Dental Tribune South African Edition

4 Local News Dental Tribune South African Edition - June 2013 Professor David Cochran, the newly elected ITI President will be attending the ITI Congress Southern Africa in Johannesburg on the 26th and 27th of July 2013. The International Team for Implantology (ITI) 5th Consensus Conference held in Basel, Switzerland from the 23rd to 25th of April was attended by over 100 experts in implant dentistry from over 32 countries. The purpose of the conference is for evidence based treatment guidelines to be defined according to the information available. The findings of the ITI Consensus Conference were then presented to the 550 dental professionals that attended the ITI Annual Conference. Following the Annual Conference was the ITI Annual General Meeting where Professor Cochran took over the ITI presidency from Professor Daniel Buser whose nearly four years as president came to a close. “During Daniel Buser’s term in office, the ITI grew substantially and, with a membership of more than 15 000, it is now the largest international implant dentistry organization worldwide. It is an honour for me to take over this office from Daniel Buser and I am looking forward to the coming four years,” said Professor Cochran. Professor Cochran has been an ITI fellow since 1992 and has always been closely involved in the running and development of the organization. As the chair of the ITI Research Committee, he was a member of the Board from 2003 to 2007 and was re-elected to the Board in 2011. Professor Cochran is currently Chair of the Department of Periodontics at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, USA. He was President of the Academy of Osseointegration in 2012 and is a member of various dental organizations. The ITI Congress Southern Africa 2013 will be host to over 250 delegates from 13 different countries and will be held at Vodacom World. Professor Cochran will be addressing the meeting as well as the ITI Southern African Section meeting which is to be held on the 25th of July 2013. DT Professor David Cochran to attend ITI Congress Southern Africa 2013 in Johannesburg Chris Jenkins On the 31st of May 2013 the Prosthodontic Department of the School of Oral Health Sciences which is part of the University of Limpopo held its inaugural awards ceremony for second year students. The Medical University of Southern Africa (MEDUNSA) and the University of the North merged together on the 1st of January 2005 to form the University of Limpopo. The two former universities are now campuses of the University of Limpopo. MEDUNSA was established in 1976 by the Apartheid government to provide tertiary education in the fields of dentistry, medicine and allied health and nursing sciences to disadvantaged South Africans both economically and because of racial ideology, educationally too. MEDUNSA campus also provides training facilities where students can experience the practical side of their chosen career. Dr Zodwa Zwane who is the second year coordinator initiated the idea of giving awards to her second year students as well as the 3rd year students currently at the studying at the School of Oral Health Sciences. The awards are based on academic performance alone with the top two students in the class of MDS 2nd year receiving prizes and are intended to keep the students focused on achieving good grades throughout their learning career. The student’s academic performance is measured by continual academic assessment which includes tests done throughout the year and the end of year exams. The top achieving student was Precious Nomfundo Gwala and in second place was Krizette Rozimiarek. Both the winners have their names placed on an awards board. Head of the Prosthodontic Department at MEDUNSA Inaugural 2nd year prosthodontics students awards 1st place - PN Gwala and Dr Zwane. 2nd place - K Roziniarek and Dr Zwane. Professor Daniel Buser, outgoing President (left) - and Professor David Cochran (right), the newly appointed ITI President. the School of Oral Sciences, Dr Pusetso Moipolai said the awards are to: “inculcate an investment into their careers, starting early on and to acknowledge the academic excellence of junior dental students.” Dr Moipolai wants the awards to motivate the younger students to strive towards academic excellence earlier on as previously only final year students received acknowledgment for excellence in academics. This is turn will be beneficial to both the students and their patients as they will inevitably be better dental professionals. Dr Moipolai has been head of the Prosthodontic Department since June 2011 and her vision is to graduate the best dental students in Prosthodontics who are flexible and can adapt to their different working environments. She is backed up by a comprehensive teaching staff off full-time and part-time lecturers. DT