May 19, 2008

Dental hygiene students to display posters

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Students from Southern Illinois University Carbondale will showcase their posters at the 85th annual meeting of the American Dental Hygienists' Association. The meeting is June 18-25 in Albuquerque, N.M.

Jennifer S. Sherry, assistant professor, created a poster competition for the SIUC DH 355 Dental Hygiene Clinic and Radiology III course. The winners, all third-year students in the Dental Hygiene Program, will soon be heading west. There they'll present their posters to a sizeable audience, according to Sherry.

The theme of the posters is "Healthy People 2010: Oral Health Objectives." They focus on various areas of interest, including cleft lip and palate, oral and pharyngeal cancers and school-based health centers. The SIUC Student American Dental Hygienists' Association is providing partial sponsorship for the trip and participants are also doing some personal fundraising to cover expenses. Sherri M. Lukes, associate professor, is adviser for the registered student organization.

There's been a poster contest for several years and this is the second year in a row the winning SIUC posters earned a spot in the limelight at the national ADHA meeting.

The Dental Hygiene Program at SIUC is part of the School of Allied Health in the College of Applied Sciences and Arts.

Presenting their winning posters, listed by hometown, are SIUC dental hygiene students:

Illinois

Jerseyville: Katie Markham.

Red Bud: Candace Herman.

Sheffield: Amanda Murray-Nash.

Skokie: Constantina Pitsios.

Missouri

Portageville: Dawn Rone.