A graduate dental student has won a prestigious prize for the best case presentationby a vocational training student (VT)>
Raheel Malik, 2010 graduate dental student and senior health officer in the Department of Oral Surgery and Restorative at the King’s College Dental Institute, has won the London Deanery’s Ruby Austin Prize.
This award is given to a graduate dentist completing their vocational training year within the London Deanery.
Competitions were held within local schemes and the winners of these were entered into the final.
This year’s final was held at Charing Cross Hospital and took place in front of 160-plus dentists.
Sona Bavisha, Sally El-boghdadly, Nadia Jubbawy, Nick Cooper, Beshandeep Sehra and Sunil Kaura, also former students of the Dental Institute graduating in 2010, were among the nine finalists. Sunil Kaura was awarded the third prize.
The finalists presented a case they had undertaken in their respected practices during the VT year and was followed by a questions and answers session.
Judged by Raj Raja Rayan OBE, associate dean for primary vare at the Dental Deanery, and Dr Lyndon Cabot, director of admissions at the Dental Institute, marks were given for complexity of case, dental knowledge and its clinical application, treatment planning and its application, patient management and presentation skills.
Raheel’s case presentation was titled The rehabilitation and restoration of a dentally naive patient.
The patient was a 23-year-old male who had neglected his dentition for several years and had little dental awareness and knowledge.
As Raheel explains: ‘The patient attended with poor oral hygiene, several broken down teeth and caries affecting most of his dentition.
‘The causation of caries was four litres of Coca-Cola daily as well as four cans of Red Bull.
‘The challenge was to increase his dental awareness and motivate him to change his oral hygiene and dietary habits. The treatment was phased and initially the aim was to address the acute symptoms, followed by a strict preventative regime.
‘The aim was then to control primary disease within a stabilisation phase. Once stabilisation had been achieved, oral hygiene and diet improved and the definitive stage was undertaken. This involved extensive composite work especially in the anterior regions and eventually replacement of his missing teeth. The overall quality of life for this young patient was improved. He is now able to eat comfortably and is no longer embarrassed to smile. Therefore, preventative, functional and aesthetic outcomes were achieved.’
Last year, Raheel won first prize in the Dentsply Ceram.X Case Contest 2009/10 for the UK.
