A University of Central Lancashire student has won three highly prestigious awards in the world of undergraduate dentistry.
Laura Irving has recently received the Undergraduate Research Prize from the British Endodontic Society (BES), collected the British Society of Periodontology’s (BSP) Frank Ashley Undergraduate Prize and accepted the Society for the Advancement of Anaesthesia in Dentistry (SAAD) Dental Student Essay Prize.
The final year dental surgery student, from Barrow-in-Furness, won the prizes for writing three extracurricular research papers.
Her SAAD research asked ‘do children from more deprived backgrounds have a higher chance of becoming dentally anxious?’ while her BES paper highlighted the important issue of antibiotic resistance and its potential impacts on delivering optimal endodontic treatment to patients in the future. Her guide to understanding the roles and responsibilities of the general dentist dealing with disease relating to dental implants won her the BSP award.
"I feel really proud to have won these awards and it’s given me a big confidence boost"
— Laura Irving, Dental Surgery student
Laura, who undertakes her clinical training at the University’s Dental Education Centre in Morecambe, said: “I feel really proud to have won these awards and it’s given me a big confidence boost.
“To win three national awards is a big achievement, especially given the undoubted talents of the students from the 15 other dental schools in the UK, who were my competition”.
After studying at Furness Academy and Barrow Sixth Form College, the 28-year-old took a gap year before studying microbiology at the University of Exeter. After graduation, she worked full-time for a year as a Clinical Audit Facilitator at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, and still continues in that role two days a week.
Laura then chose to undertake a one-year secondary school teacher training postgraduate course at the University of Cumbria before enrolling on to the four-year University of Central Lancashire course.
"The BES Undergraduate Research Prize encourages our new generation of dentists to get involved in research early on in their careers"
— Shalini Kanagasingam, MSc Endodontology Course Lead and the University’s BES Council Member
She said: “I’ve always been interested in people and science. Though it might seem a little crazy to some people, by spending all these years at University I’m now in a good position for my future career which will hopefully combine clinical work with academic research and maybe even some teaching.
“I’ve really loved my course, it’s been great to have such a hands on experience being on clinic for 2-3 days each week. The tutors have been amazing and I’ve made so many lifelong friends.”
Shalini Kanagasingam, MSc Endodontology Course Lead and the University’s BES Council Member, commented: "The BES aims to promote and advance endodontology to ensure that the dental and general health of the nation is both maintained and improved, and that lifelong education of the practitioner is encouraged and facilitated.
"The BES Undergraduate Research Prize encourages our new generation of dentists to get involved in research early on in their careers. The judges were very impressed with Laura’s winning work and said it was thought-provoking.”
*Photo caption
From l-r Shalini Kanagasingam (MSc Endodontology Course Lead), Professor Kate Taylor (Postgraduate Lead), Laura Irving, Flavio Pisani (MSc Periodontology Course Lead), and Tom Janicki (MSc Prosthodontics Course Lead).