At the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) Annual Session in Toronto, held from May 23 – 26, two UW School of Dentistry members took home prestigious awards.
Dr. Cameron Randall of the Department of Oral Health Sciences was presented with the Suzi Seale Coll Evidence-Based Dentistry Service Award. The award is presented annually to recognize “a major contribution via service or publication, on a national or international level, to the dental profession and the specialty of pediatric dentistry through evidence-based clinical practice, academics or policy development over the last year.”
The award was given to all members of the AAPD Behavior Guidance Workgroup, on which Dr. Randall served, to recognize publication of the first-ever Clinical Practice Guidelines for Nonpharmacological Behavior Guidance for the Pediatric Dental Patient.
Dr. Jakob Holtzmann, a second-year pediatric dentistry resident at the UW, placed third in the annual Research Poster Competition for his poster, “Education Expenditure and Preventive Dental Care in Washington Children.” His poster was co-authored by UW School of Dentistry faculty Drs. Travis Nelson and Donald Chi as well as Dr. JoAnna Scott, Dr. David Knight, Courtney Hill, and Alex Sukalski. His research was supported by the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the UW School of Dentistry and the Washington State Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Foundation.
“Ultimately, this recognition is a tribute to dedicated faculty like Dr. Chi and Dr. Nelson who drove my professional development and research direction these past two years,” said Dr. Holtzmann. “Together, we were able to study the preventive dental care use of Medicaid-enrolled children in Washington state and assess how public education and public health may be connected.”
The Guidelines that Dr. Randall and his team were awarded for were published in the September/October 2023 issue of Pediatric Dentistry. They were the culmination of an approximately five-year development process that included three systematic reviews completed and published by the Workgroup, and a national survey led by Dr. Randall (also published in the September/October issue of Pediatric Dentistry).
The Guidelines were adopted by the AAPD and appear in the AAPD’s Reference Manual of Pediatric Dentistry, which outlines oral health policies and recommendations for the profession. The new Guidelines are one of just five Clinical Practice Guidelines endorsed/published by the AAPD. “Such Guidelines have a major positive impact on our patients through their direct and sweeping influence on the quality of care provided by the profession,” said Dr. Randall.
The AAPD Behavior Guidance Workgroup was chaired by Dr. Vineet Dhar of the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, and Dr. Randall was a member along with his colleagues, Drs. Chia-Yu Chen, Elizabeth Gosnell, Jayakumar Jayaraman, Clarice Law, Martina Majstorović, Abdullah A. Marghalani, Janice Townsend, Martha Wells, and Ms. Rachel Wedeward. Dr. Randall was the only behavioral scientist on the Workgroup and provided relevant expertise in the area of behavioral dentistry and behavioral interventions.
“It was an honor and privilege to contribute this specialized expertise to the project, and it was a joy to work with such an amazing team,” said Dr. Randall. “Behavior guidance is a cornerstone of the practice of pediatric dentistry, and we hope these new Guidelines advance the profession and improve patient care.”