerous achievements of staff and students over the year. He offered congratulations to those staff that had been promoted and introduced the new faces to the school. He also offered thanks to Jan Poller for all her organisation. 
Next up was the Graduation Ceremony and one thing that the dental school does well is turn up in numbers. We always impress other Schools in the University with our attendance at the degree ceremony. The Ceremony began at 4.30pm and there is nothing better than processing in the Great Hall at Birmingham. The music makes for a rousing entrance as the procession enters the Hall. There was a personal touch to the proceedings with Professor Lumley providing a lively welcome speech. Also Dr Peter Rock was the public orator and introduced Dr Mike Welton who held the position of Chief Executive of Balfour Beatty until 1996. Dr Welton was awarded a Doctorate in Engineering and gave a vote of thanks where he likened Dentistry and Civil Engineering as similar professions in that we provide bridges, create holes and fill cavities. This was followed by the awarding of the degrees by the Chancellor Sir Dominic Cadbury. Following the procession out of the hall we found that the weather had held and it was not raining. Therefore it gave everyone the opportunity to take photographs and offer congratulations. Furthermore it did not rain after the ceremony and we were able to arrange a photograph of all students and staff together. This was a first, for as long as your blogger has been at the University, there has not been a joint photograph of staff and students together. The photographer should be congratulated not only for his control of his subjects but also for making sure that the parents, friends and partners behaved as well. The fun of graduation is not over as tomorrow night there is the Graduation Ball to be held at the Hyatt Hotel. See you there!!
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News, News, News - 10th July
News from the School of Dentistry is rather like the rain we have been having, there is a great deal of it and readers may wish to know that there are several items in this entry. So scroll down and read away.
First off congratulations must go to Deborah White who has achieved her Professorship. Her promotion was announced at Staff Development Day and was greeted with much applause from the School Staff. Deborah is our lead in Teaching and Learning at the Dental School and has recently led the school through a successful quality review of our curriculum.
The Vice Chancellor’s prize for teaching was also announced and was jointly awarded to Deborah White and Roger Mosedale. Roger is one of our part-time teachers and puts a tremendous amount of effort and time into the General Dental Practice Phase of Clinical Practice. Both individuals are worthy recipients of the award.
The evening was also very busy with Professor Trevor Burke’s Masters in General Dental Practice BBQ, which due to the rain, was held in doors at Horton Grange. This did not dampen spirits and a great party was had by all. Adam Joy one of our recently qualified final year students brought his Jazz band along to play some great music. 
Trevor thanked everyone for their hard work and congratulated those successful Masters students who will be graduating this Friday at the University degree ceremony. He also paid tribute to the year reps in the course, especially to Tom Fox who tragically passed away earlier in the year. Peter Sands gave the vote of thanks to Trevor.
Whilst the BBQ was happening on one part of the University Campus, at the Chancellor’s Court there was the 2nd Corporate Relay Challenge. This year the Dental School entered two teams the first was the mixed relay and consisted of Damien Walmsley, Carl Horton, Jane Millard and Philip Lumley. In the Men’s relay three dental students Rob Mew, Gareth Miller, William Story teamed up with Dan Saund. Both teams did very well and although we await the official results, the Men’s team came 6th in the event. It was a good fun for all concerned even though it was tough race with the rain coming down in buckets. After the event, it was time to have a well earned drink and meal and the obvious place to go to was Trevor’s BBQ.
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Dr Sleiman Ghorayeb from Hofstra University, New York gave a research seminar on Ultrasonography in Dentistry: An Overview of Recent Studies.
Dr. Sleiman Ghorayeb is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences and Electrical Engineering at Hofstra University, and Associate Medical Investigator at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research at North Shore-LIJ Hospital in Manhasset, Long Island, New York. Dr Ghorayeb’s research focuses on biomedical ultrasound, in particular the diagnostic applications of ultrasound. Dr Ghorayeb developed several techniques in ultrasonic non-invasive imaging and surgical protocols, mainly in dentistry, orthopaedics, ophthalmology and cardiology. His work has led to several procedures in dental hard tissue characterization and diagnostic imaging.
The seminar was organised by Dr Ben Scheven who has recently received a grant of £3750 from the Scientific Projects Committee of the college of Medical and Dental Sciences for his research project entitled “Preliminary Studies to Assess The Biophysics and Application of Ultrasound in Dental Repair” The monies will be used to include a working visit to Sleiman Ghorayeb’s laboratories and funds to support lab work to underpin a collaborative research grant proposal.
