December 2011
Have a great Christmas and an even greater New Year from all the staff and students at the School of Dentistry
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Christmas is Coming
Prof. Lumley’s held an Open House inviting staff of the School and Hospital to join him for mince pies and refreshments. Several Christmas parties are now happening around the School and Hospital and the mood of the building is definitely festive! The fourth year students are almost to the end of speciality examinations and other years especially the final years have finals and job placement to think about. Christmas is a time for rest and battery recharging but still a few days remain untill we reach the holidays.
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Doctorate Success
Success for Dr Lupita Jocelin Reyes Silveyra. Jos Successfully gained her PhD today and was examined in her viva by Professor Sue Higham from Liverpool. The title of her thesis was "Investigations on Automated Methods for Dental Plaque Detection". Jocelin was sponsors were CONACYT on behalf of the Mexican Government. Her supervisors were Professor Gabriel Landini and Professor Damien Walmsley. Here we see Jos with supervisors and examiners - Well done to Jocelin.
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Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa was in his Grotto yesterday at the MDS College Christmas Social. The seat next to him is empty but soon he was visited by several ladies from the School of Dentistry. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. Everyone of the visitors told Santa that they had been good during the year so I think they will be deserving of presents this Christmas time.
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Elective Day Prizes
One of the highlights of the year is the elective presentations for those students who achieved the top grades for their written report. The judges were Prof Deborah White, Dr Sarah Knaggs and the student president Sarah Franks. Jane Davies-Slowik was invited as the special guest judge for the day. Jane is the Clinical Director for the Community and Special Care Dental Service at Pennfields Medical Centre, Wolverhampton.
The students presented to a packed lecture theatre of 4th years and the titles and themes are outlined below. The level of elective presentations was very high this year, making it an impossible job for the judges to decide on who should be awarded the three prizes. After much discussion the following was decided:
Sands Cox: John Rippin Memorial Prize for best elective report:
Samantha Rose Study
To Investigate And Compare The Clinical Success Of Two Posterior Resin-Based Composite Systems.
Samantha will now present her work at the Sans Cox AGM in 2012.
Dental Students Society for best overall elective presentation:
Luke Greenwood
Is this the trail for you? – An independent review of the Welsh Forestry Commission’s mountain biking trail grading system
Certificate of merit:
Andrew McSweeney
An investigation into, and the relationships between, motivations to partake in skydiving and the dominant personality traits of those who choose to do so from a Reversal Theory perspective
BDA/Dentsply Student Clinicians Prize:
Daniel Caga
The effects of red light laser exposure on the cell growth and inflammatory response of an oral epithelial cell line in vitro.
Daniel will now present his work in London in Feburary 2012, Good Luck.
Finally Gurpreet Lyall received her Dental Defence Union award from Kate Jones of MDU. Well done to Gurpreet.
The list of elective projects that were presented is as follows
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BIRMINGHAM DENTAL STUDENT IS ENGLISH CHAMPION
Satnam Virdee 4th Year dental student is the new EFK 67kg English Full Contact Champion in Kickboxing. He won the title in front of a packed audience at the Ramada Hotel in Sutton Coldfield.
Your blogger interviewed Satnam (at a safe distance) and he gave this personal report on his triumph
Sunday October 30th at the Ramada Hotel in Sutton Coldfield
After a long and hard 12 weeks training programme the day had finally arrived. Having made the weigh in the previous day at 66.3Kg the hard work had been done. Between then and the fight I had as much Carbs as I possibly could including my first chocolate muffin in 6 weeks. After losing almost a stone in weight I felt it was well deserved. The training programme consisted of training 2 x daily for 6 days a week. The most difficult thing was to juggle it around University and my personal life and more than often would find myself having to wake up at 5.00a.m to train before setting off to the Dental School.
The wait between the weigh in and my fight was an enduring one, with my fight being the 3rd to last fight on the card. When I arrived there on the day I got my medical checked and then had to wait almost 6 hours in a changing room before I was on. As each fight proceeded I was growing more anxious being barely able to keep still. So I kept on my toes just to get rid of any excess adrenaline that I didn't need at that time.
At about 9.30p.m my name was called out……walked into the ring staring at a crowd of approx. 300 people. On the other end was my opponent, a young lad from up north who was one mean fighter. Standing at 6 foot 4" I knew this wasn't going to be easy. The first round was difficult as his reach was immense and he was kicking me from the other end of the ring without me even so much as laying a hand on him. After a while I got into the flow of things and in later rounds stayed as close to him as I could taking away his advantage. With the last round almost starting I knew I had to just give it my all, the crowd cheering, 12 weeks of pure relentless hard work, I couldn't give it away at this final hurdle. When the final bell kicked in it could of gone either way.
