Understanding Molecular Drivers of Oral cancer through Genomics driven approaches

The department of Oral pathology organised a Guest lecture on 7/11/19. The lecture was delivered by Dr. Nidhan K. Biswas,National institute of Biomedical genomics, Kolkata on the topic “Understanding Molecular Drivers of Oral cancer through Genomics driven approaches”. Genomic profile or Indian Gingivobuccal cancer patients is different from the western population. The lecture emphasised and highlighted the molecular profile of Indian Patients affected by OSCC. There are 4 new genes that have been discovered in Indian patients.  The speaker also highlighted that the patients with Lymph node metastases had more mutations in Arachidonic Acid pathway. He underscored the need for genomic analysis of Indian patients for developing targets and improved prognosis. Dr. Nidhan K. Biswas was felicitated by our Dean Dr. Sheeja Varghese.

Importance of Basic Sciences in Clinical Practice

Department of   Oral Pathology organized a Guest lecture on “Importance of Basic  Sciences in Clinical Practice” by Dr.T.Elangovan MDS, Oral and Maxillofacial Pathologist, Director, DT Smile Care. Dr. Elangovan changed the mundane approach of the students towards dentistry to a more inspiring outlook. He motivated the students to face the challenges during their early years as stepping stones towards their future career. With anecdotes, stories and interactions, the lecture was well received and appreciated by the students. The students stated that this was one of the fascinating Lectures they had attended. Dr. Elangovan also distributed prizes to the toppers of the First Module Examination. 

Founder's Day Celebration 2019

Founder’s Day celebration on 15th November of every year is a most expected event by the students and faculty. This is a gala celebration where the students and faculty are recognised for their whole year of hard work. The event was presided by our Honourable founder, Chancellor, Dr.N.M.Veeraiyan, SIMATS. Student and faculty from across all the institutions under the SIMATS umbrella attended the event. The Chief Guest was Mrs. BHARATHI BASKAR, al fine orator addressed the students and emphasised on the importance of hardwork and self confidence.

SIMATS university takes pride in honouring the legends in various fields. It includes Dr. R. P. Shanmugham sir, an eminent gastroenterologist and the founder and chairman of RPS Hospital, Chennai, in the field of Medicine.Honourable Justice K. Gnanaprakasam sir, former Judge of The Madras High Court, in the field of law. Prof. Dr Neelima A. Malik Mam, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, Vice Chancellor, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Deemed to be University, Karad, Maharashtra, in the field of Dentistry.Ms. Aparajitha Balamurukan, National Squash Player from the Indian Team, in sports.

The toppers from all the departments received a waiver of fee. faculty with highest number of publication, publication with high impact factor and cumulative impact factor were all awarded. There were cultural program by the students. All the Principals, faculty and non teaching staffs wished our Chancellor for good health.

How to Hack Your Nervous System

Department of Physiology conducted a CDE Programme on 16th November 2019 entitled as “How to hack your nervous system”.   Dr. Vasugi, working as a Professor & Head in the department of Physiology, Priyadarshini Dental College, Chennai.  She shared an ample knowledge on vagus nerve and also emphasized about natural technique to control vagal tone during stress condition and increased sympathetic activity.  We hope that her experience would help our students to tune their vagal tone in their future and also improving their concentration level in their activity.  The programme ended with an awarding session.  Chief Guest awarded the students who secured top marks in their test I & II of the first year subject.

Insignia 2019

Ladies in red and men in black suits, was a sight to behold on the eve of 9th November 2019 at Saveetha Dental college “INSIGNIA 2019”. Insignia is an annual event organised at Saveetha Dental College and Hospital, Chennai which rewards the efforts of students and staffs from the dental college. The event was presided by DrN.M.Veeraiyan. The Chief guests were Dr. Janak Raj Sabharwal, Dr Vijay Sankar, DrVasanth Kumar, Dr.K.Hisamuddin Papa, DrD. Rajagovindan, Dr. Rosy Vennila and Dr.Arumalla Sridhar Reddy.

