Yadav wins Hyson award for best scientific article

Sangeeta Yadav, BDS, MDS, adjunct associate professor of prosthodontics, received the Dr. Jacob Hyson Award for the best scientific article in the Journal of Prosthetic and Implant Dentistry.

Yadav won the award, presented by the Indian Prosthodontic Society - Kerala State Branch, for her work entitled “Awareness, knowledge and attitude of prosthodontists and other dental practitioners towards precision attachments: A survey.”

The idea from the paper came when the department of prosthodontics at Yadav’s previous institute decided to hold a national convention on precision attachments, producing a survey to further understand the topic’s relevance to clinicians.

“Precision attachments can offer considerable benefits in prosthetic dentistry by enhancing retention, aesthetics, stress distribution and cross arch stabilization. They can be used in a variety of cases such as with removable prosthesis, fixed dental prosthesis, implant supported prosthesis, overdentures and maxillofacial prosthesis, making them extremely versatile,” Yadav explained.

“However, given their highly technique sensitive process, even the slightest miscalculation or violation of biological and/or mechanical principles at any step can result in improper fit of the final prosthesis, thus making them highly tedious to use for many practitioners.”

In order to better understand the comfort of providers and technicians with these attachments, Yadav and her co-authors surveyed dentists and technicians.

While they discovered that dental practitioners value precision attachments and see them as important, they are not confident in their own understanding of these attachments, “They seem to be lacking in the fundamental principles and scientific knowledge,” Yadav said.They also found that lab technicians feel they lack the knowledge and skills to properly use these attachments.

“Dentists feel that inadequate lab support was discouraging the use of precision attachments, but lab technicians feel that there is a general disinterest for using precision attachments by the dental practitioners,” she explained.

Given the findings of this survey, Yadav hopes to conduct workshops and conferences to train dentists, students and technicians in precision attachments.

In addition to the joy she felt at publishing this piece and working toward a better understanding of precision attachments, Yadav was surprised and excited to receive the Hyson award.

“It felt great to receive the award,” she said. “It is an excellent validation, and it gives  the confidence that we could do more and do better.”

Read Yadva’s article in the Journal of Prosthetic and Implant Dentistry.