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Toronto IADR Conference Epilogue
All staff that were out at Toronto have returned and are back doing the day jobs. It was a particularly successful for the School of Dentistry as we had 15 presentations either leading Workshops or giving either talks or poster displays. This activity reflects the vibrant research culture at our school. All delegates would also like to thank the unsung heroes who stayed at home and made sure the day to day business of the school operated as normal. Our success is definitely built on team work and long may it continue as such.
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Life in the day of a presenter. The Toronto meeting is great and our research people are giving a good account of themselves. Yesterday Dr Mel Grant gave a presentation on behalf of the Periodontal Research Group and there were several presentations at the poster sessions. All were well received by the International research community. It is hard work being present by your poster and answering all the questions that people ask. During the day, one is meeting people from all around the world and catching up on research news or making new contacts. All the oral sessions are taking place throughout the conference centre. It is sometimes difficult as interesting presentations that you have marked down in your calendar are often on at the same time, so one is rushing from one room to the next. In the evening there are many different functions but the Unilever sponsored reception celebrating their sponsorship of the IADR Hatton awards is one of the hottest tickets in town. This year it was held in the Fairmont Royal York hotel and was a spectacular event. Today is Friday and it will be another busy time as the majority of the Birmingham presentations and posters will take place throughout the day.
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The conference starts today and the Birmingham team is all here. Toronto is a friendly place and yesterday was Canada day which was a National Holiday. We are looking forward to normality resuming today. Already networking and meetings have started as old partnerships are revisited and new ones started. The main part of the conference starts at lunchtime and is followed by the opening ceremony and welcome reception. Presentations by the School of Dentistry, Birmingham take place over the next few days and some pictures will follow!
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Here is a picture of the Woodpecker sculpture on the Totem pole outside the conference centre.
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June 2008
Just to let all you readers of the Blog that the advance guard of the Sch
ool has already reached Toronto for the forthcoming IADR meeting. There are still a few waiting to set off including Professors Chapple and Dietrich, and as you see we are already waiting for you. Many researchers from around the world are arriving. Just in case you forgot to ask the weather is great and the food is wonderful!
Also a word to Thomas, hard luck but everyone is pleased that Spain won!!!!!!!
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It is good to see Phil Tomson in the News section of the BDJ and for those who may not have seen the news here it is in all its glory plus a great picture of Phil outdoors. But Where was it taken?
Your blogger will be overseas for the next week in Toronto for the IADR conference. Don't worry; the Blog will keep you informed of what is happening with the Birmingham contingent as we present our research work on behalf of the School.
Impact Factor and Dentistry
What is an Impact Factor (IF) you may ask? It is a measure of the number of citations of a scientific journal and is often used as a measure of Journal importance. This is where the debate begins and the article on impact factors in Wikipedia gives a flavour of some of the concerns of it’s widespread use. Not only is it used for Journals but many people try and apply it to individual scientists. However a better way of looking at the productivity of scientists is arguably using the h-index.
So why is the Blog discussing impact factor? At the School of Dentistry we have several Editors amongst the Staff. Also many of our researchers are on the editorial board of dental journals.
Top of the pile for IF was Periodontal 2000 and Professor Iain Chapple is on the Editorial board of the journal. The IF was 3.581 and reflects the popularity of this publication which is purely based on review articles. The top dental journal for original research articles is the Journal of Dental Research and the Editor in Chief is Prof Tony Smith. The IF for 2007 was 3.496 and shows the strong standing of this journal amongst the dental research community. Lower down the ranks but showing a strong performance is the Journal of Dentistry (Editor in Chief - Damien Walmsley) which has increased from 1.702 (2006) to 1.995 (2007). It is perhaps a relatively small increase but there has been a significant upwards trend which reflects the increasing quality and popularity of the Journal. Other Journals that are in the Top 20 with members of staff on the Editorial board include International Endodontic Journal and the British Dental Journal. For full details of the Impact factor may be found on the Web of Science Web site (password required).
So the message is that the School of Dentistry at Birmingham has more than a passing interest in Impact Factors. Not only are they important for assessing the quality of our Research Output in dentistry but our Editors have a large interest in ensuring the continuing success of dental research amongst the international scientific community.
