WCU Dental Hygiene Student Research Team Wins First Place at National Competition

West Coast University dental hygiene students might have studied the effects of silver, but their research project brought home the gold.

Under the mentorship of Professor Mihaela Popa, WCU students took first place for original undergraduate research at the American Dental Hygienists’ Association conference in Jacksonville, Florida. This was WCU’s first time taking the top honor in the national competition. Previous years have merited second through fourth place titles, including an honorable mention award in 2016.

WCU research team members Christian Cruz, Monica Rodarte, Marc Tenchavez and Nicole Wong traveled to the conference to present their project, “Antimicrobial Properties of Colloidal Silver Against Common Oral Pathogens.”

Additionally, Taraneh Jamali presented on behalf of a second WCU student research team that included Rozhin Zargaran, Nancy Martirossian and Sabrina Sarwari. Their project, “Antimicrobial Effects of Frankincense, Myrrh, and Chamomile Essential Oils” earned them third place at the state competition in May.

WCU Dental Hygiene Clinic coordinator Aubree Chismark was also instrumental in helping the teams prepare for competition and accompanied them to Florida.

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