With a silence that felt like hours, my name was announced as the new EFK 67kg English Full Contact champion. Hoping to defend my title soon so hope to see you all there.
Special thanks to all those who went out of their way to come on the day an show their support.
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WOW! It is the first of December and we are counting the days/sleeps to Christmas. Guess who is back ? Our old friend Turkey still looking the same as he has for the last five Christmases. Here is with Kirsty Hill who is looking after him for today.
Babies
Also time for news catch up and first it is Babies. Zoe Smith and Neil Wilson both celebrate the arrival of babies. Here are some pictures of James and Tobias for you to enjoy.
West Midlands Christian Dental Fellowship
This is a second piece of news catch up West Midlands Christian Dental Fellowship met on Wednesday 28th November, when local dentists, nurses, dental students and staff from the Dental Hospital joined up for a session looking at faith matters in healthcare. The importance of seeking consent, having sensitivity and respect when mentioning faith issues with patients and team members was discussed. GMC guidance on the importance of taking into account a patient’s spiritual history and Care Quality Commission guidance on taking into account patients ethical and human rights views when planning dental services was also explored.
Undergraduate and Postgraduate News Stories
The strengths of our Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses are underlined by the following stories.
First off congratulations to final year student Dan Caga, who was invited to the recent Pan Dental Conference in Liverpool to collect The Frank Ashley Undergraduate Prize from The British Society of Periodontology for his elective study entitled ‘The effects of red light laser exposure on the cell growth and inflammatory response of an oral epithelial cell line’. His project was supervised by Drs Mike Milward and Paul Cooper, with support from Dr Kevin Carter, Will Palin, Mo Hadis and Mrs Michelle Holder. The photograph shows Dan receiving his award from the BSP President Professor Gerry Linden.
Michael Sandholzer got invited to give a 45min talk at the Annual Conference of the British Association of Forensic Odontology (BAFO) held at the Hilton Hotel in York. His well received talk was entitled "The use of micro-CT in forensic odontology", mainly focusing on novel developments in high-resolution imaging in the field of forensic dentistry and dental identification of fire victims. The picture shows Michael with Phil Mardsen, president of BAFO, at the gala dinner which took place at the scenic York Castle Museum.
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A Legend Returns
Hurjoht Singh Virdee writes for the Blog "Last Thursday saw the return of a Legend in the Dental hospital. Mr. Roger Mosedale, who retired this Summer made a visit to the Hospital to see the very many colleagues, friends and students he has met and taught over the years at the hospital. Mr. Mosedale was very popular with the student population during his teaching at the hospital; all those students who were fortunate enough to have him as a Clincian on their clinic still talk about his amazing presence and overall knowledge of Dentistry. He has guided many students and colleagues over the year's to becoming successful and critical dental surgeons. On Thursday, Mr. Mosedale had lunch with his former colleagues and friends, all who were very happy to see him return. Later he was given a surprise presentation from Firm C (4th Year) - who collectively funded for a glass plaque as a thankyou for all the guidance and support he had provided them on clinic over the year.
We hope that Mr. Mosedale continues to make regular trips to the hospital - his presence at the hospital will be missed, but I'm sure we all wish him a very happy retirement."
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Spotty Cakes Galore
It is never too early for cake! In a spotty School office cupcakes or a slice of cake is being sold for a worthy cause. The Pudsey cake sale is under way, however the entries to the bake off are being carefully guarded until the judging commences! Cakes are in School Office on the 1st Floor. Thanks to Anna Parker and the staff in School Office for making this event happen.
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Burning Prof
Not content with freefalling off Star City or running a half marathon, Prof Walmsley has walked on broken glass and fire for St Mary's Hospice. Here we see him doing the Firewalk and also there is a picture of his foot on the borken glass. This was all for charity and he has so far raised over £1,000 for the Hospice in his latest venture. He wants to say thank you to everyone for their donations.
If you want to push that total a bit higher then there is his JustGiving page
What next? Any suggestions welcome!
