9 September 2024
Announcing the winners of the EFP Digital Innovation Award 2024
Categories:Clinical Practice, Institutional
The EFP, in collaboration with Haleon, is delighted to announce the winners of the EFP Digital Innovation Award 2024. This prestigious prize recognises outstanding projects that advance gum health through innovative digital solutions across three categories: innovation for the public, innovation for the dentist, and innovation for periodontal researchers.
The winners were unveiled at the EFP Postgraduate Symposium on 7 September 2024, showcasing talented professionals within the field of digital innovations for gum health.
The first prize went to Daniel Palkovics, Csaba Pinter, Balint Molnar, Laszlo Földesi, and Peter Windisch from Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary, for their project 3D Periodontist. This innovative tool facilitates 3D visualisation of gums, teeth, and jawbone, making diagnosis and treatment of gum health easier and more accurate.
Bettina Dannewitz, Nihad El Sayed, Stefan Listl, and Una Weinert from Frankfurt and Heidelberg Universities in Germany, won second prize for Paro-ComPas, a user-friendly digital companion aiming to improve patient adherence/compliance to periodontal therapy, a major challenge, yet crucial for the success of therapy.
Third prize went to Zerina Hadžić from Zagreb University, Zagreb, Croatia. Her project, MOMDental, is an innovative app that supports oral health during pregnancy, providing crucial guidance and resources for expectant mothers to maintain gum health.
"On behalf of the evaluation committee, I would like to say that we were truly impressed by the exceptional quality of the submissions for this year’s EFP Digital Innovation Award. We were amazed by the creativity demonstrated by the participants, suggesting original approaches for diagnosing, treating, and preventing periodontal diseases, and in general, advancing gum health through digital technologies. Digital solutions will play a critical role in the future of dental care,” said Andreas Stavropoulos, chair of the EFP scientific affairs committee.
Stavropoulos added: “The EFP Digital Innovation Award is – apart from the monetary contribution – an important recognition, showcasing new ideas within the dental community. With this award, the EFP aims to foster a culture of innovation for the benefit of practitioners, researchers, and patients. Looking to the future, we intend that this award, with the continuing generous support of Haleon, will remain a vital platform for inspiring new ideas on digital innovations for gum health."
Alastair Lomax, from Haleon, added: “It was a privilege to attend the event and recognise the winners of the EFP Digital Innovation Award again this year. Haleon is proud to support the EFP Digital Innovation Award, and each year the entries continue to deliver exciting and original proposals. Haleon is passionate about science; it’s at the core of everything we do. Increasingly, this doesn’t just mean product science, but the use of Digital is now at the centre of new approaches to oral healthcare. With the help of digital innovation, we can help diagnose patients, treat and prevent to support better gum health and better oral health, whilst collaborating and sharing information with ease for further understanding.”
The EFP congratulates all the winners for their outstanding contributions and looks forward to seeing how their projects will impact gum health globally.
Stay tuned for more updates on their work and the continued evolution of digital technologies in periodontology.