Latest News
The biennial scientific conference of the International Society for Disability and Oral Health was held in Seoul, Korea in September bringing together a global community of clinicians, educators, academics and advocates from all areas of Health and Social Care. There was a large delegation from Ireland present and the Irish Society for Disability and Oral Health successfully won the bid to hold IADH2026 in two years time at Trinity College Dublin. Professor Alison Dougall was awarded honorary life membership of iADH in her absence and this will be bestowed at iADHDublin 2026. During the conference TCD Special Care Dentistry D.ChDent Alumni were recognised. Dr Kev MacGiolla Phadraig Consultant/Senior Lecturer at DDUH was elected as chair of the incoming IADH Research Committee and Dr Hussain Ibnahmad (class of 2023) was awarded IADH fellowship. Dr Nurul Ishak (class of 2016) won the KADH poster prize for work she is doing in Brunei. Dr Panupol (Kim) Kunasarapun, currently finishing his 3rd year D.ChDent, was awarded a travel bursary by the Irish Society to present the study he completed during his postgraduate training. His research oral presentation entitled "Behavioural Support, Sedation or GA, a prediction model' won first prize in the Basic and Translational Research Competition.
Congratulations to Ross Quigley who won best talk in the PhD category at the Faculty of Health Sciences Annual Research Blitz on 16th May. Title: 'Regenerating Pulp: To Boldly Grow Where No Tooth Has Grown Before’. Principle supervisor: Hal Duncan co-supervised: Oran Kennedy RCSI
Some excellent news from Trinity Monday and celebrations for the School of Dental Science. Shirlynn Lee - 2nd Year Dental Science was awarded the Foundation Scholarship. Prof Hal Duncan, Prof Anne O’Connell and Dr Gary Moran were made Fellows of TCD. Congratulations to all and well done.
On February 13th the Platform for Better Oral Health in Europe launched its 2024-2029 manifesto ‘Smile your way to a Healthy Life’ in the European Parliament. The event was sponsored by MEPs Stelios Kympouropoulos (EPP, Greece), István Ujhelyi (S&D, Hungary), and Deirdre Clune (EPP, Ireland) and launched by Platform members, the Dental Officer at the WHO, representatives of civil society and EU policymakers. DDUH was represented by Prof Brian O’Connell (PER-IADR) and Max Walsh (EDSA).
Presented by Ireland’s Chief Dental Officer, Dr Dympna Kavanagh, the Manifesto stresses why oral health is so important, focusing on its rooted connections with all other major non-communicable diseases, on the inequalities that derive from different social and economic backgrounds, and the massive burden on healthcare systems and individuals that oral conditions cause.
Further details of the manifesto can be found at:
http://www.oralhealthplatform.eu/news/2024-2029-platform-manifesto-launch/
The photo shows Prof Brian O'Connell, Dr Dympna Kavanagh, MEP Deirdre Clune and Max Walsh at the launch event.
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The Dublin Dental University Hospital is running a Local Infiltration and Block Anaesthesia course on Tuesday February 20th. (Please note that this is not a refresher course). Proof of Dental Council registration and a current CPR certificate must be submitted. You must also have agreement from at least one dentist to supervise your portfolio of experience, which must be completed within six months of taking the training course. The fee of €325, to be paid online, includes all the reading material sent in advance, the written examination (held after the lectures and clinical session), lunch and refreshments. Places are limited, with a deadline of 31st January, to allow time for the required reading and exam preparation. 10 CPD points will be awarded on successful completion of the course. For further information, please email natalie.mcgettigan@dental.tcd.ie or call 01 612 7361.
DDUH Doctoral Student Wins Inaugural British Fluoridation Society Career Development Fellowship.
Dr. Patrick Quinn, a third year Clinical Doctorate Student in Dental Public Health at the School of Dental Science, Trinity College Dublin and Dublin Dental University Hospital, has been awarded the inaugural British Fluoridation Society Career Development Fellowship. The Fellowship, which is funded by The Borrow Foundation, aims to aid the career development of dental professionals with an interest in community water fluoridation and grow expertise in this area. Dr. Quinn's successful application built on work undertaken on the doctoral programme to date and will involve spending time at institutions abroad with international experts in the field as well as undertaking patient and public involvement (PPI) research relating to the availability of fluoride monitoring data to key stakeholders such as the public, dental professionals and researchers. The Fellowship is for a period of two years and will culminate in a final report and a publication in a recognised academic journal. Further information on the Fellowship is available on the British Fluoridation Society website at https://bfsweb.org/career-development-fellowship-funding-open/.
Congratulations to Dr. Michaela Kearney who was awarded the Pulp Biology & Regeneration Group Travel Award for her research presentation at the IADR conference held in Bogotá, Colombia on the 24th of June. Michaela’s work established a miRNA expression profile for dental pulp cells undergoing epigenetically-mediated mineralisation, which could lead to the identification of potential therapeutic targets for use in regenerative endodontics. Presentation title: RNA-Sequencing Identifies miRNAs with Potential Roles in Epigenetically-Driven Pulpal-Repair Processes Authors: M. Kearney, P.R. Cooper, A.J. Smith, H.F. Duncan
Congratulations to our Graduates of Dental Science Class of 2023 and Dental Technology Class of 2023.