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The School of Dentistry at Birmingham is involved with a unique project that involves several International Dental Schools. It is the brainchild of Dr Karen Gardner who is based at the Dental school in Vancouver, Canada. She is undertaking some interesting work on student peer review and personal development diaries. This work is based around the operative work that her students undertake. Karen is wishing to extend the peer review of her students by involving International dental schools. There is reflective learning involved as students discuss their logbooks and how the course is progressing. Four of our students agreed to take part in this first pilot project and have been paired up with students in Vancouver. All four have found the experience rewarding and interesting. It has also been the opportunity to make new contacts in a different part of the world. The picture shows the four 3rd Year Dental students taking part in this pilot, Summayah Muhammed, Amit Parmar, Harmeet Gill and Malveen Mann.
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Michelle’s was once again the place for another School occasion and it was a fitting venue for the leaving party for clinical PhD student Stephane Simon. Stephane has been with us for 24 months as part of his PhD studies which is jointly held between Birmingham and Paris 7 Universities. Stephane has been working with the Tissue Injury and Repair group and is supervised by Prof Tony Smith, Dr Paul Cooper and Prof Phil Lumley. He has also assisted in the successful endodontics study module for the final year dental students. 
The evening began with a cooking demonstration by the Chef at Michelle’s before we sat down to an early supper. There were speeches by Professor Phil Lumley and a reply by Stephane who thanked everyone for their help, support and friendship over the last 24 months. Stephane has much to thank the University of Birmingham for including meeting his wife Eleanor during his first visit as an Erasmus student in 1994. All the family were along for the night including daughters Louise and Sarah. We wish Stephane all the best in his career and he will always be welcome when he comes back to visit us.
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3 Peaks Challenge
organised by Birmingham Dental Students
12th June
The start of the 3 peaks was a photoshoot by the Birmingham Post and Mail which was fun to do as the excitement mounted. However we were delayed setting off until 2 and hit heavy traffic on the M6. But we got to Gretna refuelled with food and a new driver. When we started again the roads were relatively clear. Timings did slip and we knew we were going to be late for our meal in Fort William so eating at a service station outside Glasgow was the substitute. We found the road closed past Tarbet so it was a long drive along the cost to Inverary and eventually the coach was driving through the Glencoe pass. We were very tired by the time we reached the Youth Hostel but we got to our beds. We had a funny scene where all the blokes got stuck outside their dormitory as none of the keys were working. It was difficult for many of us to sleep and everyone was up ready for breakfast.
8.00am 13th June (start of the Challenge)
Ben Nevis Time 5 hours
Then the mountain! Weather was good but the top was in cloud cover. It also was apparent that although we had people climbing at different paces, we all got to the summit. There was snow and poor visibility (enough time for a snowball fight), a few minutes and it was a quick turnaround onto the coach and the long drive to the Lake District. We had cracked the first one!
Scafell Pike - 5 Hours
We hit the staging post for Scafell at 7.30pm and we had ordered our fish and chips well it made a change to chocolates and water. There were 2 shuttle trips of the mini bus that we had picked up in Carlisle and onto the Mountain. We enjoyed some spectacular sunsets and the weather was glorious. But suddenly night was upon us before we hit the summit. Thank goodness for head torches which everyone put on to light our way. The last scramble to the top was surreal but we made it and spectacular night time views greeted us. Going back down in the night was a completely new ball game. Armed only with head torches, we gingerly picked our way through the rocks and scrambles and were back down in 5 hours. Two down one left to do.
Snowdon - 3 hours 15 mins
So we arrived at Snowdon with tired muscles and sore feet that did not seem to belong to us. Some of us had slept other were not so fortunate. Once again the weather was kind to us and we used the Miners track to climb to the top. With timings critical we pushed onwards to quickly complete this final peak. We got moving and were up to the top within 2 hours. It was cold and blowy but it was a clear day and it was possible to see for a long way. It was time to take the obligatory photographs and then we set off down to get a good time. For those who could there was a sprint to the end. We turned the last mountain into just over 3 hours there and back
So we did the climbing in well under 14 hours but the travel was out of our control. Our organisers informed us that this was the accepted 24 hours challenge. So we were very pleased. We then had a meal at a local restaurant before our return to Birmingham.
Thanks must go to Jason and his team of Bernie, Cath and Chris at Distant Horizons.
The 3 Peaks Challenge gave a great sense of achievement to everyone who took part and there was good spirit amongst staff and students. A special thanks must go to 4th Year Dental Student Sunil Shah for all his hard work and patience with both staff and students.
Also this was all for charity as well!
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R U Ready for the 3 peaks ?
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The Biomaterials Society held a fete on Monday 9th June in aid of Cancer Research. The event was held over lunchtime in the 4th floor common room. There were cakes, books etc for staff and students to purchase and they raised £77.18 in total for Cancer Research UK.
