Team:NCTU Formosa/Human Practices
Loading...
Overview
To ensure our project caters to the needs of the actual situation, we visit the animal shelter and invite professors in the dentistry and veterinary medicine department to discuss the concept of the project.
After deciding to focus on canine oral health first, we visited Hsinchu City Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office. Due to the lack of oral medical resources, many dogs suffer from oral-related diseases. After the visit, the idea of making their life more comfortable becomes firmer.
Throughout the discussion with Prof. Cheng Hen-Li, we choose the antimicrobial peptide inhibiting the growth of P.gingivalis. In interviewing with Prof. Liu, Pin-Chen recommended adding our engineered bacteria into the dental bone, making dental medical treatment simpler and less intrusive. Besides, Prof. Liu, Pin-Chen instructs us it is difficult to calculate a suitable dental bone feeding frequency. Thus, we construct an Efficiency Optimization Model for precise dental bone feeding.
Professors
Pro. Liu, Pin-Chen
Through the discussion with Prof. Pin Chen, we're able to grasp the problems that threaten the dogs' health and what method the veterinarians apply to deal with those diseases. Furthermore, Prof. Pin Chen let us know how serious the periodontal disease in dogs is. Professor Pin Chen also suggested we add our engineered bacteria into the dental bone, so dogs can easily get dental medical treatment without discomfort!
Besides, Prof. Liu, Pin-Chen instructs us it is difficult to calculate a suitable dental bone feeding frequency. Thus, we construct an Efficiency Optimization Model for precise dental bone feeding.
Pro. Chen, Hen-Li
Prof. Chen gives us much advice about the practical application of the proteins used in teeth restoration, and makes us more aware of the cause and treatment of periodontal disease. Professor Hen Li told us that one of main pathogenic bacteria of periodontal disease, P.gingivalis is existing in periodontal pocket, remind us to simulate whether antimicrobial peptides can efficiently inhibit the growth of P.gingivalis.
Public-Dog's Oral Health Survey
Working out of the lab and interacting with the public provided indispensable information that guided the formation of our project. Throughout the project, we held many conferences and made a Public-Dog's Oral Health survey to gauge public opinion. People who replied to the survey mostly kept a dog once and believed that oral health would affect overall health conditions in Taiwan.
One expects 54.3% of owners to clean their dogs' cavities only once a month. Nevertheless, 60% of them only spend low than 18 USD a month, which even can't afford the primary health care therapy in the animal hospital and can only buy a few bags of dental bone without the certification of VOHC.
This discovery let us realize that only the minority are aware of the importance of oral health and take care of it. In terms of the lack of oral health awareness of the public, we decided to make a flyer talking about oral health and periodontal diseases, which can raise public awareness about oral health care. For further information about this flyer, please click on the Communication page!
Public-Hsinchu City Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office
After deciding to focus on canine oral health first, we visited Hsinchu City Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office. The office contains four hundred stray dogs. Many of these dogs are over five years old and stay in the shelter for more than three years. Due to the lack of oral medical resources, many dogs suffer from oral-related diseases. After the visit, the idea of making their life more comfortable becomes firmer. Eventually, we create a dental bone with proteins that can inhibit the bacteria growth in the oral cavity and repair the damaged gingival and tooth tissue.