Dr. Jagadeesh recognized by AAOMR

March 5th, 2024

Dr. Yashaswini Jagadeesh

Dr. Yashaswini Jagadeesh, a second-year OMR resident, was recognized late last year by the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology at its annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia. She received a clinical poster award for her presentation on a clinical case with pain in the lower left side.

“It was a challenging experience; the AAOMR has U.S. and Canadian OMR residents or graduate students participating,” she said. “It was a rewarding to win the Best Clinical Poster Award.”

Dr. Jagadeesh’s clinical case was a 16-year-old patient who presented with pain in their lower left molar region. Based on the patient’s age and a radiograph, the general dentist treated this as pain associated with erupting molars and a “supernumerary microdont,” or an extra tooth that should not have been there.

“The oral surgeon extracted all four molars and the supernumerary microdont; however, the pain persisted two weeks post extraction,” Dr. Jagadeesh said. “On examination, the site of extraction showed signs of good healing, but the molars adjacent to the site of extraction were mobile, and there was evidence of expansion lingually.”

Upon further examination, with additional radiographs and biopsy, it was determined that the patient had a rare type of benign bone tumor called epithelioid osteoblastoma.

“It is an aggressive type of osteoblastoma and not a very common one,” Jagadeesh said. “This was a case of missed diagnosis. Radiographically, the presentation was different from other cases reported before this one.”

While Jagadeesh received the recognition, she wanted to emphasize the team effort that went into this poster presentation. She said the case she presented came from one of her teachers, program director Dr. Hui Liang, and all the department faculty helped her create the presentation. She also highlighted the assistance of Drs. Madhu Nair and Mehrnaz Tahmasbi, among several others.

“Our school has consistently received numerous awards at the academy for various categories,” she said. “However, this marks the first occasion on which we have achieved success in securing a clinical poster award. It feels wonderful when your efforts are recognized.”

— Caleb Vierkant