SALSI: International Summit of Saliva Symposium India

The First International Summit of SALIVA SYMPOSIUM held in India. An educational extravaganza with 15 keynote speakers from across the globe. There were a total  of 480 Registrations. A 3 days packed lectures that were a treat to the mind which stimulated the brain cells to think beyond the horizon. Scientific presentations both poster and paper where conducted for all 3 days. Total of 14 awards were given and an overall best poster and best paper trophies were given. Quiz was conducted among different colleges and the best team were awarded. Investigate the crime scene was also conducted were clues and the crime scene was narrated and students were asked to identify the samples to be collected and in what way it could be useful to identify the culprit. 

Hands on Workshop on Referencing and Citation managers for Beginners

Department of Anatomy, Saveetha Dental College organized a Hands-on Workshop on Referencing and Citation Managers for Beginners” on 02nd February 2019 from 9am to 12.00 noon. Mrs Thenmozhi, Head, Department of Anatomy, Saveetha Dental college  welcomed the gathering. The First session was conducted by Dr.Silambarasan Moskomani, NUS Med post-doctoral fellow, Department of Anatomy, National University of Singapore. He introduced the basics of referencing and different citation styles and its components. Dr.Durairaj, associate professor, Dental Research cell, updated on the latest version of ENDNOTE® and enumerated the different functionalities and options in it. 

Dr Ganesh Lakshmanan, Senior Lecturer, Department of Anatomy, Saveetha Dental college compared the pros and cons and practical applicability of Mendeley® and zotero® softwares for referencing. Dr. M. Karthik Ganesh, Senior Lecturer, Department of Anatomy, Saveetha Dental college explained the suitability of paperpile® and how to work in tandem with google docs. The students were also given hands-on training on the same.   

The speakers were felicitated and presented with gifts by Mrs. M. S. Thenmozhi, Professor and Head, Department of Anatomy. Dr. Dinesh Premavathy, Lecturer, from the Department of Anatomy, delivered the vote of thanks.

Day 3: Saveetha Transdisciplinary Annual Research Summit

Day 3 STAR SUMMIt with the valedictory function was a treat to ourselves. Third day star summit again had 625 posters from 5 departments with 50 judges and 150 peer judges. The proof of the pudding is in eating and here we see our students getting awards for their research work. The chief guest Shri. Rakesh Rajan, IPS

Adviser and DDG (Evaluation),NITI Aayog, Govt. of India was amazed at our students work and was happy to be in on e of the premier institutions in the country. There were 372 awards for undergraduates and post graduates. It was a visual treat.

Day 2: Saveetha Transdisciplinary Annual Research Summit- 2019

No less to day 1. 5 departments, 600 papers , 45 judges and 135 peer judges. The judges were just not impressed but dump stuck as well. The chief guest Dr. Sabyasachi Saha, was very appreciative of the students and their work. He also made a mention of the faculties hard work and management support. He spoke about various avenues after BDS and encouraged the students to work with passion. Awaiting the third day it was pleasure and cherish able day for all students, faculty and management of Saveetha Dental College.

Saveetha Transdisciplinary Annual Research Summit- 2019

The most awaited STAR SUMMIt 2019 by the students to display their research was a great success. The chief guest Mr. Rajendran Dhandapani, Director, ZOHA CORP, was impressed with the software systems and the infographics by the students.Department of Anatomy, Orthodontics, Pedodontics, Surgery and Oral Pathology presented over 600 research posters, 40 judges and 120 peer reviewers. Yet another laurel to our crown. Waiting for more, the next two days.

"3D Endodontics - Miss no details"- Guest Lecture

Dr Abarajithan Mohan , Dentsply speaker, has conducted a lecture and workshop on 3D Endodontics - Miss no details, on 21st January 2019.A reasonable and prudent clinician must keep current with available advances that are generally accepted and embraced by the Endodontist through research and evidence. Microsurgical endodontics is an example of improved endodontic technology. Use of magnifying loupes or similar devices may prove inadequate for apical surgery, accessing difficult canals while preserving tooth structure or fractured instrument retrieval, when compared with microscopes. It is incumbent upon the clinician to adopt proven technologies that improve the quality of endodontic care rendered and meet current accepted standard. The aim of this  clinical lecture and hands on program was to highlight the importance of looking into finer details in every step of clinical endodontics to improve the overall treatment outcome.

Saveetha Transdisciplinary Annual Research Summit- 2019

Field Visit IIT

A Field visit was conducted for 1 st year PG’s of the Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics to IIT Chennai. The different testing machines such as universal testing machine ,Digital spectrophotometer, UV spectrophotometer ,etc . were shown to the students and explained in details what are the different tests that can be conducted for research purpose. Getting a first hand experience on the different equipment’s allows the students to plan well for their future research projects.