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BDA Central Counties Dinner
The Central Counties Branch of the British Dental Association held its annual dinner dance at the Bromsgrove Hilton Hotel hosted by the President, Professor Giles Perryer. Prior to the evening function there had been a study day entitled "Trick of treat - The Future of NHS Dentistry". This theme was extended to the evening with the tables decorated appropriately with spiders and other Halloween trinkets. The day and evening was a great success for the BDA. Here we have pictures of our dental students at the evening reception with Professor White and the President.
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Dental Student Bikes from London to Paris for Charity
Sagar Shah completed a bike ride from London to Paris. Currently a 4th year, Sagar had to juggle his training with his studies but successfully made the ride over the weekend 21st to 24th September. This is a great achievement when you think that the distance is 379 miles. Sagar also raised £1288 for MedicMalawi.
When your blogger asked Sagar for details of the ride he said "It was tormentingly tiresome. Exceptionally painful. Would I do it again? Definitely!"
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Fruit and vegetable compound offers hope in fight against gum disease
A study led by our very own Professor Chapple at the University has found supplementing the diet with a special combination of fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrates may help to combat chronic gum disease when combined with conventional dental therapy.
October 2011
Great Birmingham Run
The Great Birmingham run went well. In Dentistry Phil Lumley was well ahead of many people which was to be expected. There was a great turn out of people connected both with the School and Hospital. The weather was kind and everyone who took part looked like they were enjoying themselves especially at the end of the race! There were many supporters out and about along the course. John Hamburger was cheering us as the runners passed by his house. John had his camera at the ready and took some shots of runners that will soon see the light of day. There were a lot of good causes that people ran for on the day. Well done to everyone runners and supporters.
Birmingham Students at Northern Sports Day
Hurj Virdee writes
"This weekend Sheffield hosted the BDSA Sports Day and once again our Birmingham dream teams worked very hard to ensure they had what it took to face the rest of the dental population. Even though we had one of the smallest numbers in terms of turnouts, we still managed to get teams together for Netball and Football. The competition was fierce, but Birmingham was ready!!! Unfortunately, Birmingham failed to win on the field but we made up for it over the rest of the weekend; we were given a fancy dress theme of Athletics (now that’s a difficult one), but not for our super creative Birmingham elite!! The Athletic Barbie’s of 4th year, the 118 118 brothers of 2nd year and all the other Birmingham athletes put all the lasses and lads to shame and were a hit all night long. The Jamaican Bobsled Team (H.Virdee, Z.Chawdhri, K.P.Chana) were by far Sheffield’s attraction of the night and their hand made costumes and bobsled made it all the way back home too. It truly was a great weekend, and would’ve been even better with more Birmingham support – with Northern Sports Day soon arriving make sure you all get involved and show the rest of the dental population that BIRMINGHAM IS WHERE IT’S AT!!!"
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Dental Student enters Virtual Reality
Ralitsa Danevska, final year dental student, visited ACTA, Amsterdam and took part in the teaching and assessment of their Simodent virtual reality system. The Dutch school has developed a haptic device which provides tactile feedback for cutting cavities in teeth. Her visit to Amsterdam was sponsored by the Sands Cox Society. On Saturday, Rali presented her findings at the Sands Cox Annual Meeting at the Birmingham Medical Institute. Her presentation was very well received and we look forward to seeing her work published in the society's Aesculapius magazine next year. The pictures show Rali presenting and also a picture with the President elect of the society, Professor Hugh Edmondson.
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Do you remember 1981 and the start of the Eighties?
Half way through October and the term is gathering pace. On Friday night the dental year of 1981 got together courtesy of the Sir Arthur Thompson Charitable Trust. The night fell into a familiar pattern starting off with dentists trying to recognise each other 30 years on. Then everyone sits down to a very nice meal at Staff House. Speeches follow, the first by the Head of School, Philip Lumley and then Peter Rock who reminisces on past times at the School. Everyone is brought together for a group photograph and then it is time to keep on talking finding out what has happened between 1981 and 2011. A great evening of memories and renewing old friendships. A big thank you to Carinna Chilton for her excellent organisation of the evening.
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Two expecting Zoe's.
Last week we wished Zoe Smith well as she left for maternity leave and it will not be long until Zoe Carter will also be doing the same thing. Both work in the 3rd floor office so it will be strange without them.
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Michael reports on ISALM at Frankfurt, Germany
Next we have a conference repot from one of our Doctoral researchers who is researching into Forensic Science. Michael has won a number of awards including funding from the American Board of Forensic Odontology Research award for his work on “Comparison of different heating protocols for the simulation of extreme thermal stress on teeth using micro-CT”.
