General
Senate Report, Faculty of Dentistry, July 2023
The Faculty has made progress in the following key areas in the last 3 months:-
Infrastructure: Infrastructure upgrades have started in the following places:
Upgrade of Mitchell’s Plain Entrance and Reception.. Completed 18 July 2023
Upgrade of A Floor Postgraduate Student Room at Tygerberg… due for completion end July 2023
Upgrade of D Floor Student Common Room at Tygerberg…… due for completion end July 2023
Upgrade of D Floor Staff/Student Cafeteria….… due for completion end July 2023
WIFI Upgrades at Tygerberg……… due for completion end July 2023
Revisions of the three deputy deans posts at the faculty has been approved as follow:-
Deputy Dean (DD) Postgraduate and Higher Degrees has been split into DD PG studies and DD Research. Approval was conditionally given for a period of 1 year subject to a review at the end of the term. Nominations and interviews took place with Prof Nadia Mohamed recommended for DD PG studies and Prof R Adam appointed DD Research effective 1 August 2023.
The current incumbent, Prof G Geerts term as DD PG studies and higher Degrees ended March 2023 and she was given an extension until June 2023. Prof S Kahn was appointed acting DD PG studies and higher degrees form 1 July 2023.
Prof N Mohammed was recommended for appointment as HOD, Orthodontics. This effectively means that she will choose either this portfolio or DD PG studies. Should she choose to occupy the portfolio of DD PG studies, the process of nominations, interviews and appointment of HOD orthodontics will have to start afresh.
Prof G Geerts has started her three month sabbatical leave from 1 July 2023.
Covid-19 and infection control protocols at Dentistry
Dentistry remains an extremely high risk area of health care because of the routine exposure to aerosols. Although the policy regarding mandatory vaccinations has been changed, we have, as a health facility in the Western Cape Province, decided to align our protocols with that of the province. In lieu of this…we have maintained the following infection control practices at the faculty:-
All standard cross-infection procedures as recommended by CDC (center for disease control) will be strictly implemented
Water line decontamination
Pre treatment oral rinse
Rubber dam use where possible
Air purifier use in clinical areas
High volume suction
Controlled access to AGP prevalent areas
Mask wearing: All staff and students to wear a surgical mask within the Clinical areas of the Academic Oral Health Centre (includes all sites)
Report Research & Higher Degrees
1. APRIL GRADUATION 2023
The following PhD (1) and M (6) students graduated at the autumn graduation:
Dr CL Mwesigwa PhD, Department of Community Dentistry
Dr D Elhassan MSc, Department of Community Dentistry
Dr H Alkhzam MSc, Department of Community Dentistry
Dr K Simpson MSc, Department of Community Dentistry
Dr M Elhag MSc, Forensic Dentistry
Dr MJ Coetsee MSc, Orthodontics
Dr L Ebrahim MSc Maxillofacial Radiology
2. SUPERVISION WORKSHOP 14 APRIL 2023
This workshop was facilitated by Profs Roberts and Amosun following a first supervision workshop. It was attended by 38 participants, including presenters and facilitators.
Prof Amosun, the faculty mentor, started the proceedings with a short presentation on theaims of this workshop.
Ms Lois Dippenaar (Director, Institutional planning) shared some recent realities in the national funding landscape and different funding/grant allocations within the University. She dealt with optimising funding opportunities that are available and improving efficiency of resources that are available, including identifying spare capacity, the consequences of student enrolments and throughput rates. Staff profile among faculties and within faculties was shown as well as their productivity. Ms Dippenaar encouraged Faculty and departments to optimize their niche areas and make them known.
Prof J Phillips (Director, Research & Postgraduate Support) introduced her team, their different portfolios and provided an overview of strategies to enhance postgraduate studies, opportunities for research & postgraduate support, prioritizing postgraduate work and research, operations of the research ethics committees, enrolments and improving throughputs and decreasing need for extensions, generating funding by means of short courses and CPD activities.
Prof Geerts (Deputy Dean: Research and Postgraduate Programmes, Dentistry) started further discussion with presenting 2 important policy documents guiding the postgraduate landscape, an organogram and the 6 nodes of the postgraduate lifecycle. While it was anticipated that all aspects of the postgraduate and supervision lifecycle would not be covered, the discussion only covered node 1 (student applications, selections and enrolments) and partly node 2 (allocation and appointment of supervisor, developing a proposal and QA). There was extensive discussion on these 2 nodes.
