Oral Anatomy, Medicine and Surgery (OAMS)

Head of Section
Dr Rita Hardiman
r.hardiman@unimelb.edu.au

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Research Overview

The Oral Anatomy, Medicine and Surgery (OAMS) section combines diverse, yet inter-related specialties. The section has strong research activities in Oral Anatomy, Oral oncology, Oral Medicine and Pathology, Oral and Maxillo-facial Surgery, Oral Histology, Oral Radiology and Forensic Odontology. Research is conducted both nationally and internationally by a multi-disciplinary team of highly qualified staff and post-graduate students. It is supported by funding from the NHMRC, ARC and industry.

OAMS researchers use state-of-the-art research facilities such as the FIORE scanner.

Research Projects

Oral Anatomy, Mineralised Tissue and Dental Anthropology

Computer assisted 3D morphometrics of human cranio-facial anomalies
Computer assisted 3D morphometrics for human identification.
Studies of biological hard tissue, in particular bone

The research work with bone has included the measurement of morphological, mechanical and histomorphometric parameters and the development of image processing methods for the automatic measurement of histological features.
Contact: Dr. Rita Hardiman

The application of computer methods to the modeling of faces.
The use of micro-CT in mineralised tissue research
Archaeology from a facial and dental perspective.

Oral Medicine

Oral mucosal disorders

Research on oral mucosal disorders includes oral lichen planus, oral candidosis, recurrent aphthous stomatitis, xerostomia and leukoplakia. Associated laboratory research is being undertaken to investigate parameters of clinical relevance.
Contact: Prof Michael McCullough

Oral and Maxillo-facial Surgery

Research in

oral cancer
facial deformity
dental and medical education and information technology.

Staff

Dr Marija Edibrorough

Marija joined the Melbourne Dental School as a Senior Lecturer in Oral Anatomy and Histology in July 2018. Before that she was a Marie Curie European Research Fellow at University College London, Institute of Archaeology. Marija was awarded both her Bachelor of Honours and Master of Science degrees at the University of Belgrade, Serbia. She has completed her PhD studies in 2013 as a joint degree between Department of Archaeology (University of Belgrade) and the Department of Anthropology and Human Genomics (Ludwig – Maximilians University, Munich). Marija has 12 years of active research in the field of Bioarcheology and Dental Anthropology. Her research is focused on areas of life history and mineralized dental tissues histology. She has led five research projects, investigating tooth cementum annulation, genetic identification of Treponema pallidum, and life histories of the Neolithic Demographic Transition. Her projects were funded by German Academic Exchange Service, Bavarian Ministry of Science and Arts, the European Commission - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action for Excellence in Science, and most recently from the F. A. Kernot Foundation of the Melbourne Dental School.

Main Research Spaces

3D Imaging and Quantitative Microscopy laboratory, Melbourne Dental School - Hard Tissue Laboratory, Melbourne Dental School - Materials Research Laboratory, Melbourne Dental School
Access to Time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) facility, La Trobe University

Equipment:

Leica DM5500 microscope
Lecia DM LP microscope
Lecia S8APO microscope
Sample preparation equipment: microtomes (incl. Leica SP1600), polishing and grinding tools, vacuum chambers, ultrasonic baths, etc.)
Time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS)

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Dr Tami Yap

Dr Tami Yap (BDSc(Hons), FRACDS, DCD, PhD, FOMAA) is an Oral Medicine Specialist and early career researcher with 6 years’ experience of treating patients with oral mucosal disease including precancerous oral mucosal disease. She has been appointed a senior lecturer at the prestigious Melbourne Dental School, University of Melbourne. She holds clinical positions treating oral mucosal disease at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Alfred Hospital as well as the Skin and Cancer Foundation and Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne. Tami has completed a PhD in 2019 in translational research in early detection of oral cancer and has significant experience with microRNA analyses. During her PhD candidature, Tami was awarded a competitive scholarship from the National Health and Medical Research Council and 4 competitive grants from the Australian Dental Research Foundation from the Australia and New Zealand Head and Neck Society Research Fund (ANZHNCS). During her PhD candidature, she was awarded two prizes for best oral presentation at the 6th World Congress International Academy of Oral Oncology and 14th Biennial Congress of the European Academy of Oral Medicine. Within 6 months of completing her PhD she has been awarded two other grants from the ANZHNCS and the University of Melbourne Early Career Researcher Grant. To date she has been awarded total grant funding of $98,378.13. She has authored 6 original research articles, 7 reviews and 2 textbook chapters.