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It was pleasing to see our final dental students pass their finals. It was no surprise that they would be letting their hair down at the Annual Stratford Pub Crawl. The theme for the evening was Fantasy and Legends and as these pictures show there were some imaginative costumes worn for the event.
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Stop Press
Congratulations
to all Final Year students on passing your examination.
Well done!!
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If any one had mentioned hags and groughs a few weeks ago then I would not know what they meant. On Sunday the second training session for the 3 peaks challenge took place on the Kinder plateau. It was a wet miserable Sunday morning when we arrived at Edale by the train station. After a hearty breakfast at the cafe the group set off onto Kinder Scout. The first part was straightforward but then we set off onto the plateau and encountered the hags and groughs. It was heavy going and there was 30m visibility. We got rather wet and dirty as we encountered the peat bogs.
Luckily Prof Lumley was able to steer us to the other side and we eventually reached Kinder Waterfall. It was then time to return to the car Park with a pleasant downward (and upward) stroll to the Penine way path and back to Edale. Prof Lumley did show a bit of his fell running prowess on the way back. Once again thanks to Sunil for the organising and the next chapter will be the 3 peaks itself. 
May 2008
The Taskforce on Profile and Competences for the European Dentist met in Birmingham on the 30th May 2008. The aim of the meeting was to revisit the paper published in 2005 and to update it in light of feedback that has been received since its publication (1). The team consisted of : -
Task Force I began as part of DentEd III which was the third phase of the DentEd Thematic Network Project. Discussions about Task Force I including defining its aims and objectives began in 2003 in Dresden and these continued at Cardiff in 2004. Subsequently the paper was published in the European Journal of Dental Education in 2005. It was clear that this publication has been an influential and important document which has been debated far and wide around the majority of European countries. There was an advisory meeting held in Dublin in April 2007 where representatives of European ministries, National professional and European specialist associations met to provide their views on the document. At this meeting there were 55 delegates from 22 countries.
Under the Chairmanship of Damien Walmsley, a newly formulated TaskForce group met in Birmingham to revisit the document and the process of amend it in light of all the feedback commenced. A draft of the new Profile and Competencies document will be available for discussion at the 2008 ADEE meeting at Zagreb. The document will then be open to feedback and will be revised once again. The final document will be approved at the 2009 ADEE General Assembly which will be held at Helsinki.
The Taskforce sampled the nightlife of Birmingham before the hard work that took place the next day. The discussions were lively and thought provoking. Dr Deborah White, Director of Teaching and Learning dropped in to welcome the guests and offer words of encouragement. The document is now in the stages of revision and educators throughout Europe will be interested to view the outcomes in Zagreb.
(1) Plasschaert AJM, Holbrook WP, Delap E, Martinez C, Walmsley AD. Profile and Competences for the European Dentist. European Journal of Dental Education 2005; 9: 98–107
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If you go down to the woods today, You're sure of a big surprise……..
This is Reading week and the majority of students are taking a well earned rest…….
except for the Fifth Years who are getting ready for their Final examination which is taking place on Monday and Tuesday. Therefore around the quiet corridors you catch a glimpse of a Final Year. It is quite easy to spot them as they will be carrying a large poster board around with them which contains the details of their presentation case. They will want reassurance that their case is good and they have covered everything prior to the examination.
Questions that can be heard are “Does this denture have Indirect Retention?”, “How often do you follow up Endodontic Cases with radiographs?”, “Should I have done root planning on this tooth?” or “Do you think that I should have used another dental material for this filling?”.
There are numerous rehearsals in anticipation of their presentation next week to the examiners. These dress rehearsals are taking place in the student clinics and common rooms and in Staff offices. What is really obvious is that all the students have worked very hard and the staff have been great in their help and advice. By Wednesday it will be over and the students will be heading for the Stratford Pub Crawl.
So it remains to say Best of Luck to all the Final Years for Next Week from everyone at the School of Dentistry.
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Welcome to wet wednesday - not much more to add.
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Class of 2003 Reunion Dinner
Prem-Pal Sehmi is great at keeping his year together and it is 5 years since his own particular group qualified. Prem decided it was a time for a party and with the help of Harriet Moss organised a reunion dinner at the Burlington Hotel on Saturday 24th May. Several members of staff were present including Profs Lumley, Walmsley, Dr White, Mr Perryer and Mr Mosedale. Many of the class of 2003 came along for a night of nostalgia as people remembered what everyone looked like. There were stories to be told about the school, staff and former students.