Prof RZ Adam (Faculty representative on the International relations committee) provided a short overview of the existing agreements with international IHE. UWC has 3 strategic partners: Ghent University, Belgium; University of Missouri and Vrije Universiteit, Brussels. There is also the SANORD collaboration and a number of dentistry partners agreement in existence, in progress or in renewal. Staff are also encouraged to look at the NRF, MRC and ACU website for opportunities.
Following these discussions, staff suggest that the following needs attention:
UWC and Faculty website. Improve presence & visibility of postgraduate programmes
Departments to take responsibility for quality assurance of research proposals. QA needed at Faculty level
Departments to do strategic planning and capacity analysis of supervision. Allocating and appointing supervisors is a departmental decision, all staff to participate in the discussion
Collaborations in niche areas
The purpose of the protocol presentation sessions was debated.
It was clear that follow-up sessions are required to proceed through the remaining postgraduate student and supervision life cycle nodes.
3. GOOD CLINICAL PRACTICE COURSE
Eleven staff members enrolled for the beginner and 7 for the refresher Good Clinical Practice Course and are certified to conduct clinical trials
4. APPOINTMENT OF FACULTY RESEARCH CHAIR: PROF M CHETTY
The research chair will leverage research within the department on genetic, genomic and molecular investigations into non-communicable oral health conditions and rare diseases with craniofacial manifestations and dental management implications.
5. APPOINTMENT OF FACULTY POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW (12 MONTHS, 2023-2024): DR DO TEMILOLA.
Project: Exosomal microRNA signature as a diagnostic biomarker for oral squamous cell carcinoma (oscc). The aim of the project is to investigate the role of blood and salivary exosome cargo as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for oscc in a South African population with the goal of discovering novel biomarkers for oscc. The home department is the Department of Diagnostic Sciences (Craniofacial Biology).
Department of Community Dentistry
1. Research outputs
Two staff members gave oral presentations at the recent World Federation of Public Health Congress that was hosted in Rome in May 2023.
• Dr K Ramphoma: Launching the Maternal & Child Oral Health initiative
• Dr N Rampersad: Exploring ethical implications for dental neglect in South Africa
2. Events
1. Outreaches Activities :
UWC Dentistry Wellness Day: 3 April 2023
Steenberg Estate Farm outreach in collaboration with Department of Oral Hygiene and also with the exchange students from University of Gothenburg: 10 April 2023
Fisantekraal: 15 April 2023
UWC staff wellness day: 5 May 2023
Hout Bay with SHAWCO UCT: 6th May 2023 for outreach
2. Scientific events
Two staff members Attended the 17th World Congress on Public Health, Rome Italy organized by the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) 2-4 May 2023, Rome Italy. Drs Ramphoma and Rampersad attended the above congress with the theme- A World in Turmoil: Opportunities to Focus on the Public’s Health. The congress reflected on commitments of the global health community, to work together in and outside of our respective fields to promote health equity and to build a more sustainable and just future. In attendance were over 3,000 public health professionals and researchers, policymakers, and public health students. Dr Rampersad presented a poster titled: Early childhood caries: exploring the ethical implications for dental neglect in South Africa
Prof Smit attended the South African Dental Association (SADA) Western Cape SADA Western Cape Country Meeting on Saturday 27 May at Ashanti Paarl.
The whole department attended the Faculty Postgraduate Supervision workshop held in Cape Town on 14 April 2023
Four staff members attended online seminar presentation done by Prof Cristin Kearns from the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
Title: Big Sugar, Big Politics: Exploring the University of California San Francisco Online Food Industry Documents Archive: 26th April 2023
Dr Ramphoma was invited as an Online Guest Lecturer for Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry for the National Public Health Dentistry week June 19th and June 26th. The invitation was from Manipal College of Dental Sciences. She presented on Public Health Dentistry perspectives from South Africa. She was one of the many guest lecturers invited for this occasion.
3. Newsworthy events
International lecture presented at our most recent Community Dentistry Journal club on 12 May 2023: • Professor Rita Villena (Chair Pediatric Dentistry Department - University San Martin de Porres) Mother and Child program: a model to reach UHC in dentistry
Dental Anxiety - Prof Magnus Hakeberg (Institute of Odontology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden)
Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry
Prof Nadia Mohammed attended the 29th International Congress of the INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PAEDIATRIC DENTISTRY held in Maastricht, Netherlands (14 to 17 June 2023)
This international conference, entitled the Joining forces in Paediatric Dentistry was organized by the International Association of Paediatric Dentistry. It was held in the Exhibition and trade centre in Maastricht (MECC), Netherlands. The strong South African presence was appreciated, in light of the fact that the conference will be held in Cape Town in 2025 and members of the organizing committee (including Dr Potgieter and myself from UWC), were there to promote the 2025 congress.