The International Symposium on Advances in Legal Medicine was held last week in Frankfurt, Germany. There were 600 forensic scientists from all over the world who attended the Congress. Presentations included all specialisations of forensic science, including forensic odontology. An impressive talk came from Japanese researchers who gave insights on examination and personal identification of bodies from the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake of 2011 using dental radiography.
As a first year PhD student it was a bit daunting giving a presentation but my talk on the "Investigation on heat-induced alterations of skeletal hard tissue microstructure using x-ray microtomography (micro-CT)" at the Symposium went week. Following the scientific program there was opportunity for sight-seeing, catching up with research colleagues and enjoy the local meals and drinks.
Phil in Berlin
Philip Lumley is up and running and this time in Europe. He took part in the Berlin Marathon and details of his exploits have been recorded. His next big run is the Birmingham half marathon which takes place on 23rd October and he is running for Cancer UK.
Please support Phil on his Just giving page.
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U21 Health Sciences 2011 Korea
Seoul is a City that never sleeps and this may be one of the reasons why Universitas 21 Health Sciences group held their meeting there. It was total conference from 7.30am starts to catch the coach to late evening dinners. The early starts were to get around the traffic jam that appears to last all day. The pre-conference session covered the U21 United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG) initiative. The presentations given are available on the U21 Health Sciences website. This is an exciting project that inspires both students and faculty. Birmingham has already started to be involved with our dental students attending a workshop this summer at Nottingham.
The core Health Sciences meeting covered accreditation, how to bring research into the network, discussing pedagogics in a research intense environment and the teaching of social responsibility and accountability of health care professionals.
The Dentistry Discipline group Meeting had representatives from Korea, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Melbourne, Brisbane, University of British Columbia, Tec de Monterrey and ACTA. Many international projects were discussed with some exciting initiatives which will provide student and faculty exchanges. Watch this space.
There was some breathing space at the end of the conference with a chance to experience Korean culture and a visit to the Secret Garden at Changdeokgung Palace. A fascinating country and a good conference but so much to catch up on next week!
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September 2011
Fresher's Week
Last week there was a great start for the Freshers as they encountered a Student's Common Room set up to welcome them to the Dental School. Negar Mirzai took lots of photographs and reports as follows, "The freshers event was an enjoyable day by which students got to mix and receive lots of freebies and start their life at university with excitement and enthusiasm. The first years were vibrant and full of energy, and we look forward to getting to know them in the next couple of years."
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Birmingham at BSODR
Thanks to Eisha Comar who took pictures last week as Birmingham Dental School presented its work at the British Society for Oral and Dental Research Conference (BSODR) at Sheffield. Eisha, who was snapping away, reports that it was an enjoyable conference and that all the presentations either verbal or poster were of a high standard. One of the highlights was Erum Khan presenting her work. There are also pictures of the Annual dinner and a bingo session where Paul Cooper's knowledge of the procedure came in well for the postgraduate students. Well done to all the presenters from Birmingham for representing the School of Dentistry. Thanks also to Eisha for recording events for the Blog.
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ADEE at Antalya, Turkey
The Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) Annual conference was held last week at the Gloria Hotel on the beautiful adriatic coast of Turkey. The Gloria Hotel complex near to Antalya is a different type of conference centre to the usual City centre conferences that have been held by ADEE in previous years. However the choice of venue proved to be a big success with the delegates. The conference covered many topics but the addresses by Chuck Schuler, Dean of UBC and Alison Bullock (formally of Birmingham) were highlights of the scientific program.
Birmingham was represented by Damien Walmsley who is the Secretary General of the Association, Deborah White, Director of Education and Upen Patel. We also had student representation for the parallel European Dental Students Association (EDSA) event. Hurjoht Virdee and Negar Mirzai were our Birmingham representatives and contributed to the conference in many different ways! Hurjhot presented a poster on work done with Maja Sabalic, Mina Tagt and our own Deji Olaore. The poster was presented by Hurjoht and Maja.
The highlight of the conference was the award of first place to Deborah White on work related to the Learner Independence Project. Both Upen Patel and Deborah were present to accept the award on behalf of the team. Upen also instigated a young dental educators special interest group as well as his own poster presentation.
The setting of the conference was in idyllic surroundings on Saturday afternoon was free to take a swim relax and capture the sunset. Back to Birmingham to catch up with the new term which is already a week old and we are getting nearer to when Birmingham hosts the conference.
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