Simply splinting idea wins Moloney Award

Dr Rory Maguire is this year’s winner of the Moloney Award, for his presentation entitled Splinting of mobile periodontally compromised teeth simplified.

The technique, presented by Dr Maguire at the Irish Dental Association’s conference in Kilkenny earlier this year, outlines a simplified, more efficient way of working whereby the clinician has greater control of the eventual splint design.

The idea for the presentation was based upon the premise that the management of mobile anterior teeth is one of the most common challenges for the clinician treating patients with advanced periodontal disease. Mobility of periodontally compromised teeth leads to further periodontal bone loss, limits healing, limits function and may be uncomfortable for patients.
Splinting stabilises mobile teeth (distributing forces from individual teeth to a new unit of combined mobile and less mobile teeth), aiding healing, function and patient comfort.

Splinting of mobile teeth may be time-consuming and unsatisfactory at the chair-side.  With this new, proposed technique, briefly, upper and lower impressions are taken and a wrought wire is adjusted in the laboratory to fit the cast of the mobile and adjacent teeth. At the chair-side a rubber dam is placed and then, following etching and bonding of the enamel, a mosquito forceps is used to hold the splinting wire in place while an orthodontic composite resin is used to secure the splint. Interproximal and occlusal clearance are checked and oral hygiene instruction given.

The Moloney Award was established in 2003 to recognise the outstanding contribution made by the late Dr Joe Moloney to oral health promotion in Ireland, through his involvement as a founding member of the Dental Health Foundation.

The Award is conferred upon the dentist(s) the judging panel considers to have presented the best table demonstration entry at the IDA annual conference. Competitors are judged on detailed criteria, including originality, usefulness and presentation.