Meet the chair: Specialty dentistry
As the Bitonte College of Dentistry prepared to welcome its second cohort of students this fall, the College also welcomed a new chair for the Department of Specialty Dentistry, Liran Levin, D.M.D. Dr. Levin recently shared his background and plans for the future with The Pulse.
What is your role at NEOMED?
My role is the chair of the Department of Specialty Dentistry.
In dental practice there are the more common procedures like fillings and crowns and there are more advanced and complex treatments that are performed sometimes by specialists in different fields of dentistry. A few examples would be periodontology (gum diseases, gum surgeries and dental implants), endodontology (root canal treatments), orthodontics, oral surgery and more. Our department will be in charge of teaching our dental students all these aspects of specialty dentistry to ensure they have the ability to understand them well, know how to handle some cases and when to refer them to specialists if needed.
Where were you before?
I am a visiting professor at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. I was previously the associate dean for research and graduate studies at the College of Dentistry, the University of Saskatchewan, the head of periodontology at the University of Alberta, Canada, and the head of research at the School of Dentistry, Rambam Health Care Campus, and Faculty of Medicine - Technion IIT Haifa, Israel.
What made you choose to come to NEOMED?
I was invited to join the amazing team here at the NEOMED Bitonte College of Dentistry by Dean Sorin Teich, who I know and follow for many years. The privilege to start and shape a new dental school based on the years of experience we all have, is a once in a lifetime opportunity that excites me and the others at the University. Together, we can build on our past experiences and create a superb dental school that will grow the next generations of leaders in our profession.
Do have any plans you can share about the specialty dentistry program? What would you like to see in the future?
We are aiming to provide our graduates with an exceptional clinical and didactic training that will prepare them for their professional lives. We are preparing a program that will combine excellence, expert education and compassion in providing care to our patient population. We will emphasize to our students and demonstrate by example the importance of giving back to our communities and various patient populations. We will strive to be the number one dental school in the state and then in the country, leading our profession and gaining international recognition.
We are also working on developing a robust research portfolio and to get our students involved in research projects and taste the world of scholarship and exploration throughout their dental education period.
Where did you train?
I received my D.M.D. degree with distinction from the Tel Aviv University and completed my Post Graduate Periodontology Program at the Department of Periodontology, Rambam Health Care Campus. I also received a Periodontology Specialist Certificate from the European Federation of Periodontology, as well as a Fellow of the Royal College of Dentists of Canada in Periodontology.
Anything else you’d like to add?
I have the pleasure to serve as the president of the International Association for Dental Traumatology (IADT), the editor-in-chief of the Dental Traumatology journal. I also was chairing the 2020 IADT dental trauma guidelines committee as well as the 2024 joint IADT and ASD guidelines for prevention of traumatic dental injuries committee. I am the past-president of the Periodontal Research Group of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR).
To date, I had published more than 400 articles and book chapters in the international professional literature and am involved in research, mainly in periodontology, dental implants and dental trauma. My papers received more than 20,000 scientific citations. Apart from that I am lecturing extensively both nationally and internationally in the fields of dental implants and periodontal diseases.