The formal program consisted of plenary sessions symposia, oral sessions and poster presentations, hosted by various local and international speakers. All these ran concurrently, making it difficult to attend all lectures of interest. Sessions/ lectures which I attended included the following:
Session Topic
Plenary sessions The bitter truth about sugar
Nutrition and the first 1000 days of life
Sugar industry influence in oral health
The WHO Global Oral Health Action Plan (2023- 2030): a powerful tool for implementing effective oral health interventions in countries
Symposia Pedodontic endodontics
Speaker
Prof Dr Robert Lustig
Prof Dr Jaap Seidell
Dr Cristin Kearns
Dr Benoit Varenne
Ethics in Pediatric dentistry
Dental traumatology
• Geertjie Varn Gorp: Materials and clinical techniques for endodontics in primary teeth • Zafar Cehreli: Current trends in pediatric endodontic permanent teeth)
• Lisa Adams: Ethical issues in paediatric global health training and practice
• Eva Lauridsen: Combination injuries in the permanent dentition
• Anne O'Connell: Prevention of Traumatic Dental injuries
• Nitesh Tewari: Global status of awareness for emergency management of traumatic dental injuries: the road ahead
• Guangtai Song: Best of abstracts (Prognosis of crown fracture outcomes)
Session Topic Speaker
University of the Western Cape. Private
Oral session Dental Traumatology (series of short presentations/ case studies)
Poster session Care for the medically compromised child/ cranio-facial anomalies
• J. Cooper: Extirpate before it’s too late: The importance of timely extirpation following avulsion injuries
• A. Zainuren: Effects of dental adhesive materials and polishing techniques on adhesive remnant index (ARI) post removal of dental trauma splints
• M. Abdullah: Sequellae of delayed presentation of uncomplicated crown fracture due to dental neglect- a case report
• T. Ahworegba: Management of complicated crown fracture with an aberrantly placed tooth fragment- a case report
• G. Van Gorp: Long-term outcome of endodontically treated traumatized immature upper incisors
• X. Zhou: Multidisciplinary management of intrusive luxation- a case reports
I attended the two-hour session and presented my poster- IP-SDM: Interprofessional management of a Haemophilia patient. The presentation was well-received.
Prior to the conference in Maastricht, Dr Potgieter and I were invited to visit ACTA (Academiese Centrum Tandheelkunde Amsterdam). We met up with colleagues from the Department of Paediatric Dentistry who showed us their facilities. We exchanged ideas on what we were doing in our various programmes and received input on the content of our proposed specialization programme. This was an extremely positive and helpful encounter and has opened the way for possible future collaboration in terms of joint supervision/ examination and joint seminar and patient case discussions.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the Research Committee at the Faculty of Dentistry, UWC for approving my application and the University of the Western Cape for providing the funding for airfare, visas and conference fees so that I could attend this very worthwhile conference on Paediatric Dentistry.
This conference provided me with the opportunity to exchange ideas with some of the leaders in this field and help lay the groundwork for the 2025 conference in Cape Town. It also highlighted the fact that our Paediatric Dentistry curriculum is on par with rest of the world and that we are abreast of the latest treatment principles and techniques—something we can be very proud of despite the infrastructural and resource challenges we face.
Members of the 2025 conference LOC and scientific programme committee who attended the South African promotion event: Dr Nadine Moelich (UP); Dr Nicoline Potgieter (PSSA president, UWC); Prof N. Mohamed (UWC), Dr Tshepiso Mfolo (UP), Dr Maritjie Weakley (IAPD Board member and chairperson of the LOC)
University of the Western Cape. Private Bag X1. Tygerberg 7505. South Africa.