Prof Lumley thanked those who were present and updated everyone on what was happening at the School. Prem gave the response and invited his year to enjoy the evening!
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Phil Tomson has something to be excited about as he has just been awarded the Royal College of Surgeons of England Research Fellowship. This is the first time it has been awarded and the School is very pleased that Phil is the first recipient of this award. The fellowship is for one year and covers his salary plus some consumables costs which will allow Phil to concentrate on his research.
Congratulations should also go to Phil's supervisors on his research, Tony Smith, Paul Cooper and Phil Lumley.
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As a warm up to the forthcoming 3 peaks challenge several members of staff and many students responded to Angela Critchlow (4th Year) email to undertake a walk in the Black Mountains. The group set off from Crickhowell and walked around 16 miles and climbed to an ascent of 1200 metres.
Prof Phil Lumley Head of School who took part has this to say "well done to everyone, the amount of ascent in total was almost that required to get to the top of Ben Nevis ... there is a long rest till the next Scafell Pike and Snowdon is a much reduced climb from Pen Y Pass"
Look out for more instalments of the sponsored 3 peaks challenge.
Note: We will be undertaking this challenge over the weekend of 13th to 15th June 2008. If you wish to sponsor the School on this event which will be raising money for a number of charities including DentAid and our local Charity, St Mary’s Hospice then please make your cheques payable to "The University of Birmingham" and send to:-
Sunil Shah
Sports Representative
Birmingham University Dental Students Society
St Chad's Queensway
Birmingham
B4 6NN
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Message from Prof P J Lumley:
It is with great pleasure that the school is able to announce that Will Palin has been promoted to Senior Lecturer as from 1st October 2008. I am sure all his colleagues and friends will join me in congratulating Will on this promotion and to wish him continued success in the future. o President elect – Dr. David Attrill o Chairman – Shiralee Patel o Vice Chair – Preeyan Patel o Treasurer – Kunal Shah o Secretary – Vanesha Patel o Entertainment Reps – Rima Patel and Shivani Shah o Publicity Reps – Rohin Butani and Sonia Khela o Sports Reps - Nikunj Amin and Pooja Kapur o BDSA Reps – Emma Alexander and Tanika Gohil o Guild Rep – Darshna Kshatri o Website Administrator – Rohin Butani o Chair of Music Society – Johanna Bryant Each year is also currently selecting new Year Reps to bring your individual voices to our committee meetings and ensure that you guys get heard. We truly have a wonderful line up of events for you this year; starting with the legendary Stratford Bar Crawl which will be held on Wednesday the 4th June 2008. Also coming up is the staff-student Cricket match so watch this space for more details. Thank you for all your previous support for BUDSS. From the new committee; we hope you will keep supporting us and enjoy all we have to give you over the next year! Regards, Shiralee Patel The British Dental Association conference was held at Manchester over May 1st to 4th . It was a special conference for Gordon Watkins, MBE who was installed as President for the coming year. Gordon qualified from Birmingham in 1970 and the School wishes him many congratulations and best wishes for the coming year. The Conference Keynote address was delivered by Roger Black, MBE who gave “Strategies for Success: You and your Team”. His talk was very inspirational and there was much to discuss following it. This was followed by Susie Sanderson who gave an overview of the BDA perspectives on changes caused by the NHS reforms but also looked to the future with the various initiatives arising from the BDA. The conference had much to offer both from the various talks but also from the Trade Show. Our very own Philip Lumley was Chairing the session on “Essential Issues in Endodontics” "With sadness we report the death of Professor Malcolm N (Tony) Naylor on Tuesday 15th April 2008. He was on the staff of Guy’s Hospital Dental School from 1965 until retirement in 1999. Tony was a major figure in international Periodontology and in UK Dental Research. He served for eight years as Treasurer of the British Division of IADR (BSDR) and as President in 1990. For over thirty years he was Scientific Advisor to the BDJ and latterly Chaired the Oral and Dental Research Trust. He will be greatly missed. " Staff Team: Mr. Stewardson, Dr. Palin, Mr Bateman, Mr Tomson, Dr Cooper, Daniel Saund, AJ, Nav, Faisal, Preet Bhogal, Jigar Patel and Harry. Student Team: Kunal, Tem, Gin, Abs, Ash, Jin, Jag, Sunny K, Sunny N, Akz, Imtiaz, Mutahir, Mike and Sunkanmi. The staff student