Rana Tarzemany, PhD Dip Periodontics 2018, knows all too well the anxiety that comes with performing your first periodontics surgery—the pressure can be overwhelming and often affects performance. Through her research, she hopes to help future students approach the experience with greater confidence.
Dr. Tarzemany is director of the UBC Dentistry Graduate Periodontics program and is using digital technology to create models that closely simulate a patient’s jaw. Existing models on the market are limiting—they don’t represent oral tissues very well and aren’t patient-specific.
“We are well known at UBC Dentistry for our digital technology, so we’re taking advantage of that to develop patient-specific jaw models,” says Dr. Tarzemany. “The idea is to try out different materials to see what best represents hard and soft tissues, with a particular focus on properly mimicking the gums in terms of thickness and elasticity.”
Periodontal students 3D print their patient’s jaw and do a mock surgery on the model. Once they see the patient for their appointment, they have already practiced the procedure before performing it. Initial models are being used for bone grafting, but in the future, they could be used to prepare students for any surgery.
Dr. Tarzemany and her research team are currently assessing how well the models enhance training for UBC Graduate Periodontics residents. Looking ahead, these tools have the potential to support a wide range of both surgical and non-surgical procedures, extending their impact from undergraduate dental programs to continuing education courses for practicing professionals.
“Having these patient-specific models will hopefully increase the students’ confidence and performance level, as well as lower anxiety, and the end result will be highly trained periodontists who deliver enhanced patient care,” she says. “We started by developing models for surgical purposes because this tends to be the most intimidating for residents, but if proven effective, their use can certainly be expanded.”