DRUG RESISTANT BACTERIAL INFECTIONS IN HUMAN MOUTH

Department of Physiology conducted a CDE Programme on 19 th January 2019 entitled as “DRUG RESISTANT BACTERIAL INFECTIONS IN HUMAN MOUTH” by Dr. Ramesh Kumar. He is currently working as a National Post Doctoral Fellow in the Department of science and Technology, YRG Center of AIDS Research Foundation, VHS Hospitals, Chennai. He shared a wide knowledge on drug resistance bacterial infections in oral cavity among the students . He emphasized more on the current research activities which are trending now a days which makes the students more interesting. The Participants were first year BDS and BSC students. We trust that his experience on research have provided our students to do more and more original research activities in the future. The programme was wrecked with an excellent interactive session.

Transformation in learning- Edify: Department of General Pathology

Department of Pathology conducted their 6th edify meet on “Process of Moulding the students for their career”. We presented a video about the real experience of us with a student who was an introvert, shy and a frequent absentee for classes in his first year. We showed that how we identified him and counselled him personally and how his friends were counselled to help him out by interacting,reading and learning with him in his second year.Finally we showed how he had drastically transformed by us to an interactive, enthusiastic and being regular for classes in his third year and got a great appreciation from the audience.

Transformation learning Edify: Department of Pharmacology

Department of pharmacology has presented the Edify season 6 on transformational changes in learning process on 17 th January 2019. Pharmacology is an inevitable and overwhelming subject in dental curriculum but students in second year beginning find it very difficult to learn the drug classification, actions, interactions and the various indications as so many new drugs are introduced so often because of the enormous growth in research and development in this field. To make a novice into a fully equipped and highly competent dental practitioner in future, rational thinking and knowledge of drugs are mandatory for prescribing drugs for oral conditions.  Hence, Pharmacology department has an active role to give updated knowledge about the currently used drugs and the dosage forms. The department   staff take enough care of the students by knowing their personal difficulty in learning process and modulating them to learn and recollect the subject with the help of various activities such as phonological loop(mnemonics),Know how-show how, Context learning and the same was presented in this edify.

Clinical applications of Cone Beam Computed Tomography in Endodontics

Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics conducted a guest lecture on “Clinical applications of Cone Beam Computed Tomography in Endodontics". The lecture was presented by Dr. R. Dinesh Kowsky, Senior Lecturer, Dept of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital on 11.1.19 at Deccenial Hall, Saveetha Dental College. In dentistry, successful treatment outcome depends on correct diagnosis and treatment plan. CBCT being three dimensional, helps in the early diagnosis of endodontic pathosis, which leads to a predictable treatment outcome.  The appropriate utilization of CBCT in clinical practice may revolutionize the way we treat the patients.  This lecture focused on fundamentals of CBCT and it’s usefulness in the management of different endodontic conditions. 

Dental Caries Bacteriology and Treatment Options

Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics conducted a guest lecture on “Dental Caries Bacteriology and Treatment Options” presented by Dr. V. Keerthi, Reader, Dept of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Thai Mookambigai Dental College on 4.1.19 at Watson and Crick Hall, Saveetha Dental College. Dental caries is a bacteria driven disease. The microbiota is highly complex and varies with caries initiation to progression based on different caries sites. There are various methods to detect microorganisms associated with different stages of caries with the latest being technology of molecular analyses. The lecture focused on the bacterial diversity and medical model for prevention of dental caries.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PHARM-BIOTECH 2K19

The Department of Pharmacology, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, SIMATS, Chennai in association with TN Chapter –Society of Pharmaceutical Educational & Research (SPER) has organised the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PHARM-BIOTECH 2K19 on January 8th 2019. The conference was enriched with guest talks on  Nutraceuticals as a promising strategy for the regulation of apoptotic life by Dr. Sri Renukadevi Balusamy PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, Sejong University, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea, Bio-nanotechnology: Dr. Haribalan Perumalsamy PhD, Research Professor, Kyung hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea delivered a talk on “An emerging tool for the treatment of cancer by and Dr. T Rajasekar ,Scientist Centre for Drug Discovery & Development, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology Chennai delivered lecture on “Therapeutic importance of sulfated polysaccharides from seaweeds: Updating the recent Findings”. 157 delegates from various Institutions have actively participated and 67 delegates presented e-posters. Ten presentations were selected and appreciated with Best e-poster Award. The accepted abstracts will be published International Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Scopus indexed).

Transformation Learning-Edify Department of Biochemistry

Department of Biochemistry conducted Edify 6.0 on transformation in learning on 10th January 2019. 
Edify showcased the transformation of a dull student to a college topper with the help of innovative teaching and learning process in the department of Biochemistry. The students expressed their experiences they had encountered in the department of Biochemistry which brought a change in their academic performance. 
The students shared their research experience in the department. The department moulded them to excel in their research work. The students were encouraged to publish their articles in Scopus indexed journals.
Students from other dental colleges expressed their learning experience in the Biochemistry Department at Saveetha Dental College during their participation in various conferences.