The evening began with an Inaugural dance which was followed by the award ceremony. About 250 awards were given to BDS Students,Dental technicians, Postgraduates, Teaching and Non teaching staffs based on various criteria’s. The students also showed their talent by performing cultural events with thundering performances from both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

The chief guest for first year BDS awardswas Dr.D.Rajagovindan. The awards were given for 5 toppers from Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Dental Anatomy, Fundamentals of Dentistry, and Behavioral Science. Awards for overall toper and the student with maximum number of publication were also given.Thariny.E, TahamaraiSelvi,V.T, Sarojini. K, Anu Ishawarya.J and Deepti Sogasu bagged awards in almost all the categories. Blessy Pushparathma. S was given the research topper award for 3 publications in Scopus indexed journals.

DR Rosy Vennila awarded the II BDS students for their acheivements in 8 academic subjects and research publications. The overall toppers were VaishnaviDevi.B, Ramya.G, Akshaya. K, ShamaaAnjum. And ThaslimaNandhini .Also received the research topper award with 5 publications in indexed journals.

The third year BDS students collected their awards from Dr Vijay Sankar.The students were awarded for the subjects General Medicine, General Surgery, Oral Pathology and additional subjects including Medical Emergencies, Imageology and Practice Management. The overall toppers were Meghana Reddy Jangam Reddy, GayathriKarthikeyan, KeerthigaNagarajan, KeshaavKrishnaa.P and Pranathi.T. The third years also received clinical awards for their achievements in clinical aspect as well; the overall clinical topper was Keshaav Krishnaa.P and Keerthiga Nagarajan recieved the award for Research.

Dr.Arumalla Sridhar Reddy awarded the Final BDS students for their performance in 10 academic subjects, clinicals and research publications. The overall toppers were Sahil Choudhari, Geethika. B, Subashri.A, Jembulingam.S and Vaishali. S. The clinical topper for the fourth years was received by Subasri.A and the research topper was Sarvesh Kumar with 4 publications in Scopus indexed journals.

The hardwork of the Interns was recognised with the clinical award for the maximum number of procedures. It was handed over Dr.K.Hisamuddin Papa. Shamit Thaper for Conservative dentistry, Abijeth.B for Oral medicine and Sharanya. H for Oral surgery, Khushali K Shah for Public Health Dentistry and Sri VasaaviKadiyala forPeriodontic and Prosthodontics, Nivetha Srinivasan for Orthodontics and Sahana.R.Yfor Pedodontics. The best intern of the year award was given toNandhakumar.E. The research Topper award was given to Sahana. K with 6 publications.

The dental technicians were awarded for their excellence in academics and clinical work. The highest procedure count was received by SaiRam (1st year),Naresh (2nd year) and Balaji (3rd year). For acedamic excellence Sheik Abdullah ,Dhanalakshmi and Ajithbagged the awards.

Dr. Janak Raj Sabharwal, also handed over the awards to the postgraduates basedon academics and the skillful clinical workfor the year 2018-2019 in their representative departments. Shivanagini. Y won the best researcher award for 4 publications and Hema Shree. K received the award for her publication with highest impact factor among the postgraduates.The best outgoing postgraduate was Dr. Hannah. R from the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology.

DrVasanth Kumar handed over the prizes to the esteemed faculty for their untiring drive towards teaching. DrRajeshkumarrecived the most punctual and workaholic award. Research awards were also given to the faculty.

Clinic 3 won the best clinic award and best cleanliness award .The Departments with the highest academic scores were Prosthodontics and Dental Anatomy. The departments with highest Batch average Prosthodontics and General Pathology. The Academic award for highest number of distinctions was bagged by the Department of General Pathology .Among the faculty, Dr.VishnuPriya was awarded the Best Faculty with the highest CAFE Score.  The Best Research Department was won by Biochemistry. The Overall Best department award was won by the Departments of Biochemistry and Prosthodontics.