Pictured below with the Dean of Dental Affairs, Professor Blánaid Daly and Dr Heather Reilly (Director of Undergraduate Teaching and Learning) at the Finals reception evening of celebrations in June 2023.
Pictured below with the Dean of Dental Affairs, Professor Blánaid Daly and Dr Cathy Gorman (Course Director) at the Finals reception evening of celebrations in June 2023.
Congratulations to Ms Sviatlana Anishchuk and Dr Angus Burns, awarded M Ed (Higher Education)
Sviatlana Anishchuk and Angus Burns graduated from Trinity College Dublin on Tuesday April 4th 2023 with Masters in Education, having completed the 3-year part-time programme in the School of Education, TCD. Ms Anishchuk is a Dental Hygiene Tutor and Dr Burns is a Consultant Orthodontist/ Senior Lecturer, both based in the Dublin Dental University Hospital.
Sviatlana’s research was “Empathy as a psychometric property in dental undergraduate students” and “Empathy and its relationship to a burnout in dental student’s cohort”, supervised by Dr Aidan Seery and Angus’s research was “A systematic review of the benefits of and barriers to development of outreach training for undergraduate dental students”, supervised by Dr John Walsh.
Congratulations to our two new 2023 Dental Science Scholars Yuxuan Chen and Leena Al-Bayati, announced this morning on Trinity Monday by the Provost - An amazing achievement
Congratulations to final year undergraduate student Loujin Shakerdi who was the winner of the Dublin Regional Heat of this year’s RCSEd Dentsply Sirona Clinical Skills Competition!
We also congratulate runners-up Aisha Almudahkah and Rachael Sing!
Loujin Shakerdi will go on to represent Dublin Dental University Hospital at the final competition in Edinburgh in March 2023, competing against regional winners from all dental schools across Ireland and the UK. We wish her luck!
DDUH Staff and Students in the Spotlight at 26th International Congress of International Association for Disability and Oral Health, August 2022, Paris, France.
On 24th-26th August 2022 the International Association for Disability and Oral Health (iADH) held its 26th International Scientific Meeting in The Palais de Congress D’Issy in Paris.
The theme of the congress was 'Quality Matters’ reflecting the inequalities in outcomes for people with disabilities - despite their supposed access to dental care.
Prof. Alison DOUGALL, the current President of iADH gave her opening address at the first face to face conference for 4 years , welcoming 480 international delegates from over 30 countries.
Seventeen delegates from Ireland attended the meeting evidencing the growing interest in this emerging field within the Island of Ireland. The scope of the content was wide, truly reflecting the cross discipline nature of people interested in disability and oral health. Posters were presented by current TCD postgraduate D.Ch.Dent Students on the Special Care Dentistry (SCD) Programme namely Dr Hussain Ibnahmad who presented his work on sickle cell disease and Dr Panupol Kim, who presented his work on the accurate selection of behavioural adjuncts for people with disabilities. Second year postgraduate student Dr Jessicca Rice reached the finals of the research competition with her innovative work on history of haemophilia care via an in depth case study which combined a social, political and medical timeline.
During the congress, iADH launched their long awaited fellowship programme in disability and oral health which has been 4 years in development and is designed to assesses activity and impact in clinical practice, education, research and advocacy/community outreach. The first 30 fellowships in disability and oral health were announced and awarded in Paris . The DDUH are pleased to report that 4 out of 30 international fellowships were awarded to Dublin Dental University Hospital staff. New fellows include part-Time SCD Tutors DR SIOBHAN STAPLETON and DR DANIELE MCGEOWN who both competed their D.Ch.Dent in Special Care Dentistry (class of 2015) at DDUH and are working as Senior Special Needs Dentists in the HSE. An iADH fellowship was also awarded to part-time tutor in sedation at DDUH, DR GILLIAN SMITH who completed a diploma in Sedation (class of 2016) at DDUH) and was recognised for her clinical commitment and service to people with disabilities in a general practice primary care setting and her considerable outreach work with Autism Patient Organisations. The 4th fellowship was awarded to Sviatlana Anishchuk, in the allied professionals track. Sviatlana is a part time hygiene tutor at DDUH and was the only hygienist to reach the required high standard required in research and education domains, reflected by her masters by research from Trinity, her second masters degree and innovation in education and her role as a clinical hygienist in SCD clinics alongside her significant outreach work across Ireland.
The Irish Society for Disability and Oral Health cemented its high profile within the global SCD Community by successfully winning the competitive bid to bring the 28th International Conference to Dublin in 2026 and they plan to hold the event at Trinity in August 2026.
The next face to face iADH Conference will be held in September 2024 in Seoul, Korea.
