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Louise Brearley Messer ANZSPD Under-Graduate Essay Competition
The ANZSPD Under-Graduate Essay Competition is named in honor of ANZSPD Federal Life Member Professor Louise Brearley Messer. This competition invites under-graduate dental students (or graduate students completing their first dental degree) to submit essays on a given topic, aiming to encourage academic excellence and interest in the field of paediatric dentistry.

2024 Louise Brearley Messer ANZSPD Under-Graduate Essay Competition
TOPIC: 2024 – Discuss local anaesthetics, how they work and barriers in children? How to overcome these?
ELIGIBILITY: Open to all dental students enrolled in an Australian or New Zealand Dental School who are enrolled in an undergraduate dental degree or a graduate program leading to the student’s first dental degree.
PRIZE: AUD$1,500.00 (or equivalent in New Zealand Dollars). The prize winning essay will be published in “Synopses”, the newsletter of ANZSPD Inc.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: Friday 4th October 2024
SUBMISSION: Essays to be submitted by email to the Federal Secretary of ANZSPD Inc. fed.secretary@anzspd.org.au.
Receipt of your entry will be acknowledged by return email. If a receipt email is not received, please send a further email to fed.secretary@anzspd.org.au and/or carmell@westnet.com.au.
General Conditions and Notes
- Essays should be initially submitted to the appropriate undergraduate or postgraduate course coordinator as a word processing document in one of the following formats (doc, docx, rtf).
- The course coordinator will submit the best undergraduate essay, and all suitable postgraduate essays from their Dental School as email attachments to the Federal Secretary via email, with a note of support
- Essays, which are to be submitted by email, must not exceed 3,000 words with a maximum of 50 references. Essays must only be the work of individual candidates. Bibliographic style should follow that of the Australian Dental Journal. They should be typewritten and double spaced.
- No names or identifying marks should appear within the essays. The candidate’s name, home address, email address and University name should appear on a separate page to the remainder of the essay.
- Essays will be coded for anonymity and sent to two judges. The two judges will be appointed by the Federal Council of ANZSPD Inc. The decision of the judges will be final.
- The winner will be announced by Friday 15th November 2024. All participants will be advised of the result by mail or email.
- The prize winner will be expected to have their winning essay published in the newsletter of ANZSPD Inc. “Synopses”.

Past Winners

2024 Winner
Sherryn Hu
The University of Queensland
TOPIC: Discuss local anaesthetics, how they work and barriers in children? How to overcome these?

2023 Winner
Sharon Si Lin Huang
The University of Adelaide
TOPIC: Avulsion – should we replant teeth in the growing child? (Discuss the prognosis and treatment considerations involved in decision making).

2022 Winner
Shi Han Su
The University of Western Australia
TOPIC: Discuss the risks and benefits of silver diamine fluoride. What cases do you think would most benefit? Should this be a public health initiative?

2021 Winner
Megan Khaw
La Trobe University
TOPIC: The use of resin infiltration in uncavitated enamel lesions is considered a novel technique. Based on the evidence, would you implement this preventive approach for your own patients in practice? Discuss.

2020 Winner
Richart Tien
The University of Western Australia
TOPIC: Does Water Fluoridation still have a place in today’s world? Explore the arguments for and against and summarise your findings to form an opinion.

2019 Winner
Paul Mueller
La Trobe University
TOPIC: Biosilicates have been found to have multiple applications in paediatric dentistry. What are they and are they as good as the alternatives?

2018 Winner
Kumudika Gunaratne
The University of Sydney
TOPIC: Dental caries in children – infectious disease or parental lifestyle choice? Discuss your views based on current knowledge of aetiology and epidemiology of the disease.

2017 Winner
Jamie Jing Wen Leung
The University of Western Australia
TOPIC: Bioactive and biomimetic dental materials have advanced from relatively specialised highly biocompatible low strength medicaments to include newly emerging restorative materials. Explain the definition of bioactive and biomimetic in the context of these materials and consider how the well developed and newer materials may be utilised in paediatric restorative dentistry

2016 Winner
Joon Soo Park
The University of Western Australia
TOPIC: Children who brush their teeth at least once a day with a toothpaste that contains fluoride will have less tooth decay. Twice a day use increases the benefit. Marinho et al, Cochrane 2003. Discuss the amount of fluoride contained in the toothpastes in widespread use for children in Australia and New Zealand. What are the differences in the minimum fluoride concentrations of these toothpastes between the two countries for different age groups and how have these changed over time? What are considered to be the net benefits in increasing fluoride concentration in toothpaste used for younger children?

2015 Winner
Lisa Otway
The University of Western Australia
TOPIC: Deep Dental Caries – to leave or to remove. New Perspectives on an Old Theme.

2014 Winner
Kenneth Koh Shou Bin
The University of Adelaide
TOPIC: There is an emerging trend on the use of probiotics and organic diets. Discuss the effects of these supplements and diets on the oral environment of a child.