5 November 2017 – An IMU final year dentistry student, Vivian Tan Jia Hui was awarded third prize at the DENTSPLY Sirona University Endodontic Case Contest Asia 2017 at the regional level. She represented Malaysia at the event that was held in Singapore. Vivian presented on her case “Management of Mandibular Third Molar with Endo- Perio Lesion (Root to Crown Concept)”, a case under the supervision of Dr Abhishek Parolia. She was the only undergraduate student presenting at the regional level. Vivian relates her experience at the event here. “First of all, I must say that I was truly humbled to be given an opportunity to submit a case report on how I have carried out non-surgical endodontic treatment on a mandibular third molar with endo-perio lesion under supervision. This case report has since won the first place in the 2017 Dentsply Sirona University Endo Case Contest, which had subsequently entitled me to represent Malaysia and attend the regional final competition in Singapore. With relentless hard-work, enormous amount of time invested and pushing my own limits to a horizon that I have never known before, I had successfully secured the second runner up placing for individual case presentation contest. I also won the group case presentation contest together with three other contestants from other countries. To be honest, I had not dreamt of winning any prizes because the other 7 contestants are all postgraduate students who are all national winners from their respective countries. 
It was indeed an eye opening experience for me as an undergraduate student to attend this competition and meet all the outstanding postgraduate students from Asia. It provided a very good platform to exchange ideas and knowledge on the most recent technology in the field of endodontics. I have gained insights on how we should always try to retain tooth in the dental arch and always equipped ourselves with the most up-to-date advancements especially in the Endodontic region whereby there is always advancement happening every single day.
I strongly believe that what I have achieved thus far can never be completed without the combination of high quality education provided by IMU, good clinical training exposure on top of the assistance and guidance from the experienced staff members available. I would also like to take this opportunity to do a special shout-out to Dr Abhishek Parolia, who has relentlessly provided me with the assistance, guidance and support throughout this competition. I would not have achieved any of these without him. I must recognise the fact that this journey has marked a huge milestone in my early career, even before I started off officially as a dentist. Or I should say that it truly serves as a good closure to the end of my journey as a dental student.“