Diwali Celebrations

The Diya festival was well celebrated by the faculty of Saveetha Dental College. The management takes good care of their employee that they distribute crackers and sweets every year. This year too it was well organised by giving double the amount of sweets. This also is an example on how they emphasise and reemphasise on culture and tradition.

Pre conference workshop -FHNO: Microvascular Live Surgery

Saveetha Oral Cancer Institute conducted a preconference workshop on Oct 10, 2019 prior to the FHNO annual meet which was to be held on Oct 11-13, 2019.
The resection of the primary tumor with infratemporal fossa clearance was demonstrated by Dr. Moni Kuriakose, and the chimeric anterolateral thigh flap harvest and microvascular reconstruction was demonstrated by Dr. Antony Arvind.
The surgial procedure was relayed live from the OT to the Decennial hall participants. Surgeons, post graduates, and consultants from all over India were part of the workshop.
The participants directly interacted with the surgeons in the OT providing a rich learning experience for the attendees.

Diabetes Mellitus : The current scenario

Department of Biochemistry has organised a CDE programme on 19.10.19, at the Decennial Hall, Saveetha Dental College. Dr Dhananjayan , Consultant and Head, Department of Biochemistry, Apollo Super Speciality Hospitals, Chennai,was invited to deliver guest lecture on " Diabetes Mellitus : The current scenario". Students understood the role of life style modification in non communicable diseases.

Isolation and characterization of stem cells from dental pulp

The hands on workshop on “Isolation and characterization of stem cells from dental pulp” was organized exclusively for post graduate students of the department of Endodontics, Saveetha Dental College. The workshop started with a guest lecture on “Mesenchymal Stem cells and its applications” delivered by Dr. D. Ezhilarasan, Scientist, BRULAC. The lecture focused mainly on the sources of MSC, the procedure for culturing and its major applications in the field of medicine and dentistry. The hands-on training was organized by Dr. A. Paramasivam, who demonstrated the methods for processing dental pulp so as to obtain stem cells. The session was followed by isolation of mRNA from stem cells, conversion into cDNA and identification of stem cell markers using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The gel electrophoretogram was obtained and the interpretation of results was taught to the students. The students were interactive and keen in doing the procedures themselves. The programme was a grand success. We would like to thank Dr. Niveditha, Professor, Department of Endodontics for providing the opportunity to conduct the workshop. We would also like to extend our gratitude to Dr, A, Padmaraj, Veterinarian, for his constant support and encouragement.

Occlusal Considerations in Crowns

Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics conducted a guest lecture on “Occlusal Considerations in Crowns” on 17.10.19 presented by Dr. T. T. Saravanan, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education & Research. The lecture focused on creating awareness and help appreciate the importance of occlusion. The occlusion of teeth is frequently overlooked or taken for granted in providing restorative dental treatments. This is due to the fact that symptoms of occlusal disease are often hidden from dentists not trained to recognize them or to appreciate their significance. The lecture highlighted the techniques and philosophies of occlusion and insisted that long-term success of restorations are dependent on the maintenance of this occlusal harmony. 

Research Orientation Program for Undergraduates

The guest lecture series this week was organised by the Department of Oral Pathology on 12.10.2019. The lecture was on Research opportunities in the international arena, delivered by Dr.Nithya.J, Research Associate in the Department of Oral Rehabilitation from Prince Philip Dental College, Hong Kong University. She has done her under graduation and post graduation from Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Chennai. She has 64 national and internatinal publications to her credit in high impact factor journals like Sceintific reports, Nature and European Journal of Dental Education. She has immense experience in research and article writing, hence her lecture highlighted on the importance of research and publications in the undergraduate curriculum. The students were highly receptive and applauded the lecture as it was very lively and interactive.

An Insight into All Ceramics

Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics conducted a guest lecture on “An Insight into All Ceramics’ on 4.10.19 at Saveetha Dental College presented by Dr. S. Lakshmi, Professor, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College, Chennai. The lecture enlightened the post graduate students on various all ceramic restorative materials. The choice of the restoration based on occlusal considerations, and aesthetic considerations were discussed. The concept of luting, the clinical protocol, long term follow up with evidence was well presented. Many interesting case reports were also presented during the lecture.

