The Internation Federation of Dental Hygienists

#UPWARD - With a Global View in All We Do!

2024 Innovation Award Winners

Developed Innovation

1st Place

Regenerative Periodontal Endoscopy
Judy Carroll
United States

Judy Carroll, RDH, is the Founder and Clinical Director of PerioPeak Innovations, a private periodontal therapy practice providing a viable treatment option over periodontal surgery and tooth extractions for the past 25 years. PerioPeak Innovations has proudly treated thousands of patients from all over the world utilizing a non-invasive pioneering technique called Regenerative Periodontal Endoscopy, or RPE (a three-pronged approach involving regenerative proteins, host modulated therapy and periodontal endoscopy). Ms. Carroll recently opened a new periodontal therapy practice for the next phase of research and development and has exciting plans to develop an accredited post graduate teaching facility for comprehensive periodontal therapy education (hands-on and didactic instruction).

Innovation in Development

1st Place

AI dataset to reduce the incidence of gingivitis in the global population
Andrea Butera
Italy

Andrea Butera, RDH, PhD, Research Fellow at the University of Pavia as Director of Studies for the Dental Hygiene Degree Program, is working with students and Computer Science Engineers at eCampus University on a project to create a dataset for diagnosing gingivitis using Deep Learning. This project will train artificial intelligence to provide clinicians with an optimal tool to improve clinical performance, provide patients with a tool to improve their quality of life, and reduce the incidence of periodontal disease globally. The image acquisition, currently approximately 3,000, has immediately allowed the differentiation between healthy and inflamed tissue. The next step will involve providing the dataset with images for differentiating inflammation.

Past Award Winners

See 2023 Awardees