football match kicked off in great style with a strong midfield battle as both teams strived to mark their presence. The staff team dominated the first half with a dogged performance by Daniel Saund. The staff team were denied by a series of acrobatic saves by Abs as he stopped a fine volley by Faisal, a close range shot from Dr Cooper and a curling free kick from Saund. The talking point of the first half came when Geoff Bateman shrugged off Ash and was through on goal when the gazelle-like Tem chased him down and knocked him off the ball – penalty denied. This brought a serious of colourful words towards the referee by Bateman whilst cheeky Tem smiled on. The students were forced to make some tactical changes in the second half, they showed their attacking prowess by playing high and wide on the pitch. The first goal for the students came about in a comical fashion. Faisal’s 20 yard pass back along the ground was missed by the keeper and astonishingly rolled into the back of the net, a goal that would have made Paul Robinson proud! The second and third goal for the students both came in fine style, Gin Atwall drilled home a powerful near post shot and Imtiaz Logat superbly dribbled along the left wing and touch line and coolly rolled the ball into the back of the net. For the icing on the cake and the salt in the staff team’s wound, Gin scored the fourth goal of the night and his second - Game Over! The game was followed by both staff and students enjoying a few cold beers at the Goose while discussing the eventful match and engaging in a spot of banter. A big thank you to Mr Stewardson and Dr Palin for organising the staff team, Ronak Patel for referring and the supporters who came to watch the match. Kunal Patel -------------
Regards
Phil Lumley
Director and Head of School
Notes: Will is Senior Lecturer in Biomaterials and his research is in the area of resin-based composites. He has received funding from both the EPSRC and industry. Will is also an enthusiastic supporter of the Ecourse and runs an active email discussion group on the site.
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Dear All,
It’s that time of the year again and we have a new BUDSS committee! Introducing to you, the lucky people who are in charge of voicing your educational concerns and planning your social events over the coming year:
o President – Mr. Kristian Coomar
BUDSS Chairman
Birmingham Dental School
St. Chad’s Queensway
Birmingham
B46 6NN
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Hope you enjoyed the weekend and it is great this morning to wake up to a glorious morning. Let’s hope this is going to be a great month.
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April 2008
April 30th: The Oral Microbiology & Immunology Group (OMIG) Spring Post-Graduate Meeting was held at the University of Glasgow Dental School. The meeting was extremely well organised and well attended with 12 excellent oral post-graduate presentations throughout the afternoon. Birmingham was represented by PhD student Lisa Palmer, who was presenting, along with Dr Paul Cooper who is a member of the OMIG committee. Lisa, who is supervised by Drs Paul Cooper and Helen Wright, and Professor Iain Chapple (and previously Dr Anthony Roberts now Manchester Dental School), won the overall competition for her presentation on ‘DNase activity in Periodontal Pathogens: A potential NET evasion mechanism’. The runner-up was Douglas Robertson from Glasgow who was also studying disease mechanisms in periodontal disease. As winner Lisa wins an engraved glass trophy and her registration fee (£150) for the IADR/PEF conference in London in September.
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Birmingham Dental School hosted a unique postgraduate “Endo-Day” with Professor Pierre Machtou (University of Paris 7) and Stephane Simon (University of Birmingham and University of Paris 7). Stephane opened the day with a very interesting lecture on Diagnosis of Endodontic Problems and Local Anaesthesia. The audience needed their wits about them as they were asked questions by Stephane and they answered through an instant audience response system – some of the responses were a little worrying! Professor Machtou gave excellent lectures on Shaping of the Root Canal System with Protaper, Obturation and Removal of Separated instruments. This was reinforced with a live demo of shaping a curved root canal in an extracted tooth which was projected via an operating microscope to fill the large screen in AMLT. Digital X-rays were also taken of the tooth during the demonstration to show the progress of the preparation and illustrate the multiplanar curvature of the root canal being prepared. Stephane finished the day with a super lecture on MTA and its biological properties. A fantastic day was had by all and we thank Stephane and Professor Machtou for putting together such an excellent programme.