Ayudha Pooja :

On the 9th day (Navami day), Saraswati puja is performed when special prayers are offered to goddess Saraswati - the divine source of wisdom and enlightenment. Books and musical instruments are placed in the puja pedestal and worshipped. Also, tools are placed for the Ayudh puja. Even vehicles are washed and decorated, and puja performed for them on this occasion. As part of the Golu festival, Saraswati puja is performed as Ayudh puja. Our institution abides to the culture and for the betterment of the students and the organisation the Pooja was performed in Saveetha Dental College. The occasion was graced by Honourable Founder, Chancellor Dr.N.M Veeraiyan along with all other staffs and students of the institution.

CANCER BIOMARKERS IN CLINICAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

The hands on workshop on “Cancer biomarkers in clinical research and development” started with a guest lecture by Dr. Elumalai Perumal, Scientist- Research co-ordinator, Central Research Laboratory, Meenakshi Medical College, hospital and research institute. The lecture focused on the fundamentals of cancer biomarkers and the technological advancements in biomarker discovery and its clinical applications. The lecture was followed by hands on training by Dr. Paramasivam, Research Scientist, Dental Research Cell. Students and faculty members were trained to isolate RNA from blood sample, followed by conversion into cDNA and quantification using real time PCR. The results of each of the procedure and trouble-shooting were explained in detail.  Post graduate students, interns, research scholars and faculty members from various institutions such as Anna University, Sathyabama dental college, Adiparasakthi Dental College, Chettinad dental college etc., participated in the workshop. The students were enlightened about the gene expression patterns with a special emphasize on cancer biomarkers. The positive feedbacks from the students and faculty members were very encouraging.

SU- SWAGAT: Gender Sensitivity Program & Antiragging

SU- Swagat, a program designed as a token of welcoming the fresher’s (New Candidates) amalgamated with students welfare activities and gender sensitivity program. It is being organized every academic year. 

SU-SWAGAT provides scope, opportunities and facilities for the all-round development of personality and leadership qualities among the students. The students are grouped into several teams. Each team consists of equal representation from freshers and existing seniors from various academic years.

The programme comprised of team building activities, leadership development skills, debates, group discussions, clay modeling, Treasure hunt, Tug of War and various games. These games based activities help the students to develop the sense of socialization and instigate leadership qualities. The program ended with a small cultural program by the freshers, who enthusiastically came forward to show up their talent. Various prizes were distributed to the participants. 

Gender Sensitivity Program:

The concept of gender sensitivity has been developed as a way to reduce barriers to personal and economic development created by sexism. Gender sensitivity helps to generate respect for the individual regardless of sex. Gender sensitivity is not about pitting women against men. On the contrary, education that is gender sensitive benefits members of both sexes. It helps them determine which assumptions in matters of gender are valid and which are stereotyped generalizations. Gender awareness requires not only intellectual effort but also sensitivity and open mindedness. It opens up the widest possible range of life options for both women and men. 

Students were encouraged to speak on gender issues and educated on its applicability in daily life as well as in professional career. 

Anti - Ragging Workshop

As a part of Su Swagat, Anti ragging workshop was conducted on 5th October 2019 for the students of I and II BDS as per DCI Regulations. Dr.Pramod Kumar Gandra, DCI Council Member, was the speaker for the awareness talk. It was attended by The Dean, The

Associate Deans, Professors, Heads of various departments and anti-ragging committee along with the students.

Dr. Pramod Kumar addressed the students about the untoward effects of Ragging. They were shown videos of Ragging and the consequences of it. He also discussed in detail about the punishment and penalty for such act legally. With all the above activities the program by means of holistic approach gives no space for ragging. 

