Innovate and Integrate; Moving to Mastery in Dentistry
KARACHI - The year 2017 marked Bahria University Dental College completing five successful years of excellence in dentistry. From its modest beginning to nurturing outstanding students to become leading professionals of tomorrow Bahria University has come a long way. To celebrate this milestone Bahria University Dental College organized a one day symposium at its campus. Highly reputed and accomplished professionals in the field of dentistry joined together on one platform to enlighten the audience with the latest insights and developments from the very best in the field.
The theme of the symposium was aptly chosen, " Innovate and Integrate: Moving to Mastery in Dentistry" which gave us a message of collaboration with our dental fraternity in innovating and integrating strategies to improve oral health and advancing in the field along with the world.
The symposium was organized at the state of the art Ibn-e-Sina Auditorium of BUMDC which was occupied by an overwhelming presence of students, faculty members and clinicians from various dental colleges of Karachi.
The chief guest for the occasion was the Rector Bahria University: Vice Admiral (R) Tanveer Faiz HI(M). He was accompanied by the Director General BUMDC: Vice admiral (R) Tahseen Ullah Khan HI(M) as well as the Dean BUMDC Prof. Asadullah Khan, Principal Dental College: Dr. Kulsoom Fatima Rizvi and Vice Principal College of Physiotherapy: Dr. Khalid Aziz.
The program commenced with the recitation of Holy Quran, followed by the national anthem.
Principal Bahria University Dental College Dr. Kulsoom Fatima Rizvi delivered the welcome address and introductory remarks. She extended her gratitude to the Rector Bahria University for being the driving force behind the success of the college and welcomed esteemed speakers of the symposium. She emphasized the efforts of the college in inculcating students with quality education and in taking all measures to ensure that the standards are at par with reputed dental colleges of the country and abroad. She shed light on the 5-year journey of Bahria Dental College which was full of hard work and dedication. Dr. Kulsoom spoke on the importance of integration in professional development and elaborated on the commitment of Bahria University Dental College to academics and setting new milestones in the profession. She remarked that symposia and other co-curricular activities provided a good opportunity to catch up with our professional fraternity.
Followed by the welcome address a video was played that took everyone to the 5 years journey of Bahria Dental College. The video highlighted the important events that took place in this arduous yet fulfilling journey as well as the achievements of the faculty, students and dental college through the years. The dental college infrastructure and facilities were shown and the participation of the college in community work was communicated to the audience through the video. This was highly applauded by the audience.
Rector Bahria University Vice Admiral Rtd Tanveer Faiz HI (M) addressed the ceremony and congratulated the Director General BUMDC, Dean Health Sciences, Principal Dental College and dental faculty for their hard work, dedication and successful completion of 5 years. As a token of appreciation, he commented that it was the learned faculty which was the actual driving force behind the success of the institution. Rector BU talked about the importance of synergizing health education by learning from each other's experiences and sharing academic goals. He highlighted the oral health challenges faced by Pakistan and emphasized the need to join hands in finding sustainable solutions. In his speech, the Rector also highlighted the importance that Bahria University placed on research and academic activities and hoped that it would continue the tradition to work in harmony to upgrade curricula, skills-set and environment to be more learner-friendly and research oriented to achieve much more success. He also assured that Pakistan Navy is dedicated to provide the best facilities to its educational institutes without any compromise.
The symposium then started off with esteemed speakers delivering lectures on the event including Prof. Dr Mervyn Hosein, Prof. Dr Ghazanfar Ali, Prof. Dr Nighat Huda, Prof. Dr Arshad Hassan, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Najeeb Saad, Prof. Dr. Kefi Iqbal and Prof. Dr. Amyna Sheikh.
Prof. Mervyn stated how the doctors in Pakistan represented the crème of the community and as such owed much to the underprivileged population. He mentioned that dental education in Pakistan was at a crossroads. The dental community in Pakistan was lately short of manpower in the profession. However, many advances had been made from the skill and technological standpoint. So, it was a good opportunity for fresh graduates to come out and prove their mettle. He also talked about how young doctors could move into allied fields like health administration and medical transcription. He talked about the importance of returning to basics, to delve into molecular technology to promote a preventive approach rather than a treatment oriented one.
In the end, Prof. Mervyn talked about the recent spate of radicalization in our educational institutions and how we must cope with the menace. He emphasized the fact that doctors represented the thinking population and so must be open to ideas and adopt a tolerant attitude.
Prof. Mervyn’s lecture ended with a huge round of applause.
Following the lecture, the Rector Bahria University distributed momentos to the esteemed speakers and to the organizer Dr. Kulsoom Fatima Rizvi, Principal Dental College. As a token of gratitude, a momento was also presented to the Rector Bahria University.
The next lecture was by Prof Dr Nighat Huda, Director Department of Healthcare Education at Liaquat National Hospital and Medical College. She spoke on " 21st Century Challenges and Implications on Dental Education: Building the Case for an Integrated Dental Curriculum in Pakistan".
Prof. Nighat Huda apprised the audience about the challenges health educationists face in the 21st century, in creating a curriculum well suited to our needs and times. She began by stating that the state of the health care system was a reflection of the state of our health professionals and vice versa. Therefore, an integrated approach to upgrade our healthcare system in totality should be the aim of our teaching institutions.
