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Contact Details

Phone
+64 3 479 7126
Email
lara.friedlander@otago.ac.nz
Position
Professor and Discipline Head for Endodontics, Associate Dean (Undergraduate Studies), Faculty of Dentistry
Department
Department of Oral Rehabilitation
Qualifications
BDS MDS PhD(Otago) FRACDS FICD FPFA
Research summary
Endodontics, immunopathology, pulp biology, practice-based research, dental education
Teaching
  • 2024 Recipient of a University of Otago Teaching Excellence Award
  • Associate Dean (Undergraduate) – Bachelor of Dental Surgery, Bachelor of Oral Health, Bachelor of Dental Technology
  • Head of Discipline Endodontics
  • Lead Postgraduate - Clinical Doctorate in Endodontics (DClinDent(Endodontics))
Clinical
Associate Professor Friedlander is a registered and practicing specialist endodontist with particular interests in dental trauma, vital pulp treatment, and systemic disease.

Research

Professor Lara Friedlander’s research is in the areas of pulp biology and systemic disease, clinical endodontics and practice-based research; and dental education. She is deputy director of the Molecular and Immunopathology Research Group of the Sir John Walsh Research Institute.

Professor Friedlander has supervised multiple undergraduate, Clinical Doctorate and PhD students for research. She has been awarded substantial competitive grant funding associated with these and in 2018 she was the recipient of a Faculty Award for outstanding postgraduate supervision. Professor Friedlander is actively involved as an international reviewer for a large number of peer reviewed journals and research funding applications.

With ongoing national and international collaborations and continuous external research funding support, Professor Friedlander continues to produce research outputs in the areas of pulp biology, clinical endodontics and dental education and has had multiple international invitations to present her research and share practice in these areas.

Professor Friedlander enjoys engaging with clinicians in practice-based research and this has led to the development of a National Clinical guideline to assist dentists in management of patients with deep caries. She is a member of the New Zealand Dental Research Foundation Board, the New Zealand Ministry of Health Oral Health Research Fund and Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons Research Panel.

Additional details

Chief Examiner for Final examination for Fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons

Publications

Lin, G. S. S., Hisham, A. R. B., Majid, M. N. A., Foong, C. C., Ho, T. K., & Friedlander, L. T. (2026). Refining competency benchmarks: A scoping review of Angoff standard-setting in dental education. BMC Oral Health. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1186/s12903-026-08195-9 Journal - Research Other

Binti Abdul Sattar, S. S., Chandler, N. P., Abdullah, M. B., Cathro, P., Cameron, C., & Friedlander, L. (2026). Diabetes and calcification within the dental pulp: A scoping review. British Dental Journal. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1038/s41415-025-9347-2 Journal - Research Article

Arora, S., Cooper, P. R., Friedlander, L. T., Ratnayake, J. T., Rizwan, S. B., Seo, B., Rich, A. M., & Hussaini, H. M. (2026). Differential expressions of inflammatory, dentinogenic, regulatory, proliferative and stemness genes in non-carious and carious human dental pulp tissues: An ex vivo proof-of-concept study. International Endodontic Journal. Advance online publication. Journal - Research Article

Lin, G. S. S., Chandler, N. P., Duncan, H., Daniel, B. K., Aziz, A., & Friedlander, L. T. (2026). Endodontic complexity: A scoping review of case difficulty assessment tools and indices. International Endodontic Journal. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/iej.70125 Journal - Research Other

Friedlander, L., Hamadani, P., Chandler, N., & Daniel, B. (2026). Root canal treatment for older adults: New Zealand dentists' experiences and approach to practice. Australian Dental Journal. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/adj.70040 Journal - Research Article

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