Department of Craniofacial Biology, Pathology & Radiology
Undergraduate Lectures are complete for semester 1 assessments completed - end of May
PG: PgDips Online lectures 1st Face 2 face contact session completed
1 MSc thesis submitted for examination
4 new MSc students registered for Forensic Odontology
1 new registrar in Pathology
1 PhD thesis submitted for examination
2 new registered PhD students
9 PhD students continue
1 Postdoc student registered: Dr Dada Temilola
News from Craniofacial Biology
Prof M Chetty: Appointed research Chair for Dentistry
Abstract accepted for IADR general session
Invited speaker - 49th ACBICON 2023 (Laboratory Medicine Path ahead - Amalgamating technology Humanity)
Prof T Roberts: Initiated and set up the Oral Oncology multidisciplinary clinic at the Faculty
University of the Western Cape. Private Bag X1. Tygerberg 7505. South Africa.
Profs Chetty and Roberts attended: “Oral Oncology Conference 2023: African Perspectives on Omics”, 11 July 2023.
Dr M Aborass: Abstract accepted. Speaker at IADR-Egypt congress
Dr Sudi: 2 Articles submitted and in review process and Abstract accepted for IADR-general session
Dr Salma Kabbashi: Accepted to attend Havard clinical research training workshop and Awarded the John Gray fellowship at IADR General Session
MOU signed between King's College London (Centre for Craniofacial and Regenerative Biology) and Faculty of Dentistry (Department of Craniofacial Biology, Pathology & Radiology).
Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology highlights
Prof Amir Afrogheh presented at the Scientific Networking Workshop, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 09 May 2023.
Prof Amir Afrogheh was external examiner for the oral pathology module for BDS students, University of Nairobi, Kenya, June 2023.
Prof Amir Afrogheh was external examiner for the oral pathology module for oral medicine and periodontology registrars, University of Pretoria, June 2023.
Prof Amir Afrogheh “HPCSA PANELLIST FOR THE EVALUATION OF WITWATERSRAND UNIVERSITY (WITS)’S BDS UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMME” March-April 2023
Prof Amir Afrogheh invited by SASPIO as a “SPEAKER AT SADA 2023 ANNUAL CONFERENCE” 25 th August 2023. Speaking on:-
o HPV-positive cancers of the head and neck
o Oral white mucosal lesions, discussion of selected cases and an approach
Prof Amir Afrogheh is Member of the Discipline Advisory Committee for the PathReD Congress August/September 2023
Dr Johan Opperman represented the department at the faculty open day, 13 May 2023.
Dr Johan Opperman invited to speak at the PathReD Congress 2023. 31 st August 2023. Title: “An overview of odontogenic cysts”
Prof Amir Afrogheh invited to speak at the PathReD Congress 2023. 31 st August 2023. Title: “An overview of odontogenic tumours”
Dr Julandi Alwan invited to present at the PathReD Congress 2023, 31 st August 2023. The young pathologist seminar.
Prof Amir Afrogheh nominated as chief editor for Africa and middle east/thyroid; world tumour registry, April 2023.
Dr Mongezi Nkosi, appointed as the first male black registrar in the oral and maxillofacial pathology department effective 1st June 2023.
Prof Amir Afrogheh was the CMSA examiner for the MDS oral pathology examination July 2023.
Dr Johan Opperman appointed as an observer for the MDS oral pathology examination July2023.
Dr Johan Opperman attended “Oral Oncology Conference 2023: African Perspectives on Omics”, 11 July 2023.
Dr Johan Opperman was invited to present at IAOP – 21 st International Congress of Oral Pathology and Medicine in Taiwan, August 2023.
Dr Julandi Alwan attempted the FCPath part II written examination in July 2023.
Dr Julandi Alwan attended “Oral Oncology Conference 2023: African Perspectives on Omics”, 11 July 2023.
Radiology Highlights
Departmental duties and functions
Roster cover both sites in hours by Dr Ebrahim, seen to be distributed evenly
Leave to email me for record keeping
Clinic starts at 8am
Contract staff leave formulas, I was informed they are not aware of leave amount, will be sent out
Loadshedding exemption not anymore, parts for generator not fixed, please shutdown equipment
For MP:
Mrs Samuels resigned end May. Post have been advertised and deadline is 14 July.
Mr Abrahams have been approved request for early retirement, which will be at end July due to ill health.
PACS at MP will hopefully be implemented Sept/October. Renovations will start middle to late July according to vendor.
For Tygerberg:
Management have approved staff to revert back to pre-Covid working timeslots i.e. from 7h30 to 4h30 pm
All CBCT’s will be done on a booking system from 1 August.
