Dr Tammy Duangporn Duangthip, Clinical Assistant Professor in Cariology, has won the Faculty Knowledge Exchange (KE) Awards 2021 for her outstanding accomplishment achieved in the project: “Promoting Child Oral Health and Managing Tooth Decay in Preschool Children”.
Dr Duangthip accepted this award with deep appreciation. She shares this honour with the project team members: Professor Edward Chin Man Lo, Chair Professor in Dental Public Health; Professor CH Chu, Clinical Professor in Cariology; Professor Cynthia Kar Yung Yiu, Clinical Professor in Paediatric Dentistry and Clinical Practitioners in Cariology: Dr Sherry Shiqian Gao, Dr Conson Yeung, Dr Zhan Yan Fong, Dr Chloe Meng Jiang, Dr Monica Chia-Chia Sung, Dr Mabel Hui MinTan, Dr Iliana Gehui Yan and Dr Iris Xiaoxue Yin of the Faculty of Dentistry.
Background
The Faculty of Dentistry has been investigating tooth decay prevention and treatment in an effective and sustainable way. One of the related clinical research, started from early 2000s, was on the use of silver diamine fluoride (SDF), a clear ammonia solution containing silver and fluoride ions, to manage dental caries. Later, the Faculty conducted a series of clinical trials on preschool children followed by publication of several scientific dental journals indicating SDF is safe to apply on children teeth with no major adverse effects. As a result, this non-invasive treatment can be an effective alternative to the traditional therapeutic approach (drill and fill) in managing dental caries in young children.
Extend Clinical Trials
“Dental caries may not be the first disease that comes to mind when we think about health concerns, but in fact, it is the most common chronic disease,” said Dr Duangthip. In view of nearly half of Hong Kong preschool children suffer from tooth decay, and most of the decayed teeth (90%) were left untreated in young children, a team led by Dr Duangthip further extended the Faculty’s clinical trials to serve the community. Their KE project aims to improve oral health of preschool children and manage tooth decay using SDF for caries control in an outreach setting. The pilot preschool children oral health project was implemented in more than 100 kindergartens annually in 2010-2019.
KE Impact
Based on the Faculty’s systematic review, the American Academy of Paediatric Dentistry developed a guideline on the use of SDF to manage cavitated caries lesions in primary teeth in young children. Caries management by SDF, indeed, has been drawing international attention.
In addition, with the success of the KE project, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust agreed to support a scaled-up project - Jockey Club Children Oral Health Project (JCCOHP) – which benefits all kindergarten children from 2019-2022.
Moving Forward
Dr Duangthip hopes the preschool oral health project will be sustainable. She plans to collect the evidence on how research can translate to benefit society. “I believe child oral health will gradually improve over the years and do hope that the results of the projects will positively influence the child's oral health guidelines or policies in the future,” she said.
Hat-tip
Being awarded with the Faculty KE Award, Dr Duangthip is full of gratitude. “I am very grateful to Professor CH Chu, Professor Edward Lo and Professor Cynthia Yiu for their support, guidance and encouragement over the years.” She also appreciates the eight clinical practitioners cum teammates, as well as part-time dentists, supporting staff and everyone who had committed and contributed to the project. “Last but not least, special thanks to all kindergarten teachers and NGOs for their support and collaboration,” she concluded.
Introduced by the Knowledge Exchange Office in 2011, the Faculty Knowledge Exchange Award aims to recognise each Faculty’s outstanding KE accomplishment that has created economic, social, or cultural impacts benefiting the community, business/industry or partner organisations. To learn more about the award, please visit: https://www.ke.hku.hk/spotlight/faculty-knowledge-exchange-awards-2021
