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Welcome from the Head of School
Associate Professor Rita Hardiman
This edition of Dent-AL explores the innovative ways our students, staff and alumni are making a difference to the health and wellbeing of our communities by collectively meeting the challenges of a changing world as part of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences’ Advancing Health 2030 strategy.
Why dentists should be at the apex of health prevention and community care
Archaeologists surveying Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel Project works on Swanston Street discovered the remains of 1880s dental clinics – specifically, 2,500 extracted teeth!
They showcase how far dentistry has come in technical expertise and prevention, and in the patient-clinician relationship.
From supervised toothbrushing to sugar taxes:
Global lessons for a fairer, smarter Australian dental system
Australia’s dental care system delivers world-class outcomes – if you can afford it. But, for too many people, basic dental care is out of reach. The good news is we don’t need to start from scratch to get better results. We can learn from what works globally and adapt it to our local context to build a more sustainable, inclusive framework for dental care.
Advancing oral health and dentistry
for a changing world
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#WeMet@UniMelb: A software engineer, physicist and chemistry student design the tooth filling of the future
What if AI, radical collaboration and complex chemistry hold the key to designing the world’s next dental filling – a filling that is strong, safe and long-lasting? That’s a question Rob Graham and his fellow PhD colleagues, Jake Willett and Judy Chen, are aiming to answer.
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Award-winning researcher and lecturer, Dr Kaunein’s passion for oral health equity
As she witnesses the steady stream of patients presenting with various oral conditions – including cancers due to things like betel nut chewing, smokeless tobacco use and tobacco smoking as well as everyday abscesses from poor oral health – Dr Kaunein knows where her career is headed.
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From clinic to code: how one award-winning PhD researcher is making cancer detection faster with AI
Dr Rishi Ramani - who trained as a dentist earlier in his native India - speaks about the goal he's been working towards through his PhD at Melbourne Dental School, with his work recently published in Nature Portfolio, and winning the Global Oral Cancer Forum poster competition in Kuala Lumpur, 2024.
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Why cultural safety is core to dental care
Many First Nations people face cultural and structural barriers to obtaining dental care. Personal experiences, his qualifications as an archaeologist and experience working in First Nations health advocacy and research, have led Patrick Mercer to teach about cultural safety and the impacts of colonialism on First Nations people at the Melbourne Dental School.
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Building a culture of collaboration in oral healthcare for the best possible care
The Collaborative Practice Centre (CPC), a strategic initiative of Advancing Health 2030, has developed the ‘Ways Curriculum’ for interprofessional collaborative practice for the Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences, and Ms Claire Mustchin has been tasked with embedding this in the oral health and dentistry curriculum.
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The pains and gains of dental history at the Melbourne Dental Museum
According to Dr Jacqueline Healy, Director Faculty Museums and Curator of the Henry Forman Atkinson Dental Museum, the association of dentistry and suffering is hard to break. In moving away from the pain of the past, the real history of dentistry comes to life.
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Game-changing dental implants to be advanced at new university MedTech centre
It’s a familiar sight to dentists worldwide – an elderly patient suffering with missing teeth or loose dentures, and without enough bone left in their jaw to support a traditional dental implant.
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Dr Vui Tan receives Ephraim Ehrmann Prize: Honouring a pioneer and migrant
When Dr Vui Tan (DCD 2018) was announced as the recipient of the Ephraim Ehrmann Prize in Endodontics, she was humbled and a little awed. Dr Ernst ‘Effy’ Ehrmann was something of a legend when she was on campus.
School and alumni awards
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to our esteemed alumni and dedicated students and staff members who received national and international awards, such as from the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons; at the 2025 American Association of Orthodontists Annual Session and from the World Federation of Orthodontists.
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Dent-AL is the magazine for alumni of the Melbourne Dental School.
Contributors: Many thanks to Stephanie Anderson, Georgia Coon, Marcus Doherty, Florienne Loder, Sarah Marinos, Taylah Mclean, Jane Metlikovec, Rhys Morgan, Bianca Nogrady, Marli Prado, Tim Sharp, Frank van Rensburg and AV Graphic Design.
Note: For space and readability, only degrees conferred by the University of Melbourne are listed beside the names of alumni in this publication.
Cover image: Associate Professor Judge holds a 3D-printed model of the Rectangular Block Implant (RBI), the first of its kind to be designed and prototyped in Australia at the newly opened Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD).
Cover photography: Peter Casamento.