New CBCT bid spec committee has started. Mrs. Palmer and Dr Ebrahim on committee
Radiation Inspection on all 29 units have been concluded at both sites
Undergraduate
RAD400 wrote test 1(osce and written), 1 student (Mr Hanware) did not write, student also did not write maxfac (year coordinator was informed), diagnostic clinical test was conducted in 1 st semester; lecturer and student module evaluation sent out for completion; 1 student of concern due to performance in test reported to year coordinator; test 1 average 59%
RAD301:
10/20 lectures are completed as per the lecture schedule.
Test 1 was written on the 21st April, Average: 61% , (5 A's, 1 B, 10 C's, 6 D's)
Students that received the lowest mark for test 1 (50-52%) will be monitored and extra assistance/support will be offered to any student
The Computer lab was booked for test 1 (Students preferred the testing environment as radiographic features are best depicted digitally where one can zoom in and out and everyone has their own PC. *Logistically, it takes time to load the PC's with the test - PC's are very slow)
Clinical Assessments (Diagnosis and Techniques Competency tests) started 9th May 2023 and are underway. Students to complete 1 tech test and 1 diagnostic competency test by the end of the semester.
RAP220 and RAD123: Second semester module
Postgraduate
RAD812 catchup still in progress, student registered late
Additional lecture (CBCT) for paedo postgrads to be given by Dr Walters
Assistance in forensic case by Dr Walters
MFR611: 2 students enrolled, 1st contact session was scheduled for 28th May – 02 June, 2nd contact session scheduled for 4th-8th Sept
MFR612: 6 students - Assignment instructions distributed. Progress regarding the literature review has been requested.
ANA825: NA (no students registered this year)
Department of Prosthodontics
Undergraduate programmes
The dental undergraduate programme continues to be challenged with infrastructure issues: break down of chairs due to wear and tear as well as load-shedding. This reduces the number of functioning chairs on the platform, challenging dental students and clinical teachers.
The BDSV class were introduced to a digital workflow in Prosthodontics. Each dental student was taught how to prepare, scan and mill an indirect restoration using a digital scanner and milling unit. This is a first for undergraduate dental education in the country! Students were taught by newly trained UWC staff and proudly supported by UWC alumni and Dentsply Sirona staff.
University of the Western Cape. Private Bag X1. Tygerberg 7505. South Africa.
Postgraduate programmes
Professor Kosmas Tolidis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki delivered an online lecture ‘Fibre reinforced restorations ‘ to the postgraduate diploma students. The lecture was well received by our students and we hope to build on the collaboration.
The second-year postgraduate diploma students were hosted at Wrights Millners for a hands-on course of Injection moulding with Dr Corne Smith.
Dr Enas Ismail, postdoctoral fellow attended the “Focussed Ion Beam/Transmission Electron Microscopy Short Course,UWC’23”, 5-9 June 2023.
Dr Enas Ismail applied for grant support for Y-rated Researchers in May 2023, currently under review.
Dr Enas Ismail was successfully granted NRF Scholarship-and Fellowship-Holders Travel Grants 2023, 2 June 2023.
Staff development
Professor Riaan Mulder provided training sessions for all interested staff and postgraduate students on the Vickers Hardness testing.
Dr Farzana Karjiker completed her Good Clinical Practice (GCP) certification for Research purposes.
A hands-on session hosted by the Department of Prosthodontics for ICON was attended by Drs Bredenkamp and Ziegler, Prof Adam & Mulder.
All interested staff and postgraduate students were invited to attend a training session on UV-VIS SPECTROSCOPY held by Dr Enas Ismail (postdoctoral research fellow) .
University of the Western Cape. Private Bag X1. Tygerberg 7505. South Africa.
Dr Ziegler attended CPD Event:’ Lithium Disilicate in Dentistry: Case discussions’, Wright Millners Academy.
Dr Farzana Karjiker attended a training opportunity on Research Ethics as part of her duties as department representative for the DENRC.
Research
Netshilindi, N., Asia-Michaels, W., & Maart, R. (2023). An innovative digital workflow for the fabrication of a prosthetic ear: A case report. South African Dental Journal, 78(2), 92-96.
Maart, R. Do we need to reconsider competencies for dental graduates for the 21 st century ? Commentary. 2023. SADJ ( in press)
Maart, R & Gordon, N. Community Partnerships as a vehicle for Interprofessional Education. African Journal of Health Professions Education (in press).
