Niemann receives Sigma Phi Alpha Excellence in Journalism Award

Kaitlyn Niemann, BSDH ’23, MDT ’24, received the 2024 Sigma Phi Alpha Excellence in Journalism Award from the American Dental Hygienists’ Association.

This annual award recognizes three individuals—one each at the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels—for an excellent manuscript. It includes a cash prize, an engraved award and acknowledgement at the ADHA Annual Conference.

Niemann received the award for her paper, “Exploring the connection between dental health professional shortage area residence and oral health impact,” which she pursued as her Master of Dental Therapy capstone project.

“We wanted to explore what access to care looks like in Minnesota and how it impacts oral health,” Niemann explained. She compared access to care scores in dental health professional shortage areas with self-reported oral health based on oral health impact profile scores.

She did not find an association between the area in which respondents lived and their oral health impact profile scores; however, Niemann did identify a significant difference in scores based on the number of teeth the patient had.

The topic of access to care hit home with Niemann thanks to the large role dental therapists play in bridging access issues, and the emphasis on equity in care in the field.

“In school and in the community, we see how many areas lack proper access to care,” Niemann explained. “I wanted to make a connection between how patients feel about their care, and where they’re at geographically.”

Niemann specifically chose to use self-reports of oral health care to focus on her patients’ perceptions of their care, rather than an outside evaluation. “How our patients feel about their care is, ultimately, the most important thing we can explore,” she explained. “How we as clinicians feel about our patients’ teeth matters, but if our patients don’t feel good about their oral health, we’re not doing our job to the fullest extent.”

The experience of pursuing research helped Niemann gain perspective beyond the walls of Moos Tower. “Sometimes, it can be easy to get tunnel-vision when you’re in school, working with the patients here, but research helped me to see other opportunities—other paths I could take beyond clinical work,” she explained. “It also helped give me a visual of oral health care throughout the state, rather than just within the Twin Cities.”

Niemann was surprised and honored to receive the award.

“I worked extremely hard on this paper, and to be recognized for that work with a national award is incredibly rewarding,” she said.

Moving forward, as part of the award process, Niemann has the opportunity to publish her research in a peer-reviewed journal. She looks forward to the publication process and sharing her insights more broadly.

Congratulations to Niemann on receiving the Sigma Phi Alpha Excellence in Journalism Award!