A recent dental school graduate is the winner of John W. Stanford New Investigator Award for her research into evaluating tooth bleaching efficacy.
Dr. Claudie Pascal, who graduated in May from Loma Linda University School of Dentistry in California, received her award and presented her research paper, titled “A Laboratory Model to Evaluate Tooth Bleaching Efficacy in Stained vs. Non-stained Human Teeth,” on June 19 at the ADA Standards Committee on Dental Products and the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee 106 on Dentistry meeting in Vancouver.
The award is named for Dr. John W. Stanford, who was responsible for the establishment of the ADA’s current standards program. It was designed to highlight the crucial role dental standards play in patient health and safety and in the efficacy of dental products.
Dr. Pascal used the ADA’s tooth bleaching standards as a jumping-off point for her research, aiming to contribute to “potential future revisions in standards by providing solid foundation on identifying the most reliable ways to measure tooth bleaching efficacy, determining the best substrate for specimen preparation and defining how to properly interpret bleaching efficacy results with established perceptibility and acceptability thresholds,” according to her award application.
“External bleaching of teeth is proving to have a consistent demand, which makes the evaluation of the efficacy of the products purposed to do so increasingly important,” she said. “With the revision of the ADA and International Organization for Standardization standards in process, we conducted this research to explore parameters for the assessment of external bleaching products and to establish a replicable laboratory model.”
Dr. Pascal was selected for the award by an awards committee made up of ADA leaders, including members of the Council on Scientific Affairs, Standards Committee on Dental Products and Board of Trustees.
“I feel so honored and ecstatic to be the recipient of the 2018 Stanford Award,” she said. “The Stanford Award encourages and upholds a legacy that is significant and essential to dentistry and the world it impacts every day, and I am so grateful to be part of it.”
The application period for the 2019 award runs through Oct. 1. ADA dental student members, members who earned their dental degree no earlier than 2014 and members pursuing an additional degree or specialty are eligible to apply.
