About Shivani Karre, BDS, MS

I was appointed as assistant professor in India where my journey to the academic career started.  I have developed my academic carrier on a strong foundation of dentistry with my focus in the field of prosthodontics. My expertise and accomplishments in the field of prosthodontics have focused to the high quality of education I received in Loma Linda University School of Dentistry(LLUSD) in Advanced Dental Education Program in Prosthodontics. I spent many of my recesses learning to program by examining basic programs. In many ways being a clinical professor is my dream job, combining my love of dental science research with my passion for teaching, and I look forward to a long and successful career at LLUSD.

 

My resume lists many of my professional accomplishments, including those since arriving here in 2019, but it fails to capture the full range of things I have done and leaves out many other aspects of my life here that I believe need to be considered in any evaluation of my accomplishments. Accordingly, I would like to outline some of my other accomplishments and discuss some of the things in my life that are not included in my resume. I am currently working on evaluating the accuracy of the produced dies at different drying time of the tray adhesive. I have recently entered into collaboration with Dr. Bukhari and we have already written one proposal to the research committee which we are expecting to present in February of this year. I expect my research project to be very successful in terms of research results, papers produced, proposals written and funded, students supported, and advanced degrees granted.

 

During the past year I have had one original research paper appear accepted for publication in a peer reviewed, with special issues of very highly respected journals with low acceptance rates (11% and 19%). This paper is entitled, “Complications associated with maxillary and mandibular resin based fixed complete dentures.” It includes work that I have done by studying the data of the patients treated in Loma Linda University School of Dentistry. This paper is published in the Journal of Prosthodontics.

 

Prior to joining division of general dentistry, while pursuing my masters in science in the Advanced dental education program in Prosthodontics, I was given an opportunity to do practice teaching in the main clinic and to my surprise I discovered that I love teaching. Further, I discovered that the students really like me as a teacher. I was subsequently given chance to teach the complete denture course in the laboratory and clinical settings to the graduate students before completing my graduate program and joining the division of general dentistry department. In the process I taught a class of 8 graduate students. Additionally, I got an immense experience in writing the book chapters for e-books for Implant overdenture and Removable Partial Denture. They are published on the foundation of oral rehabilitation and eHuman.com respectively.

 

Since arriving at the division of general dentistry, my clinical teaching experiences have been similarly positive. Working in the clinical setting for students has always been rewarding and satisfying for me. During the past year, I had an opportunity to work with few students involving removable and fixed dental prosthesis. I have been particularly working with the students in helping them understand the removable partial design and the importance of surveying, drawing the correct design with the importance of writing the correct prescription.

 

In Spring quarter 2020, I taught Critical event response class, Inter-professional education. This class had about 50 students and was an excellent experience. I truly enjoyed teaching this interesting and exciting material to a group of students without previous experience in this area. The students generally rose to the challenge of this difficult material and responded very well to my instruction. In both of my courses here at LLUSD I have received marks from the students ranging from very good to excellent. Furthermore, I have developed an even deeper love for teaching. I very much look forward to teaching these and other courses in the future.

In Summer quarter July 2020 - September 2020, I taught Operative Dentistry II IDPR702  laboratory instructor, International Dentistry Program. I taught it for the first time as a laboratory instructor for Operative dentistry. While we were working in the laboratory situation attendance was limited due to COVID 19 restrictions however, the experience was extremely positive. I found that working with a small group of students can be extremely rewarding.

 

One of the great rewards and responsibilities of working in a clinical environment such as this is participation in direct patient care. Along those lines I have volunteered for and participated in a number of committees one of them looking to fill clinical director position in the School of Dentistry. Additionally, I got an opportunity to be a member of nominating and research committee. Recently, I became the member of Faculty of Graduate Studies joining which I got an insight of how difference a member can make in achieving the goals of the university. And I feel privileged to be contributing to the committees as I feel most rewarded. 

 

During the past year I have had the opportunity to work individually with a number of students in working on clinical cases using ‘Smile design’. I worked with three undergraduates to work on two of the Dean’s challenge presentations. One of the presentations is a collective of the cases we did in the clinic by using smile design application of TRIOS scanner and fabricating anterior crowns through CAD/CAM dentistry. The digital smile design makes it possible for the procedure we choose to match our goal precisely. It also gives greater control on the predictable outcome and satisfaction for our patients. All students did some very good work and one of these students got into residency program. Both of these students are highly motivated and I expect them to do well. I look forward to working with students more utilizing CAD/CAM dentistry. I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to be part of the Loma Linda University School of Dentistry. The existing faculty members have been extremely good colleagues and I look forward to a long and successful career here.