School of Dental Medicine Promotes Discovery at Annual Research Symposium

Student Vito Liut presenting his research to two guests at Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine Research Day

Continuing its tradition of promoting discovery and providing insights that advance the field of dentistry, Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine (SDM) held its annual Research Symposium on March 28, with more than 40 dental students, master's students and residents presenting their findings at the Student Activities Center (SAC) on Stony Brook University's West Campus.

Awards were given to nine presenters, including the American Association of Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR)/Dentsply Sirona Student Research Award, which was given to third-year student Lauren Mistretta, for her research titled "Wettability of Different Implant Surfaces Before and After Erythritol Treatment and Exposure to Different Xenograft Materials". With the award, Mistretta will receive funding from AADOCR to present at the organization's 54th annual meeting in New York City in March 2025.  

"This symposium is an event for which all students and their mentors can be so very proud," said Patrick Lloyd, dean of the School of Dental Medicine, which has hosted such annual research events for more than 40 years. "Each year, it is a wonderful opportunity for them to share they've learned only through countless hours of work, all while carrying a heavy load of didactic, clinic and lab coursework. All in one place, we are able to see their efforts result in discoveries that will only add to the knowledge base of our profession."

Dr. Timothy Wright, professor in the Division of Pediatric Dentistry and Public Health at The Adams School of Dentistry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), delivered the Leo and Mickey Sreebny Distinguished Lectureship. Dr. Wright, a decorated educator, researcher and pediatric dentist, shared his presentation examining hereditary craniofacial conditions with more than 175 students, residents, staff and faculty on hand at the SAC's Sidney Gelber Auditorium.

"We were so very fortunate to have Dr. Wright visit with us to address our attendees with a lecture that was both highly informative and engaging," said Stephen Walker, interim associate dean for research at the SDM. "His presence added to what was a terrific day that undoubtedly advanced our profession and the careers of those presenting."

The lectureship was named for Dr. Leo M. Sreebny, past dean and longtime faculty member at Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine. Dr. Sreebny was committed to promoting discovery to SDM students and residents, and before his passing in 2020, he and his wife, Mickey, pledged their support for fostering such developments by backing the school’s annual Research Symposium. 

 

Award Recipient Co-Authors Topic
AADOCR/Dentsply Sirona Student Research Award Lauren Mistretta, D3 Rafael Delgado-Ruiz, DDS, MSc, PhD; Georgios E. Romanos, DDS, PhD, Prof Dr med dent Wettability of Different Implant Surfaces Before and After Erythritol Treatment and Exposure to Different Xenograft Materials
Hinman Symposium Award Brandon Axelrod, D3 Mitchell Steinberg, DDS, MD; Rekha Reddy, DMD An Unusual Clinical Presentation of Traumatic Ulcerative Granuloma with Stromal Eosinopilia
AADOCR National Student Research Day Award George Kokkinos, D3 Georgios E. Romanos, DDS, PhD, Prof Dr med dent Altering Zirconia Implant Surgical Protocol to Achieve Higher Implant Stability
AADOCR Long Island Section Student Research Award Yuriy Garaev, D3 Georgios E. Romanos, DDS, PhD, Prof Dr med dent Qualitative Analysis of Implant-Bone Interface After Implant Placement Implementing Condensation Technique
Resident/Fellow Research Awards Amr Ahmed, DMD, Resident, Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Mina Mahdian, DDS, MDSc Automated Characterization of Arterial Calcification in Dental Cone Beam Computed Tomographic Images as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease
  Rivka Kalendarov, DDS, Resident, Prosthodontics Rafael Delgado-Ruiz, DDS, MSc, PhD; Tanya Somohano Marquez, DMD Impact of Surface Treatments on Cad-Cam Milled Denture Base Materials' Wettability and Surface Roughness
  Sean Zar, DDS, Resident, Periodontics Mina Mahdian, DDS, MDSc Artificial Intelligence-Based CVM Classification of the Vertebrae for Quantitative Growth Estimation from Cone Beam Computed Tomography
Graduate Student Research Award Abdel Mahmoud Miriam Rafailovich, PhD An Innovative Injectable and Sustainable Drug Delivery System for Endodontic Therapy
Undergraduate Student Research Award Isabella Ho Ying Gu, PhD, DDS Effect of Novel Chemically-Modified Curcumin 2.24 (CMC2.24) on MMP-9 Activation Levels
Omicron Kappa Upsilon Sigma Tau Chapter Research Award Qi Dai, D4 Ying Gu, PhD, DDS Inhibition of Streptococcus mutans Mediated Biodegradation with Low Dose Doxycycline

A wide-angle image of Research Day, with presenters and visitors filling a large ballroom