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Professors Chapple and Walmsley were guests at the opening of the new research wing and research day at the School of Clinical Dentistry and Charles Clifford Dental Hospital. In the morning representatives from the British Society of Dental Research and the Health and Science committee of the BDA met with Dr Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust to discuss the way forward for dental research. The afternoon commenced with the opening of the new wing by Dr Walport. One of the people behind the new building was Peter P Robinson (former member of staff at Birmingham) who gave a humorous and entertaining overview of how the project has gone forward from beginning to end. The building is impressive and they have new laboratories and office space which gives them much needed room. The whole School was on parade and there was a Poster display of Research in the Building. Deborah Greenspan President of the IADR gave a lecture on the "Global Oral Health Implications of the HIV Pandemic" after which she was awarded her honorary degree. In the evening there was a reception and dinner at University House which completed the day. It was a privilege to be part of the Sheffield celebrations which they did very well and we offer Professor Paul Speight, Dean and his colleagues at Sheffield our congratulations and best wishes.
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It is with great regret that we announce the passing of Professor Tony Naylor who qualified from Birmingham Dental School in 1955.
Professor Timothy F Watson, Hon Secretary, British Society for Dental Research has sent out the following email
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Throwing yourself from a building in aid of good causes sounds very odd but that is just what happened at the Dental School today. From 11.00am till 4.30pm staff, students, therapists, nurses, receptionists, secretaries, research students etc all decided to take part in a sponsored abseiling from Floor 9 of the building down the west side. It was all for charity and nearly £1,000 was raised for our favoured charities Dentaid and St Mary’s Hospice. 
The drill was to report to Floor 8 and pay your money. It was then out onto the roof to see the skyline of Birmingham. The weather was fantastic and the view from the top well worth seeing. Then it was harness on followed by a safety talk. You were guided up onto the ledge, a few moments thinking “WHY AM I DOING THIS?” and over the side you went. 
With the adrenaline pumping it was a 30 second descent finishing with the relief of your feet on the ground. There was the friendly face of Sunil to greet you with a picture and offer congratulations. 
Crowds gathered thorough out the day to see what was happening and support the abseilers. Well done to everyone who took part. The School wishes to thank Jason and his team for coming along with their specialised abseiling equipment. Everyone would like to thank Sunil Shah and the students for making this a day to remember. 
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The School receives many visitors who drop by to see us. One of our ex-students Tina Hsieh (1999) and her husband Bor-Shiunn Lee came to visit. Tina works as a dentist in Taipei in Taiwan and Dr Lee is Associate Professor in the Department of Operative Dentistry at the National Taiwan University. The picture shows Bor-Shiunn, Tina and Rob Morgan who was one of her teachers in GDP phase.
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Professor Iain Chapple, Mr Mike Milward and Mr Martin Ling from the periodontal unit recently attended the BSP spring meeting “Confusion, Confounders and Compliance” in Cambridge. The programme included lectures on the association between periodontal and systemic disease, medico-legal issues, dental biofilms and patient compliance. The conference dinner was held in the American Air Museum, Duxford and featured a Spitfire flying display and music from the John Miller Orchestra. A great time was had by all and more pictures to follow!
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The Ecourse team have a stand at the Annual JISC 2008 conference which celebrates our recent JISC sponsored THES award. The Key note speaker at the conference was Lord Puttnam of Queensgate (Chancellor of the Open University). Lord Puttnam may be better known for producing Chariots of Fire. This picture shows Malcolm Read, Executive Secretary, JISC; Sir Ron Cooke, Chairman, JISC; Damien Walmsley; Lord Puttnam of Queensgate; Giles Perryer in front of their stand.
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STAFF STUDENT FOOTBALL MATCH
Location: Birmingham University Astro Pitches
11/04/2008
Kick off: 7pm
(Sport Rep)
This year's Cheese and Wine was larger, bigger and better than any that had gone before. Saniel and his team of enthusiastic and efficient assistants transformed the Canteen into a five star entertainment area. Quizmaster Prof Walmsley ruled over the proceedings whilst Mr Hamburger led the staff team into battle with the students, SHOs, nurses and PG research students. The cheese was of the highest quality and the wine which had to be replenished at a great rate was eminently drinkable. The Raffle had some great prizes and there was an auction for Saniel Gandesha to be your “slave for the day”. The highest bidder was Nishil Patel who bid £120 after a frenzied auction. Well done to all involved and a special thanks to the BUDSS committee. The pictures below show the fun that was had on the evening. 
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Our staff have been busy and here are a few updates on their activity. Ben Scheven attended a meeting of the Association for Basic Science Teachers in Dentistry in Cardiff last week (3-4 April). The meeting focused on future perspectives of basic science teaching in the BDS curriculum. People from different Dental Schools from across the country gave presentations with discussions afterwards. Ben presented a talk entitled “The challenges of starting in dental teaching”. Ben found the meeting a useful and stimulating experience.
