Avijit is Professor of Cariology & Operative Dentistry / Hon. Consultant and Clinical Lead, Restorative Dentistry at the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, King’s College London / Guy’s & St. Thomas’ Hospitals Foundation Trust, London, UK.  He holds the positions of Chair / Head of Conservative & MI Dentistry and Programme Director of the innovative KCL blended-learning Masters in Advanced Minimum Intervention Restorative Dentistry (open to practising dentists and dental therapists globally: google “KCL AMIRD” for more info). He also leads the Cariology & Operative Dentistry research programme at the QS-ranked world’s top 10 Faculty of Dentistry (within the research Centre of Oral & Clinical Translational Science) as a PI, researching, publishing and lecturing internationally about cariology, minimum intervention oral healthcare delivery and minimally invasive operative caries management (recognised by the WHO), adhesive dental biomaterials and clinical implementation trial delivery (>150 peer-reviewed publications, >£2.5 million research grant income, supervision of 5 post-doctorate, 20 doctorate and 25 masters students to date). He concurrently holds honorary / distinguished chairs in Hong Kong, Valencia (Spain) and the Saveetha Dental College & Hospitals, Chennai, India.

In 2022, he was awarded the prestigious William H Bowen Caries Research Distinguished Scientist Award from the International Association of Dental Research (IADR) in recognition of his global scientific and clinical research impact in this discipline over the last 25 yrs.

He has been appointed to the UK National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network, as Oral & Dental Health Speciality Lead for South London where he is responsible for the development of primary care clinical trials and their professional / participant recruitment programmes. He is setting up a primary care research network in South London, where dental practices are trained and enabled to carry out dental & oral healthcare research. He acts as an international cariology R&D KOL for many international dental industry partners, including GC Europe / UK, 3M Oral Healthcare, Septodont France / UK, Dentsply Sirona, Pulpdent, Colgate and Oral B.

Avijit is primary author of Pickard’s Guide to Minimally Invasive Operative Dentistry (9^th & 10^th editions; OUP, 2015; new edition in press (Elsevier - 2024)), a definitive and globally respected text in its field, amongst other book editorships (Minimally Invasive Esthetics, Elsevier (2015), Odell’s Problem Solving in Dentistry, 4^th ed, Elsevier (2020)) and further chapter contributions (including, amongst others, caries management in The Principles of Endodontics 3^rd ed, 2019).  He is an editor-in-chief of Oral Health & Preventive Dentistry (Quintessence Ltd), Associate Editor of the British Dental Journal and a senior editorial board member of  Dental Update, International Journal of Adhesion & Adhesives and the Primary Dental Journal.

He is a senior executive member of the British Dental Association (BDA) Health & Science Committee (2012 - ), contributing to scientific policy direction at the BDA all whilst maintaining wet-fingered specialist clinical practice in Restorative Dentistry, Prosthodontics & Periodontics. He is a past-President of the BDA Metropolitan Branch London Section (2018-19) and currently holds an Hon. Consultant Advisor post to the Office of the Chief Dental Officer, England (2020 - ). In this role he inputs into national NHS oral & dental care policy direction / advice to the UK government’s department of health and social care, focusing on the prevention of dental caries in the most vulnerable, high needs patient groups. He wrote the UK clinical caries management guidelines for general practitioners in 2020, for the post-lockdown recovery of clinical practice. He also chairs the Career Pathways Programme Board at the new UK College of General Dentistry, helping to develop an integrated system for career development for all oral healthcare team members in primary care. He is the elected UK council member of the European Federation of Conservative Dentistry (EFCD) and  co-chairs the UK chapter of the Alliance for a Cavity Free Future (ACFF), all these national / international roles enabling him to co-author international clinical guidelines on dental caries management and their clinical implementation globally, aiming to help implement / translate his cariology & operative dentistry research into primary care clinical practice in the UK and abroad.

Cariology - minimum intervention oral healthcare delivery / minimally invasive operative dentistry - pathology and microbiology of dental caries, microscopy of dental tissues, caries detection and diagnosis, minimally invasive operative caries management techniques (including chemo-mechanical / bioglass air-abrasion research), bioactive dental materials / dental adhesives and bonding to tooth structure R&D, clinical trials (including head and neck oncology / oral rehab trials / dental anxiety / caries management), primary care research networks. Research links / KOL for 3M Oral Healthcare (International Scientific Experts Forum), Dentsply Sirona, Kuraray, Septodont & GCE. Research in dental education - Haptel dental virtual reality simulation programme at FoDOCS, KCL.

Cariology - minimum intervention oral healthcare delivery, minimally invasive dentistry - caries pathology / microbiology; microscopy; operative management techniques; dental adhesive biomaterials; clinical trials.