Transformation Learning- Edify Department of Physiology

The theme for this Edify session is based on “TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING”. So, based on the theme, we the department of Physiology conducted a survey on learning abilities among the students. By this survey, we came to know about where the students was lagging and also we found that a few set of students lack their self confidence while the others were not able to concentrate for a prolonged time during their studies. In our department, we carried some important measures for the overcome of those learning disabilities to the students. For this, we followed some simple techniques like to set a study goals, to have a short break while learning, to do some simple exercise, to beat distractions, and also to be organized. By following these simple measures the students were able to show improvements in their academics and also we found a drastic change in their personality development.

Transformation in learning-Edify by Department of Anatomy

The Edify Session of the Department of Anatomy was showcased on 10 th January 2019. Dr. M. Karthik Ganesh, Senior Lecturer, Department of Anatomy, addressed and welcomed the gathering for the first Edify of the New Year 2019 on behalf of the Department. First he described “Transformative Learning” the theme of this Edify Cycle. He also explained briefly about their video content that, the video demonstrates on the various strategies used by the staffs to improvise the learning ability of all the students especially the slow learners and in turn how the students developed their capability in understanding the subject and how they transformed into better learners. Then he played the video. The video shortly explained about the uniqueness, importance and challenges in learning Anatomy and also demonstrated the measures to overcome it. The video also described the various types of student learning and categorized the students into Kinesthetic, Visual, Auditory and Read/Write learners based on the learning and understanding ability of the students. For slow-learners the learning method insisted by the staffs was on kinesthetic method of learning in which learning takes place by the students carrying out various physical activities, rather than studying from the text book or listening to a lecture or watching demonstrations. Then the video had various feedbacks from slow learners of first year, second year, third year, fourth year and Internship students of BDS. They shared their experiences that how they struggled at the beginning in understanding the Anatomy subject and after the teachers guidance, how they adopted the learning strategies to improve their studying skills in their first year tenure of BDS course. After the end of the video the Director of Academics, Dr. Deepak Nallaswamy commented that the video appeared as an interview series rather than a complete transformation of a student. He advised to focus more on single slow learning student at the beginning and after training how the student getting transformed into a better learning student in all capabilities. He also mentioned the student feedback videos were “candid”.

Pongal Vizha-2019

Yet another occasion to celebrate.!!! Saveetha Institute of Medical & Technical Sciences organised a gala pongal visa at the university campus, Thandalam.

A complete village set up with all traditional games and cultural participated and performed from students across all the institutions under SIMATS umbrella.

Cotton candy to cane juice, columbus to giant wheel all fun games and pongal preparation by the faculty. Feast to the students, fun for the faculty memories of childhood. Hurray!!

OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) – An Update for the Dental team

The Department of Oral Medicine& Radiology conducted an International CDE on 28th December 2018 titled “OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) – An Update for the Dental team. The Program was aimed at providing in-depth and elaborate knowledge on the upcoming topic of obstructive sleep apnea. The Program has International Speakers like Dr. Sowmya Ananthan DMD., MSD form Rutgers school of Dental science, USA and National Speakers Dr. Ranjana Kumari MS ENT , Dr. Mogit Gupta. Y & Dr. Subha . M , which led to the awarding of 3 CDE points by the Tamilnadu Dental Council of India through their order TNDC Approval Number 245/18. 

The CDE was inaugurated by Dr.Sheeja verghese , Dean  Saveetha Dental College, with a complete ladies list of Dignitaries on the Dias representing the contribution of women in the field of Medicine. The CDE started with   Dr. Mogit who gave the lecture on OSA – Understanding the disease process in which he explained the various epidemiological aspects of OSA and the Pathophysiology of OSA. Dr.Subha then gave a lecture on POSA and its long term implications which gave special emphasis on the pediatric OSA and the various clinical features and the long term implications of such patients. Dr. Sowmya’s lecture dealt with an indepth discussion on OSA, and the relationship with Orofacial pain and the various modalities with which a patient with OSA has to be managed. Dr. Ranjana then spoke on the medical and the dental connect of OSA and gave insights on the ENT aspects of OSA and ended her lecture by showing various surgical management of OSA. 

There were a total of 62 participants who were from USA (1) , other parts of India (1)  and Tamilnadu (60). The participants were not only dentists but also medical professionals who deal with OSA in their day to day practice.  All the participants appreciated the uniqueness of the program choosing OSA in which there are various avenues of research. They gave a positive feedback about each guest lecturers and expressed their interest to take part in further CDE organized on similar topics.