Volume 8 • 2021 • Issue 4

CDA/Dentsply Sirona Student Research Competition: In Virtual Mode Every year since 1971, the Canadian Dental Association (CDA) and Dentsply Sirona organize a national student research competition, where students selected from the 10 dental schools in Canada are invited to present their research. This year, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the student research competition was held virtually. T his year’s student research competition took place with a new virtual format during the Manitoba Dental Association/CDA virtual convention in April 2021. The 10 dental schools inCanadawere each represented by students selected by their respective faculty. The student clinicians presented their research live during a closed judging session, where they had the opportunity to discuss their research with a panel of judges. “I’ve had the privilege of being a judge for this program for the past several years and I’m always impressed by the participants,” said Dr. Benoit Soucy, director of Clinical and Scientific Affairs at CDA. “This year was obviously different as we did not have the opportunity to meet the student clinicians in person, but even in a virtual format, the quality of their research and their presentations came through.” After the judging session, pre-recorded versions of the presentations were made available to the delegates on the convention platform. “Recording the students’ presentations went very well,” said JP Nuyens, digital media coordinator at CDA. “All student researchers arrived on time and were very professional. Everyone seemed very confident and comfortable in the recording sessions. I gave them the option to do a retake in case there were any mistakes, but no one needed this, they got it right in one take. I even learned a few things along the way since they were all so informative explaining their research to someone with no background in dentistry!” Research topics this year included early childhood caries, oral lichen planus, oral health care for children with special 1st Place: Katie Hu health care needs, dental trauma prevention, pharmacists and dental care, COVID-19 transmission control in dental clinics, peri-implant healing, and more. CDA and Dentsply Sirona hosted a virtual award ceremony in honour of all the student clinicians participating in the program. The first and second place winners were announced during the ceremony. Katie Hu (DDS 2022) from the University of Saskatchewan was awarded first place for her research on access to oral health care for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) in Saskatchewan. Supervised by Dr. KeithDa Silva, Hu investigated the dental health care needs of children with FASD as well as any barriers to access to care. For this research, Hu sent a cross-sectional survey to parents and caregivers of children under age 16 with FASD. They partnered with the FASD Network of Saskatchewan, which connected them to these caregivers. Despite the challenges to deliver the survey during the COVID-19 pandemic, they received over 120 responses. “The number of Canadians affected by FASD is estimated to be around 4%, which is higher than all other N ews and E vents 22 | 2021 | Issue 4