Prof. Nighat also stated that our curricula should be customized according to the nature of our workplace. She elaborated that we should plan where we want to place our clinicians in the real world: whether they would work in urban centres, rural and peripheral areas, basic health units or specialist clinics. The difference in the conditions and requirements of their destination would call for a difference in the teaching approach as well.
Prof. Nighat also emphasised that academicians need to learn about adult learning modalities and modify their teaching methodology accordingly. In today's world, a greater demand is placed on the health professionals in terms of technological developments and the knowledge boom. Hence we need to utilise modern teaching aids like online videos, mobile apps, visual aids etc. in preparing our students for their professional needs. Teachers should adopt the flipped classroom approach rather than the "sage on the stage" traditional model.
Prof. Nighat believed that by changing the way we teach our students and by developing our healthcare system on strategic lines, we can produce a better quality of professionals for the future.
Associate Prof. Najeeb Saad, former chief of Dentistry at Aga Khan University Hospital spoke on "Selecting the Right Crowns and Cementation in Prosthodontics". He talked about porcelain fused to metal (PFM) crowns and their widespread use in dentistry in Pakistan. This was attributed to the fact that they were cost-effective and also because dental technologists in Pakistan were not trained to deal in other varieties. Prof. Najeeb discussed the fact that PFM crowns needed to be used wisely with only a 0.5-0.8 mm of metal in the crown to accommodate the right amount of porcelain. He also talked about the hazards of under-preparation of tooth structure as that resulted in a bulkier crown and resultant malocclusion.
Prof. Najeeb then talked about the methods of ceramic manipulation like sintering and heat-pressing. He also gave a concise classification of ceramics and talked about the various options available. He commented on Zirconia to be very opaque and chalky white hence not considered a good option for anterior prosthesis. Alumina, on the other hand, showed better translucency. Prof. Najeeb opined that Lithium Silicate remained his personal favorite for use in fixed prosthesis and spoke on the various market names available in the category.
Prof. Arshad talked about the range of magnification available and how the quality of endodontics can be improved using the microscope as an aid. He talked specifically about access cavity preparation and the difference in the visualization of canal orifices at higher magnification.
In the end, Prof. Arshad gave his views on the emergence of radicalization in educational institutes in Pakistan. He commented that encouraging healthy activities in leisure time can protect young minds from getting distracted by extremist ideas. He gave his own example of how he liked to paint in his spare time and showed a model fighter jet that he had painted in the national flag design.
Prof. Kefi Iqbal, Dean of Dentistry, Sindh Institute of Oral Health, Jinnah Sindh Medical University was the next speaker. He spoke on “Practice with New Innovative Ideas in Dentistry”.
Prof. Kefi spoke on the importance of “out of the box” thinking and how new ideas were emerging in the world to change the face of modern medicine. He gave the example of “customized medication” and commented on prescription, dispensation and compounding tailored to the specific needs of the patient.
Prof. Kefi spoke about how newer approaches were being developed and utilized in the field of Periodontology todispense medication locally to the affected tissues. He also spoke about the use of medicated mouthwashes in dentistry.
Prof. Kefi was followed by Prof. Amyna Sheikh, Principal Dow International Dental College. Prof. Amyna spoke about "Apoptosis in Oral Diagnostics". She reiterated Prof. Mervyn’s comments on the need for returning to the basics of science with advancements in molecular technology to prevent and reverse disease processes rather than treating them.
Prof. Amyna described how apoptosis helped in regulating immune function and protecting the body from viral infections. She went on to describe the intrinsic and extrinsic pathways of apoptosis and how these led to proteolytic activity leading to phagocytosis of the involved cells. She described how this process did not involve any inflammation. Next, Prof. Amyna gave a summary of apoptotic conditions in the oral mucosa.
The last speaker of the event was Prof. Ghazanfar Hassan Taqvi, Chairman -OMFS at Liaquat University of MedicalHealth Sciences, Jamshoro. He gave his lecture on “Maxillofacial Trauma’. Prof. Ghazanfar introduced the audience to the types of maxillofacial trauma and stated that road traffic accidents were the primary cause of such trauma in Pakistan. This wasfollowed by violence and other causes. Prof. Ghazanfar emphasized the need for maintaining law and order and creating awareness about traffic rules and regulations to prevent accidents in Pakistan. He compared the situation with the developing world and how we can learn from it.Prof. Ghazanfar talked about the various treatment options available in treating maxillofacial trauma. He also compared past and present methodologies. He showed different cases of trauma including Le Fort 1,2 and 3 fractures and mandibular fractures.
Prof. Ghazanfar talked about zygomatic fractures in particular and the different modalities used to treat them. The last lecture was followed by a huge round of applause.
The program concluded with a vote of thanks from Prof. Dr. Wahab Kadri, Head of department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Oral medicine.
Bahria University Dental College announced to make the event an annual feature for the continuation and promotion of dental education. Participants of the symposium were awarded 1 CDE hour certificate in theend.
The event was a success because of the untiring efforts of the organizing committees comprising of faculty members, house officers and students, who poured in a lot of hard work for the symposium. Their dedication towards their assigned work was appreciated by the Director General and Principal Bahria Dental College.
Events like these greatly help in networking between expertprofessionals and provides latest information and improvements in the knowledge and procedures through the use of modern technology, research and best practices. Bahria University will continue its mission to spearhead the process of continued professional development for students and faculty alike.
Report prepared by:
Dr. Sara Ikram Khan and Dr. Fasiha Moin Kazi
