Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal hosted their first National Undergraduate Dental Conference, the Manipal Dental Conference from August 25 to 27, 2022. The conference was a huge success, having been delivered by some of the most renowned names in the field and attended by delegates from all parts of the nation.
Day One
The first day began with an inauguration ceremony, highlighted by the lighting of the lamp and profound words from the Vice Chancellor of MAHE and the Dean and Associate Dean of MCODS, Manipal. This was followed by keynote lectures by Dr. P C Jacob, a pioneer in the field of maxillofacial prosthetics, on Changing Lives with Maxillofacial Prostheses and Dr. Varun Acharya, an eminent maxillofacial prosthodontist, on The Complications and Failures of Implants. Both the talks had the audiences from the front row till the last enraptured, with the boundaries of their knowledge being challenged with every slide. Each lecture was followed by a Question-and-Answer session wherein the delegates were encouraged to clarify their doubts.
The post-lunch segment of the conference had various workshops lined up for the delegates, for which the participants were directed to specific labs for hands-on experience: First up was Posterior Composite Build-up by Dr. Deeksha Karkada, associate professor, AJ Institute of Dental Sciences, Manipal in association with Coltene. The second was on Emergency Medicine conducted by the club Tempus Pretioso, from KMC Manipal. Next up, was Dental Implant Placement by Dr. Neeta Shetty, Implantologist at i-fix implants. In addition, the lecture on implant placement was open to all interested delegates. Running parallel to it was a lecture about the Commercialisation of Dental Technology and Entrepreneurship, held from 2-4 PM by Dr. Manesh Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Manipal-Government of Karnataka Bioincubator.
For the interested delegates, especially those new to Manipal, a Campus Tour was organized for the evening. On that note, Day One concluded, with the delegates carrying back an MDC Kit with dental goodies, certificates of attendance, minds full of ideas, and hearts full of motivation.
Day 2
The second day of the Manipal Dental Conference commenced at 7:30 am on the 26th of August with breakfast at the Dr. TMA Pai halls. At 9 am, an informative lecture was held by Dr. Ashith Acharya on the topic “Forensic Odontology” showcasing the need for forensic dentistry in today’s world, followed by the second lecture of the day by Dr. Sagar Abhichandani on “Aesthetic Dentistry: All you need to know” at 10:30 am.
An exciting poster presentation and paper presentation event was arranged at 9am which concluded with Vidhi Ahuja from SGT university, Haryana winning 1st place, Shikha Bhaskar and Aishani Baksi from MCODS Manipal winning 2nd and Arushi Sofat and Anushka Das also from MCODS Manipal winning 3rd in poster presentation. In paper presentation, Sanjana Bhat and Suma M from Srinivas Institute of Dental Sciences won 1st place followed by Rupesh Garg of MCODS Manipal in 2nd place and Yamini Bazzuri and Achanta Manvitha from Kamini institute of Dental Sciences, Telanganasecured the third place.
After lunch, three workshops were conducted from 2:00 pm to 4:00pm. The second day of the “Dental Implant Placement” workshop conducted by Dr. Neeta Shetty, an implantologist and “Social Media Branding” with Dr. Varun Nambiar as the speaker, were both held on the 5th floor of the MMMC building. The third workshop titled “Open Method Extraction” was conducted by Dr. Sunil Nayak in the dept. 4 of the MCODS Manipal clinics.
The workshops had a group discussion followed by a slew of hands-on activities at the end.
A thrilling round of quiz was also held in the same time slot on the 5th floor of the MMMC building which was won by a team of 3 from MCODS Manipal whose members were, Devyani Malik, Aakansha Mohan and Ayushi Sinha.
The day was brought to a close with a Gala Night at 7:00 pm at the Dr. TMA Pai halls. Participants were seen unwinding from the stress of the day, swapping their exhaustion for enjoyment.
Day 3
The 27th of August saw the finale of the Manipal Dental Conference 2022. The day began with a talk by Dr. Satish Kr Menon. He gave insightful information to the budding dentists about the importance of planning and thinking ahead for the future. He stressed how subjective the idea of success can be, reiterating that “Success is what we define it to be”.
After a short tea break, a panel discussion was conducted in TMA Pai Halls where eminent speakers including Dr. Joanna Baptist, Dr. Deepika Pai, Dr. Sagar Abhichandani, Dr. Satish Kumar Menon, Dr. Ramprasad Vasthare, Dr.
Anand Deep Shukla discussed The Future of Dentistry in India. The panelists shared their opinions based on experience, expertise, facts, and figures. Many ideas like the Integration of dentistry into medicine, dental insurance and the importance of dentistry in geriatric and pediatric populations are also pitched. It gave the students a better and bigger picture of their prospects.
Simultaneously, a bevy of workshops was conducted in the seminar hall of MCODS, the Department of Oral Medicine, and MMMC. Workshops on suturing, laser, and CBCT were held by experts in the respective fields. The Suturing workshop allowed students to understand various suturing techniques and also gave them a chance to practice on models. The Laser workshop outlined everything on the subject– from the basic principles and fundamentals to Laser Safety and its application in dentistry. The CBCT workshop included case discussion and diagnosis through CBCT. These workshops provided the students with a better opportunity to hone their skills due to their hands-on nature.
The curtains on MDC 2022 were drawn with a Valedictory Ceremony, honouring the winners of all the competitions held in the last three days. Besides the awards for Paper and Poster presentations, the Best Smile awards were also given. The first place was bagged by Era Kakar from AB Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences. The second and third places went to Bisman Kaur of National Dental College and Hospital and Pramitha Bangera respectively. The efforts of all the students, staff, and supporting staff were deeply appreciated. Overall, the three-day event left an indelible impression on the hearts of all those who attended it and a bounty of memories in their mind to cherish for days to come.
Written by Isha Bhardwaj, Nihal Shetty, and Aricia Bahl for MTTN
Pictures by Clive Winston D’Souza for MTTN,
Pragati Pandya for MTTN,
Aromal Sunil for MTTN and,
Akanksha for MTTN
Edited by Ishita Sharma for MTTN
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