Nguyen, periodontics win Prichard Competition at 2022 SWSP Meeting
Published: February 04, 2022 by Kyle Rogers
Third-year resident Thomas Nguyen, DDS, of the Advanced Education Program in Periodontics at UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry was named the winner of the 2022 John F. Prichard Graduate Research Competition for the Basic Research Category at the Southwest Society of Periodontists Business Meeting in Dallas.
“Winning this award gives me a huge sense of accomplishment,” Nguyen said. “Our team has worked very hard the past three years on this project and it paid off by taking home first place in this competition.”
Fourteen abstracts were submitted from dental schools, including UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry, Air Force Postgraduate Dental School, Louisiana State University School of Dentistry, Texas A&M College of Dentistry, University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry, and UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry.
Six judges, from residency programs as well as clinical judges, participated in the scoring of the abstracts. Based on this review, six abstracts were selected for oral presentation, with two being from UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry in Nguyen and Le Wang, DMD, a second-year resident. Nguyen and Wang marked the first time the School of Dentistry has had two finalists in the Prichard Competition, which was established in 1985.
Finalists presented their oral presentations Friday, Jan. 28, with winners in the research categories of basic sciences and clinical sciences being announced Saturday, Jan. 29.
Nguyen’s winning abstract was titled “Antibody Mediated Osseous Regeneration for Guided Bone Augmentation using a Titanium Cap in Rabbit Model,” while Pham presented her master thesis, “Wear Resistance of 3D-Printed and Prefabricated Denture Teeth Opposing Zirconia.”
Assistant Professor Seiko S. Min, DDS, PhD, MS, served has Nguyen’s mentor, while Associate Professor Chun-Teh Lee, DDS, DMSc, MS, was Wang’s. The Advanced Education Program in Periodontics is under the direction of Associate Professor Srinivas Ayilavarapu, BDS, DSc, MDS.
As the winning program, the Advanced Education Program in Periodontics will be able to display the Prichard Trophy at the School of Dentistry until the next competition. The trophy will arrive in Houston in July.
Prior to his residency at UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry, Nguyen earned a doctorate in dental surgery from UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry in 2019.