Main Research Spaces:

Oral Medicine Clinic at The Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne (RDHM)
Molecular Biology Laboratory, Room 5.201, Level 5, Melbourne Dental School

Equipment:

NanoDrop spectrophotometer (NanoDrop1000; NanoDrop Technologies)
Eco, Illumina PCR machine
In vivo confocal microscopy for the oral cavity

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Dr Hajer Derbi

Dr Hajer Derbi is a specialist in Special Needs Dentistry. She is the Convenor of the Special Needs Dentistry DClin Dent, at the University of Melbourne. After completing her MSc in Human Biology at the UWA, Hajer moved to Melbourne to undertake training in the speciality of Special Needs Dentistry. She currently works in private practice and has previously worked in the public sector. Her research covers the broad domains of managing special needs patients: oral cancer, medically compromised patients, access to dental care and quality of life. Her research has been presented at international conferences and published in national and international peer-reviewed journals.

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Dr Rita Hardiman

Dr Rita Hardiman’s research interests lie in the effects of life events and progress on mineralised tissues (teeth and bone). After completing her PhD “Factors Affecting the Strength of the Human Femoral Midshaft Cortex in 2010”, Dr Hardiman expanded her research to include human teeth and comparative odontology. Recently, she has been involved in studies focusing on the structure and inclusions of dental calculus as well as the calculus microbiome. Dr Hardiman’s work with the Melbourne Femur Research Collection involves studies on bone remodelling and comparing bone health in modern with archaeological populations.

Main Research Spaces:

Melbourne Femur Research Collection Laboratory, Melbourne Dental School
MicroCT Facility, Melbourne Dental School
3D Imaging and Quantitative Microscopy Laboratory, Melbourne Dental School

Equipment:

Bruker Skyscan 1172 MicroCT Scanner
DAVID SLR Scanner
Zortrax M200 and M300 3D Printers
Melbourne Femur Research Collection (https://dental.unimelb.edu.au/research/melbourne-femur-research-collection)
Melbourne Dental School Skull Collection
Melbourne Dental School Comparative Odontology Collection

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Dr Antonio Celentano

Dr Celentano (DDS, LDS, GCUT, PhD) is an academic, senior lecturer and researcher in the field of Oral Medicine and Oral Biology. After a few years spent as dentist working in general dentistry with passion for oral medicine and surgery in medically compromised patients, Antonio started to build his expertise in clinical research making significant contributions to the disciplines of oral medicine, infectious diseases, head and neck oncology, special needs dentistry, oral immunology. His international clinical and experimental research activity contributed in the last 5 years to the publication of 30 scientific articles in peer-reviewed, international journals, as well as to 9 published abstracts of scientific meetings and 15 research proceedings presented at national and international meetings. While completing his PhD in Clinical and Experimental Medicine investigating the role of the tumor‐associated glucocorticoid system on the efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents in the treatment of OSCC, Antonio built his experimental research experience in the field of oral biology.

Antonio has also been the recipient of several awards, including best research presentations at international conferences, cover pages published in international top quartile scientific journals, and he has been awarded multiple research grants including the University of Melbourne Early Career Researcher Grant.

Antonio has been supervisor of 15 DDS Dental Research projects at the Melbourne Dental School since 2015. He is currently supervisor to 2 PhD students, 1 Master of Biomedical Science student, and a member of a PhD advisory committee at the Melbourne Dental School.