Probiotics and Caries Prevention

Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics conducted a guest lecture on “Probiotics and Caries Prevention” on 20.9.19 at Saveetha Dental College presented by Dr. S. Poorni, Reader, Sri Venkateshwara Dental and Hospital, Thalambur. The occurrence of dental caries due to the vital role of the microbial biofilm is a subject of interest for both researchers and clinicians who are looking for means to establish the methods for prevention and treatment of the disease. Though there are a number of caries prevention strategies that are evolving, fluorides and probiotics have always been an indispensible part of it. Probiotics are at present the subject of ardent and extensive research, especially in caries prevention wherein administration of an adequate number of live microorganisms will provide oral health benefits to the host. The speaker briefly discussed on caries formation and highlighted on preventive strategies including fluorides and probiotics.

Radiographic Considerations in Endodontics

Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics conducted a guest lecture on “Radiographic Considerations in Endodontics’ on 26.9.19 at Saveetha Dental College presented by Dr. Vidya Jayaram, Assistant Professor, Tamilnadu Government Dental College, Chennai. This lecture aimed to cover the various imaging techniques available and their use pertaining to the field of endodontics. Conventional radiography still remains the mainstay of  imaging in endodontics on a day to day basis. In that line its uses, limitations and how best to enhance the information gleaned from two dimensional radiographic methods was discussed. Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), a contemporary, three-dimensional diagnostic imaging system designed specifically for use in the maxillofacial skeleton with significant advantages in endodontic imaging was elaborated. In addition the use of endodontic radiographs in forensic odontology was highlighted. 

Operative/ Endodontic Considerations in Orthodontics with a note on Adjunctive Orthodontics

Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics conducted a guest lecture on “Operative/ Endodontic Considerations in Orthodontics with a note on Adjunctive Orthodontics” on 27.9.19 presented by Dr. Mohamed Iqbal, Senior Assistant Professor, Tamilnadu Government Dental College, Chennai. The goal of any branch of dentistry is to attain a functional occlusion. Orthodontics achieves this goal by correcting malocclusions to optimal occlusion. Over the last decade an increasing number of adults are orthodontic care seekers. Refinements in force application and surgical techniques have made it possible to provide orthodontic treatment to this section. However in adults there is an inevitable degradation in the dentition, at least in most of the cases. This makes interdisciplinary treatment, involving periodontal care, operative/endodontic care and prosthodontic care, a key clinical paradigm. This lecture primarily focused on the fundamental aspects of operative/ endodontic considerations in orthodontics. Followed by a note on adjunctive orthodontics.

“SNiP: the vital acronym defining human genetic variations”

The research wing of Saveetha dental College - Biomedical Research Unit and Laboratory Animal Centre - Dental Research Cell, organised a one day workshop on “SNiP: the vital acronym defining human genetic variations”. Single nucleotide polymorphisms, the SNPs or SNiPs are the most common form of genetic variations which determines an individual’s susceptibility or resistance to a particular disease condition. In addition, the genetic variations also play a vital role in influencing the drug response, with a profound effect on pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. The goal of the workshop was to address the importance of these genetic variations and their association with various disease conditions. About 50 students and faculty members from different institutions such as Madras Medical College, Tamil Nadu Government Dental College, Sri Balaji Dental College, Adiparasakthi dental college, Sri Ramachandra, Madha, Meenakshi and Ragas dental college participated in the workshop. The workshop started with a lecture delivered by Dr.J.Vijayashree Priyadharsini on “Human Genetic variations and its applications in clinical research”. The participants were divided into two batches to proceed with the hands on training session. Dr.A.Paramasivam and Dr.J.Vijayashree demonstrated the methods of genomic DNA isolation from blood sample, PCR and RFLP-genotyping procedures. Students were allowed to process the samples independently and each one of them was given special attention during the procedures. They were very interactive and enthusiastic while performing the molecular techniques. The results of the procedure and interpretation of results was also discussed. The staff members and students were excited to know about the applications and recent advancements in Human Genetics. The programme turned out to be grand success with lots of positive feedbacks from the students and staff members.