Overview
The Department of Oral Sciences is one of three departments within the University of Otago's Faculty of Dentistry. The Department undertakes teaching and research in the following areas:
Teaching at the Department of Oral Sciences
The Department of Oral Sciences undertakes teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
At undergraduate level, students in all of the Faculty's programmes interact with the Department. At graduate level, the Department offers courses of study and research leading to the degrees of Doctor of Clinical Dentistry and Master of Community Dentistry. Postgraduate diplomas are offered also.
In the specialist disciplines, the Department provides patient care in student clinics, and specialist staff provide care for referred patients from throughout Otago and give advice to dental practitioners throughout New Zealand.
Undergraduate study at the Faculty of Dentistry
Postgraduate study at the Faculty of Dentistry
CPD at the Faculty of Dentistry
Research at the Department of Oral Sciences
Staff and students from the Department of Oral Sciences undertake research in the Sir John Walsh Research Institute (SJWRI). The SJWRI has the facilities necessary to undertake molecular biology, oral immunology, cell biology, microbiological, biochemical, clinical, and dental materials research, including:
- DNA
- DNA sequencing
- Hybridisation
- HPLC
- PCR and real-time PCR
- RNA and protein analysis
The SJWRI also has facilities for tissue culture and clinical research facilities.
Research conducted by staff and students includes:
- Clinical dentistry
- Computer modeling
- Dental anthropology
- Laser speckle interflowmetry
- Molecular microbiology
- Oral immunology
- Oral biology
- Public health dentistry
- Teaching delivery
The Department also hosts the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Dental Epidemiology and Public Health.
Sir John Walsh Research Institute
Our people at the Department of Oral Sciences
Head of Department
- Associate Professor Geoff Tompkins Head of Department of Oral Sciences
Academic staff
- Omar Alkaradsheh Senior Lecturer
- Dr Joe Antoun Senior Lecturer / Orthodontist
- Deanna Beckett Lecturer
- Mrs Dorothy Boyd Senior Lecturer
- Associate Professor Jonathan Broadbent Associate Professor, Dental Public Health
- Professor Richard Cannon Professor of Molecular Microbiology
- Samuel Carrington Lecturer and Associate Dean (Māori) in the Faculty of Dentistry
- Professor Paul Cooper Professor of Oral Biology
- Professor Warwick Duncan Professor
- Associate Professor Mani Ekambaram Associate Professor
- Professor Mauro Farella Head of Discipline of Orthodontics
- Dr Fiona Firth Senior Lecturer
- Dr Winifred Harding Senior Clinical Lecturer
- Dr Nick Heng Senior Lecturer
- Dr Mikhail Keniya Senior Research Fellow
- Dr Ellie Knight Professional Practice Fellow / Periodontist
- Dr Erwin Lamping Senior Research Fellow
- Associate Professor Jonathan Leichter Associate Professor
- Dr Carolina Loch Santos da Silva Senior Lecturer
- Associate Professor Peter Mei Associate Professor / Orthodontist
- Alison Meldrum Head of Discipline of Paediatric Dentistry
- Dr Susan Moffat Senior Lecturer and Convenor Bachelor of Oral Health programme
- Associate Professor Brian Monk Associate Professor
- Dr Kyoko Niimi Honorary Senior Research Fellow
- Dr Getulio Nogueira Senior Lecturer
- Mrs Hanna Olson Lecturer
- Dr Jithendra Ratnayake Lecturer / Biomaterials
- Mr Christopher Robertson Professional Practice Fellow
- Professor Murray Thomson Professor of Dental Epidemiology and Public Health
- Associate Professor Geoffrey Tompkins Associate Professor