Dr Ronel Maart presented a workshop: ‘ How to get published ‘at SAAHE,2023 (Nelson Mandela University, Ggebertha).
Dr Ronel Maart attended TUFH - Africa Conference (Virtual) attendance.
Dr Maart co-authored a presentation that was presented at APMEC (May, 2023- Singapore): African Mentoring in Health Professions Education.
Dr Maart presented a webinar for Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU)- ‘Competency based curriculum in Dental education (including clinical teaching and assessment)’.
Prof Razia Adam attended the Annual National Postdoctoral Research Forum held in Stellenbosch on the 28 th and 29th June 2023.
Widadh Klein, Enas Ismail *, Ernest Maboza, Ahmed A. Hussein, Razia Z. Adam, “Green Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles: Antifungal and cyto-toxic potential for further dental applications”, Journal of Biofunctional Materials , accepted on 19 April 2023,in press.
Mohammed Khenfouch, Roya M. Ndimba, Enas Ismail, Mohammed Hamzah,Pontsho Mbule, Sweety Sarma, Rudolph Erasmus, Bakang M. Mothudi, Mokhotjwa S. Dhlamini and Malik Maaza, “Eco-friendly synthesized few layered graphene: Main physico-chemical nanocharacterizations for optical quenching applications”, Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys., April 2023, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap/2023220285.
Department of Oral Medicine & Periodontics
Teaching & Learning
22 May: The Department held a clinical supervisor calibration workshop. The workshop was aimed at addressing concerns around clinical diagnosis and management that had been reported to be variable amongst supervisors. A final flow diagram to guide checkpoints during clinical supervision was constituted to be implemented as of semester 2.
A follow up was held at the recent department meeting held on 10 July 2023.
Postgraduate Studies
Implantology PDD; session 2 for first and second year PDD was held in June and July 2022. This was a remarkable example of our partnership with private sector as digital implant planking training was held as Dentsply Sirona offices.
The department is managing the multidisciplinary clinical case study discussion group that will streamline and mange cross discipline treatment for patients manged by postgraduate students. The intention is to have monthly seminars and case discussions for treatment planning.
Community outreach
OMP department rotates the endocrinology in and out patient clinics once a month for periodontal and dental screening.
Research:
University of the Western Cape. Private Bag X1. Tygerberg 7505. South Africa.
Prof Haly Holmes appointment as team leader for working group 3: COST: Interception of oral cancer development. https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA21140/#tabs+Name:Working%20Groups%20and %20Membership
Department of Oral Hygiene: Quarterly Dean’s Report April-June 2023
1. Community engagement and service learning projects
▪ Special Needs Oral Care project at the Glenbridges School
Dr Naidoo is currently engaged in the Special Needs Oral Care project at the Glenbridges School in the Western Cape. This project involves the collection of baseline data and providing oral care such as tooth brushing, fluoride and restorations. This program will be an ongoing sustainable project. The project has further been registered for research purposes. This project will also be providing oral care treatment to the teaching assistants who do not not have medical aid benefits , therefore experiencing challenges when assessing oral care. A website launch for this program is scheduled for 18 July 2023.
▪ Groote Schuur Exhibition. An exhibition at GSH was arranged by the Nursing sister in the Maxillo-Facial clinic at GSH. This formed part of the service learning activities of the OHP213 module. Second year students did an exhibition in the outpatient department as well as entrance to the main hospital. Approximately 400 patients and staff attended. The feedback was positive from both students and staff who attended the presentation. The event was highlighted in the GSH newsletter.
● Ikamva Labantu project
This annual project for educators of early development (ECD) centres included two days of workshops and two days of dental screening and treatment using the faculty mobile. The project is a collaboration of the NPO Ikamva Labantu, Faculty staff (including the oral hygienists working on the mobile bus) and Khayelitsha dental clinic staff. The purpose is to promote oral health literacy among educators and enable them to embed oral health into their ECD centres. Colgate is a major sponsor through their Bright Smiles project –providing dental kits for children attending these centres. In 2023, 110 educators attended, reaching 5400 children.