Congratulations to Dominic Stewardson on being elected to the British Society for the Study of Prosthetic Dentsitry (BSSPD) council at the Exeter meeting in March. Dominic is lecturer in Conservative Dentistry and head of firm for General Dental Practice Teaching. He is also a registered specialist in prosthodontics. Dominic joins David Attrill who is also on the BSSPD Council.
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Association for American Dental Research
Following on from the education meeting, there was the 37th Annual American Association for Dental Research meeting. This was also held at the Hilton Hotel in Dallas, Texas. There was strong representation from Birmingham at the event and these included Bernhard Felver, Simon Lea, Trevor Burke, Russell Crisp, Tony Smith and Damien Walmsley. Tony as Editor of the Journal of Dental Research is always busy discussing papers with other colleagues and works hard on behalf of the School of Dentistry. 
There were several interesting topics discussed and the most striking presentation was given by Dr Dallas from the Univ of Missouri - Kansas City, USA, who showed live imaging of Odontoblasts, Osteocytes and Odontoblasts in vivo. It was fascinating to see the movement of these cells. There was a plenary session entitled “Nanotechnology for the Enhancement of Human Health” and was given by Dr Jim Baker Jr of the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine & Biological Science (MNIMBS), Ann Arbor, USA. Dr Baker delivered a fascinating talk on the application of nanotechnology for the prevention and treatment of human diseases. Other topics of interest were the progress of the three Practice Based Networks set up in the USA. There was also a good review on the risk assessment of caries. Although it was a relatively small meeting, there were many opportunities for networking especially at the Poster presentations and the Trade show.
There was also opportunity to undertake some sight seeing at the JFK museum and take in the Dallas Stars, the ice hockey team.
American Dental Education Association
The 85th Annual Session and Exhibition of the American Dental Education Association was held in Dallas and just under 2,000 educators, administrators and students registered for the event. The venue was the Hilton Anatole which was a 5 minute taxi ride from downtown Dallas area. In fact from the Tower of the Hotel it was possible to get a spectacular view of the downtown area. The Hotel was vast and has four major concourse areas with many ballrooms and function rooms attached. There are 7 restaurants to choose from with shops, fitness centre and a 0.25 mile jogging track. The theme of the conference was Curricular Change its time.
Birmingham Dental School participated in a presentation of their Ecourse and elearning philosophy to the conference. In the presentation the cutting edge technology of the ecourse was demonstrated and how its approach is interesting educators around the world. The ADEA conference covered several themes that would not be out of place in the United Kingdom.
There were influential American speakers outside dentistry and included Author and surgeon Dr Atul Gawande who has been an advisor to the White House on Health policy and is a well known in the USA for his book “Complications: a Surgeon's notes on an imperfect science”. He focused on how some medical centres perform better than others and what was the reason behind such figures. The plenary session on Monday morning was given by James Carville also known as the Ragin’ Cajun. He was the campaign organiser for the 1992 Presidential election for Clinton and Gore. He was well placed to talk about the 2008 Presidential campaign and he kept the audience entertained with his sharp wit and humour. However he did not really say what they all wanted to hear who was going to win the presidential election. Oral health care loomed large in the questioning that took place.
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Hello there I am back with the Blog and here is some news just in from Dr Will Palin
“The Metal Free Mouth” Symposium, April 1st 2008
Today, the final year BDS students took part in a seminar organised by Drs Palin and Addison discussing aspects of aesthetic restorative dentistry. The mini-symposium held talks from the final years on aspects of alternative approaches to metal-based restorations, comparing the key properties of feldspathic glass to high-density, polycrystalline CAD-CAM materials, details of luting materials and placement techniques.
The presentations were overseen by Professor El Mahy (pictured) from the London Deanary who is actively involved in the short-listing for Vocational Training positions in Greater London.
The final year students who were waiting to hear whether their VT position in London was successful certainly hoped that they had given a polished performance and answered Professor Waleed’s taxing questions appropriately! 
The students should not be worried. Firstly, the presentations and evidence-based information gathering was excellent (the powerpoints from which can be viewed on the Biomaterials section of the eCourse). Secondly, Dr Waleed El-Mahy has nothing to do with VT positions in London; he is a visiting researcher from Alexandria University, Egypt working with Drs Palin, Addison and Shortall (Biomaterials Unit) for nine months! The School of Dentistry would like to welcome Waleed and thank him for being such a good sport today.
HAPPY APRIL FOOLS!
The School of Dentistry
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