CGDent-GC Award: what the winners say

Winners’ interviews

We asked four award winners what they learnt from the two-day composite layering course, and to share their advice to other Foundation Trainees.

Dr Milton Justinsuthakaran

Dr Golasa Sheikh Akbari

Dr Tendai Manangazira

Dr Masuma Chowdhury

Interview transcript

GC’s John Maloney (JM): Welcome everyone, please introduce yourselves and tell us where you are undertaking your Foundation Training.

Golasa Sheikh Akbari (GSA): Hi, I’m Golasa. I’m currently a Foundation Dentist in London and I qualified from the university of Birmingham.

Milton Justinsuthakaran (MJ): My name’s Milton. I graduated from Barts and I’m currently in the LKSS Scheme – London, Kent, Surrey and Sussex – and I’m based in North West London.

Masuma Chowdhury (MC): I’m Masuma Chowdhury. I qualified at Barts and the London and I’m currently on the East of England Deanery.

Tendai Manangazira (TM): My name’s Tendai Manangazira. I qualified in Dundee, Scotland, and I’m currently in the North West of England, working in Manchester.

JM: What have you learnt on the course in the last two days and what have you enjoyed the most?

GSA: I have learnt a lot about composite layering and the importance behind the physics of light and composite, how everything reflects, and looking at the opalescence and factors like that. I really enjoyed the hands-on aspect and actually being able to put all the theory into practice and see what results you can get.

MJ: It has been about direct composites, so yesterday we were focusing on the anterior tooth, fixing a class IV trauma case, which surprisingly I’ve had quite a few times already this year. It has helped reinforce everything I’ve learnt myself and the advice I’ve been given from other dentists, so that has been really good. Today, focused on discoloured teeth, how to mask it – that has been really good, and the Stamp Technique as well.

MC: The last two days have been a really good learning experience, generally because we went through every single protocol for every single step of aesthetic restorations, from start to finish. Also the use of sectional matrices anteriorly, which I haven’t used before. And the one thing that stood out the most for me was the finishing and polishing protocols – the step-by-step guide that is used to ensure predictable results every single time.

TM: I have learnt that there is a lot to manipulating materials. It was quite good that we were working with the manufacturer and seeing how to use these materials on models, being taught by the people who made them. And in terms of the biggest things that I’ve learnt, I think it’s that you just have to take your time and get your technique just right before you go ahead and apply it.

JM: Fantastic. What would you say to other Foundation Trainees thinking of entering?

GSA: I think it’s a really good thing to enter, with a really good prize. That you come and actually learn a lot about what you’ve done to enter the prize and you can see what you might have been able to do better on your case. It’s also really good to get support from your ES just so you can enter a case that’s appropriate as well.

MJ: I think it’s a bit of a no-brainer really, because you get to come to the beautiful site in Belgium and the team here are really lovely and supportive. The facilities are amazing and to work with GC’s composite is super nice – I’m really grateful for this opportunity.

MC: I think, honestly, you should just grab the opportunity as it comes because I first came across the opportunity just by word of mouth, I didn’t even know it was a thing, and I’m so glad I applied because the whole process was a great learning curve. Initially I went in, I did what I thought was right for the case, I won the case which I’m glad I did, and then you see how to do all the established protocols, and what you would go and change.

TM: Don’t under-estimate your ability because graduating from dental school we’re just trying to get ‘safe’, but some people just have a natural knack – no one ever points it out to you – and the competition is just a nice way to validate all the hard work you’ve been doing. And even if you don’t know that you have that ability, putting your case through just puts you out there.

The CGDent-GC Award 2024/25 is open to Dentists and Dental Therapists who qualified in the UK or Ireland in 2024 or are undertaking Dental Foundation Training or Dental Vocational Training 2024/25.