● Community Outreach at Spier
Students and staff engaged in the Spier community outreach on 14 June 2023. The focus was on a Wellness Day at Spier” and to provide dental screenings and oral health education to staff at the Spier estate. The total number of attendees who received oral hygiene education and dental screenings was 95. The team consisted of BOH III oral hygiene students and two staff members, Ms. Chibba and Mrs. Viljoen from the Oral Hygiene Department, as well as four oral hygiene staff members from the State Health Dental Clinics. Attendees had the opportunity to receive one-on-one oral health education and having their specific dental inquiries addressed, as well as receive “goody bags” with basic oral hygiene products and dental screenings. Both UWC dental faculty and State Health oral hygienists, assisted attendees by providing them with referrals to nearby facilities to address their dental needs, and for some attendees, appointments were scheduled. The UWC oral hygiene students and staff provided services from 8:15 am to 16:00 pm on the day of the outreach.
2. Teaching and Learning
Two staff members attended the UWC Innovation Hub launch in June 2023. Sessions will be booked for all staff to get exposure to the facilities available.
3. International Collaboration
▪ The Department has an established MOU with Artevelde Hogeschool in Ghent. The newly appointed Head of Department of the Oral Hygiene program visited the Faculty together with the Research Head. The meeting request was made by Artevelde to UWC IRO. The Delegation included the Dean of Department of Health and Care (Dr. Patricia Claessens), Head of Bachelor of Nursing (Nadia Vanderstraeten and the Coordinator of Internationalization: Expertise Network Health and Care (Evelyne Eneman). The purpose of the meeting was to advance discussions on collaboration in the areas of research, co-teaching and joint student projects.
4. Conferences
Ms Natalie Gordon attended the 101st General Session and Exhibition of the IADR, Colombia, IX Meeting of the Latin American Region, 12th World Congress on Preventive Dentistry in Colombia in July, 2023 and presented a topic “Oral health knowledge and practices of community health workers”. I had the opportunity to visit a dental school and a university hospital, a collaboration initiated by Dr Behardien. Of interest was the fact that the dental school focused on treating the number and scope of patients required fr training purposes and was not viewed as a public health service platform. The public health system was responsible for providing oral and dental services. We also visited the university hospital where students treated patients in an interdisciplinary manner.
Department of Maxillofacial & Oral Surgery
The following events took place in the period April - June 2023,which featured activity from the Department of Maxillo-Facial and Oral Surgery.
Dr Fadi Titinchi successfully completed his final examinations for the MDS(MFOS) program as well as the Colleges of Medicine(MFOS) of SA. He completed the Examinations with distinction.
Dr Nashreen Behardien represented the IADR-SA Division as a Councillor at the recent IADR meeting in Bogota, Colombia. (21-24 June 2023).In addition, she also presented a paper(interactive poster) : Behardien N, Brijlal P, Roman NV. Course evaluation:Assessment Practices of a Pre-clinical Exodontia Skills Course(Interactive Talk Presentation). IADR/LAR General Session and Exhibition with WCPD, Bogota, Colombia, 21-24 June 2023.
The Oral-and Dental Outpatient Department at GSH together with undergraduate students from the Department of Oral Hygiene featured in the GSH newsletter for activities related to Oral Health Awareness Day which took place on 5th May 2023 at GSH. The activity was set up in both the Outpatient Department and in Hospital Street and provided students the opportunity to interact with a range of different staff and patients. The small group visits to the Dental Clinic provided them with an overview of the role of Oral and Dental Professionals in a Tertiary Hospital.
Faculty of Dentistry Administration
UWC Wellness Day
The UWC Sports Day took place on Friday, 5 May and the faculty participated in Foosball, tug-of-war and cricket. No team had inititally been entered for the volleyball and a team was put together on the spur of the moment at the event. The team made us proud by winning most of their games as well as the gold trophy. The score in the final match was 21-12.
The volleyball team consisted of the following staff:
Shane Theys
Lister Rayner
Allroy Joseph
Ziyaad Issack
Michael Uitlander
Shaun Cozyn
Giovanni Matthee
Registrar's Rewards and Recognition Awards
The annual Registrar's Rewards and Recognition Gala Dinner took place on Friday evening. The following staff members were recognized and were the recipients of the respective awards:
Most promising academic administrator
Keenan Smith
Positive Attitude
Shaun Cozyn
Service Excellence
Chehaylin Boschman
Concluding Remarks
The Faculty of Dentistry may be one of the smallest faculties at UWC but the number of activities, newsworthy items, publications, awards and general good news in the last three months is indicative of the new culture and environment that is being built at Dentistry. I remain positive about our future and we remain on track in our mission to become global players in teaching, training and research.
Your sincerely
Prof V Yengopal Dean, Faculty of Dentistry, UWC