Appointments

• House Officer Oral Surgery/Orthodontics, Queen Alexandra Hosp., Portsmouth.(Aug 93 - Feb 94)
• SHO Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Mount Vernon / Hillingdon / Watford Hosps.(Feb 94 – Aug 95)
• MRC Clinical Training Fellow / Clinical Demonstrator, Dept. of Conservative Dentistry, UMDS. (Sept 95 - Sept 98)
• Clinical Lecturer / Hon. Specialist Registrar, Dept. of Conservative Dentistry, Guy's, King's & St. Thomas' Dental Institute, KCL. (Sept 98 – 05)
• Senior Clinical Lecturer / Specialist in Restorative Dentistry.  King’s College London Dental Institute at Guy’s Hospital, London. (Sept 2005 - 06)
• Senior Clinical Lecturer / Hon Consultant, Restorative Dentistry.  King’s College London Dental Institute at Guy’s Hospital, London. (Sept 2006 - 11)
• Visiting Professor, Restorative Dentistry, Oman Dental College, Muscat, Oman. (Sept 2008 - Present)
• Reader in Cariology & Operative Dentistry / Hon. Consultant, Restorative Dentistry.  KCL Dental Institute at Guy’s Hospital, London. (Sept  – Dec 2011)
• Professor of Cariology & Operative Dentistry / Hon. Consultant & Clinical Lead, Restorative Dentistry.  KCL Dental Institute at Guy’s Hospital, London. (Dec 2011 - Present)
• Hon. Consultant Advisor, Offcie of the Chief Dental Officer, England (Sept 2020 - present)
• NIHR Clinical research Network Oral & Dental Speciality Research Lead, South London (Jan 2021 - present)
• Visiting Professor, Universidad CEU-Cardenal Herrera, Valencia, Spain (Nov 2021-)
• Hon Professor, Restorative Dentistry, Fac of Dentistry, Hong Kong Univ  (2022- )

Research

Avijit has authored a large number of impactful, peer-reviewed papers in international scientific journals.  His scientific / translational research profile focuses on the following closely inter-related domains:

Cariology & Operative Dentistry:

Avijit’s research has developed the underpinning knowledge-base in histopathology, molecular microbiology, clinical detection and operative excavation technologies for treating dental caries (tooth decay).  His work on dental cutting instrument interactions with diseased tissue has pioneered development of novel operative clinical technologies to the global market in collaboration with KCL-spin out companies and other commercial partners, with clinical peer acceptance/scrutiny.  He is PI on several clinical trials - bio-active glass air-abrasion (two grants awarded by Osspray Ltd); chemo-mechanical caries removal with Carisolv™ gel (grant awarded by Mediteam/Orasolv™); chemo-mechanical caries removal with experimental Biosolv gel (3MESPE – chief investigator of a European multi-centre clinical trial); development of caries control treatment protocols in dry mouth patients (oncology, Sjögren’s syndrome – PI on a GSTFT Charity grant).  It is critical that lab-based research translates to clinical practice and he is one of the PI’s in the Dental Institute (Cariology & Operative Dentistry) with an active and relevant translational research profile (local collaborations with Oral Medicine, Orthodontics, Sedation and Special Care Dentistry, Oncology).

He is a scientific adviser to the European Advisory Board (GC Europe), facilitating clinical implementation of “MI” dentistry at European level.  “MI” (Minimal Intervention / Invasive Dentistry – a form of clinical dentistry promoting better biological understanding and increased patient involvement rather than relying solely upon invasive surgical intervention, for the treatment of dental caries) underpins his research and education in the BDS curriculum, highlighting integration between his research domains, clinical output and educational activity.

Microscopy:

Autofluorescent confocal microscopy of carious tissues, SEM.  Avijit’s research in this field has an international impact with research labs globally using the techniques he developed to characterize dental caries with an optical biomarker for both in-vitro and in-vivo studies. This has been adapted for in-vivo use using endoscopic objective lenses and further grant acquisition will enable this technology to be developed for clinical use with new operative techniques for tooth removal as a negative feedback, self-limiting system to prevent unnecessary removal of sound tooth structure.  Commercial partners have expressed ongoing interest in this technology.

Dental biomaterials science:

Development of new adhesive materials and their interaction with caries-affected tissues. His expertise has secured funding from grant-awarding bodies both local (KCL / GSTFT), national (MRC / EPSRC / NIHR) and international (Septodont USA, 3MESPE (Germany) commercial collaborations) for the development of materials that will adhere to residual diseased dental tissue, retained as part of the “MI” care philosophy.  Further research is ongoing to develop a generation of anti-enzymatic / anti-bacterial adhesives to be used in general dental practice for patient treatment.  This is an area of great commercial and clinical impact as his research has helped drive the changes in dental practice, away from surgical excision of decayed tissue towards a more minimally invasive approach (as alluded to above) – preparing smaller cavities for simpler treatment with bio-active, adhesive, “self-healing” materials.

Dental education research:

Clinical development/ educational evaluation of haptic (the study of human touch through environmental interaction), “virtual reality” operative dentistry simulators for use in the dental curriculum, HapTEL™ project (Haptic Technology Enhanced Learning). As clinical project advisor/investigator to Strands 2 (curriculum design) & 3 (educational evaluation) of this pioneering project (£1.5million, 2007-12, ESRC/EPSRC), he is responsible for directing this programme’s future implementation into the undergraduate curriculum at KCLDI. 

King’s Medical Engineering Centre (“ Rebuilding Faces”, work package 3.5) 

As co-PI for this programme (£1.2million / 2009-14), Avijit helps co-ordinate the Institute’s translational clinical research in the areas of dental disease and dento-facial reconstruction (operative dentistry, management of oro-facial cancer and dental disease in xerostomic (dry mouth) sufferers).  This has enabled me to link up effectively his research domains described above with inter-faculty collaboration.

Having successfully collaborated as PI / research consultant / KOL for concept & materials development with several major international companies, this has translated to gaining financial support for a doctorate training programme (with Septodont USA) as well as project grant funding.  His publications  show a purposeful direction in his research, linking scientific and academic endeavour with translational outcome into clinical dental practice.  Structured diversification around the central theme of Cariology & Operative Dentistry is apparent in abundance with publications in the fields of microbiology, operative dentistry, materials science, clinical practice / trials and critical, systematic reviews