Fourth-year dental student Ariel Atwood received the Most Outstanding Presentation of Clinical Research Award at the 2016 Hinman Student Research Symposium held in October in Memphis, Tenn.
Atwood collaborated with fellow fourth-year dental student Mallory Shanahan on the project, and while she received a certificate in recognition of the work, it is their findings that are invaluable.
The goal of the project was to determine the accuracy of three different methods used for evaluating the interproximal area or gap between teeth when placing a crown on one tooth.
“If the contact is too tight, that can lead to an ill-fitting crown which can lead to inflammation of the gums and dental caries,” Atwood said.
As a crown is being fitted on a tooth a dentist will measure that space using one of three techniques to do so.
Those techniques include using:
- Dental floss with a hand-held explorer;
- Accufilm articulating paper; and
- Shim stock, which looks like very thin foil.
Atwood and Shanahan asked a total of 35 practicing dentists in Lincoln and Omaha to fit one of 11 zirconia ceramic crowns to a Dentoform tooth mold and then measure the interproximal area using one of the three techniques.
The dentists reported which method they currently use and which method they found to be the most accurate.
“Most of the dentists prefer using dental floss with a hand held explorer,” Shanahan said. “But the method that provides the most accurate measurement is the shim stock.”
“Their hard work provides us with evidence-based information for evaluating a clinical problem that will help to insure a higher quality of care for our patients,” said Paul Hansen, D.D.S., director of dental implants and the faculty advisor who oversaw the students’ work.
Atwood agreed.
“This research is so clinically applicable, I probably will seat hundreds of crowns in my career and having found the best method for analyzing whether or not a crown is fitted properly will help me and my patients.”
The Hinman Student Research Symposium is a national meeting that features oral and poster presentations of research studies by dental students and graduate trainees from dental schools across North America. Atwood and Shanahan were among 90 students, representing 53 dental schools from 30 states, the District of Columbia and five Canadian provinces, who presented research.
It is the sixth time a dental student from the UNMC College of Dentistry has won an award at the symposium since 2000.