Dentistry student researchers make strong showing

A record number of students from the UNMC College of Dentistry gave presentations at the 93rd Annual International Association for Dental Research (IADR) Meeting, held from March 11 to 14 in Boston. The IADR meeting was held in conjunction with the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research and the 39th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research.

Fifteen COD students presented at this meeting, in addition to seven faculty members who gave presentations.

“When you consider that our class size is in the neighborhood of 45 to 48 students, to have this significant number of students presenting at an international conference speaks to the quality of our students and also the quality of our faculty mentorship,” said Jeffrey Payne, D.D.S., associate dean for research for the college.

Dr. Payne congratulated the students for “extending themselves and going beyond their curriculum to do research that is of high caliber.” The work, he pointed out, involved a lot of additional time and one-on-one mentorship with faculty. He also praised the faculty who presented and who mentored the students so they were well positioned to complete quality research projects and deliver outstanding presentations.

UNMC dental student Dave Duevel (D-3 student), president of the college’s Ameritas Nebraska Dental Student Research Group, said that working with faculty mentors on the research projects was rewarding.

“I worked with Mark Beatty, D.D.S., who is a pretty brilliant guy,” he said. “Also, there’s the incentive of learning more about a certain aspect of dentistry.”

Duevel’s poster examined how to manipulate different polymer systems to avoid fading.

The dental student found the research work fulfilling.

“It allows you to do something different from the day-to-day aspects of dental school,” Duevel said. “It allows you to pick a research area you want to focus on, or find a mentor you want to work with, and it adds flexibility to your studies by allowing you to pursue something interesting outside the general realm of the curriculum.”

College of Dentistry Dean Janet Guthmiller, D.D.S., Ph.D., who attended the event, offered congratulations to the college’s student researchers and their faculty mentors.

“We are so proud of the caliber of research that our student-faculty teams are conducting and the record participation at this international meeting,” Dr. Guthmiller said.