The company provided $250,000 in research grants awarded as part of its Annual Research Awards Program.
Align Technology Inc recently announced the award of 10 research grants under the company’s 11th Annual Research Award Program.
The global interest in research to advance dental and orthodontic treatments continues to grow as evidenced by the increasing number of applications Align Technology receives each year from universities around the world. Since the program’s inception in 2010, Align has funded over $2.0 million in research awards that have led to advancements in digital orthodontics and digital dentistry.
“We are proud to support scientific research to further advance the study of dentistry and orthodontics, and congratulate this year’s group of research award winners,” said Mitra Derakhshan, DDS, vice president of global clinical, Align Technology. “These studies focus on work that can contribute to improvements in oral health care and orthodontic movement, and support Align’s purpose of transforming smiles and changing lives.”
The Americas research award recipients for 2021 are Drs Edwin H.K. Yen, primary investigator, University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada); Anuradha Prakki, primary investigator, University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada); Céline Lévesque, primary investigator, University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada); and Pramod Philip, primary investigator, University at Buffalo (Buffalo, New York).
The European research award recipients for 2021 are Drs Omer Fleissig, The Hebrew University and Hadassah (Jerusalem, Israel); Iosif Sifakakis, primary investigator, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Athens, Greece); and Roberta Lione, primary investigator, University of Rome “Tor Vergata” (Rome, Italy); and also primary investigator, Anna Westerlund of Gothenburg University (Gothenburg, Sweden).
The Asia Pacific research award recipients for 2021 are Drs Xu Jianguang, primary investigator, Anhui Medical University (Hefei, China); and Jiangtian Hu, primary investigator, Kunming Medical University (Yunnan, China).
The funded research studies cover a wide range of topics for projects seeking to better understand treatment in orthodontics and dentistry including, but not limited to comparing the clinical performance of the index test in detecting supragingival interproximal caries; investigating remineralizing properties of polyaspartic acid attached to a resin infiltrant; evaluating the effects of mesenchymal stem cells transfer to periodontal ligament on the rate of orthodontic tooth movement; role of adaptive immunity and B-cells in orthodontic tooth movement; determining the effect of probiotics on oral health; examining the effect of Class II elastics on the vertical dimension; prevention and progression of caries with the addition of an active agent in aligners; comparing the effectiveness of Invisalign mandibular advancement with incremental advancements versus single advancement; demonstrating Invisalign® First treatment is effective in treating anterior crossbite.
All award applications received were first reviewed and prioritized in a blind evaluation by an independent academic committee. The final recipients were then determined by Align Technology.
