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Staff Profile

Professor Paula Waterhouse

Professor of Paediatric Dentistry

  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 7353
  • Address: Level 4
    The School of Dental Sciences
    Faculty of Medical Sciences
    Framlington Place
    Newcastle Upon Tyne
    NE2 4BW
Background
Summary 
I have been a clinical academic at Newcastle University for  30 years. 

Career milestones:
  • Clinical Lecturer (Child Dental Health) 1991 (temporary contract until 1993)
  • FDS RCS Edinburgh 1994 (Dean’s Medal -best overall results across parts i and ii of this examination)
  • Higher specialist clinical and research training between 1994 and 2000 
  • Post-specialty training (FTTA) 1998-2000 
  • PhD thesis defended successfully August 2000
  • Intercollegiate Fellowship (Paed Dent) October 2000 
  • Senior Clinical Lecturer/Honorary Consultant 2007
  • National President of the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry 2023
  • Outstanding contribution to teaching in FMS (NUSU TEAs 2020)

I have a wealth of senior leadership experience; since 2002 I have held senior positions:
  • Degree Programme Director for Bachelor of Dental Surgery and Senior Tutor (current role);
  • Educational Leadership for both BSc and BDS Courses (Deputy Director of Education 2017-2019);
  • Pastoral Support and Progress (Stage 4 Director and Senior Tutor 2010-2019); 
  • Course leadership within my own and allied specialties (Paediatric Dentistry 2002-2019, Primary Dental Care Outreach (PDCO) 2004-2018, Special Care Dentistry 2007-2015) 
  • Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (2015-2019).
  • Regional Research Student Advisor (Dental Sciences) 2010-2017
  • Lead for cultural competency and decolonising the curriculum (2020-present)  

As a result, I have accomplished a number of significant achievements: 

1. Establishing the first ever UK integrated primary care outreach programme where both BDS and BSc Therapy students have inter-professional and longitudinal allocation to community clinics across the city; providing care to under-served populations.

2. Bronze then silver Athena SWAN status for the School and Faculty. Raised awareness of unconscious bias and the concept of cultural competency into the School particularly in relation to PGR students and the supervisor/student interface. 

3. Establishing the first ever international student education exchange programme between a UK and a US dental school.

4. Leading, guiding and rebuilding the Paediatric Dentistry academic team from 1 senior clinical academic (me) to its current status: 2 senior clinical academics including 1 NIHR Clinician Scientist and 1 NIHR Doctoral Fellow, 2 Clinical Lecturers, 3 Clinical Trainers and 2 Clinical Fellows.

Present role (Teaching and Scholarship [T&S] Contract)

I am currently the Degree Programme Director for BDS (2019-present). I am committed to improving cultural competency within the School together with achieving various aspects of decolonising the curriculum.

During the last 17 years, as Clinical Lecturer and then Clinical Senior Lecturer, I have led learning and teaching and managed an evolving curricula. I have represented clinical academic Paediatric Dentistry nationally and internationally. By influencing School and Faculty strategy I have moved the specialty locally from the perilous state of being only one clinical academic deep to a diverse, vibrant, and very successful group of clinical academics: Clinical Senior Lecturer/NIHR Clinician Scientist and an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow, a Clinical Lecturer, two Clinical Fellows, three senior NHS Clinical Trainers and several Associate Clinical Lecturers from primary care settings. 

I have held numerous School and University roles within and out with Paediatric Dentistry; I designed and led the Primary Dental Care Outreach course for 14 years and developed the School’s first Special Care Dentistry course.  Within the Outreach courses for dental and dental therapy students, I embedded a strong ethos of civic engagement with societal benefit to the region. Undergraduates provide longitudinal patient care in multiple community clinics in several underserved local communities. I worked alongside Newcastle Community Dental Services and the City Council and salaried dental services to enable all dental students to provide the service of oral health education to diverse community groups across Newcastle. Through this, I developed close links with the University of Indiana School of Dentistry, where I am currently a Visiting Scholar, designing the first ever UK-USA dental student education exchange using shared goals of civic engagement and education through service. The Outreach programme was recognised by Newcastle University as an exemplar of teaching excellence via collaboration and civic engagement. The Oral Health Education component of this programme was awarded Highly Commended by the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry Outstanding Innovation Award.

I am a founder member of the School’s Athena SWAN self-assessment team awarded Bronze status in 2016. As Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion from 2015, I led the School in the Faculty award of Silver in 2018. I was recognised by the University for my contribution to Athena SWAN by a ‘Bold for Change’ and a ‘Celebrating Success’ awards. 

Although on a T&S contract, my research role within the school is important;I am a fellow of the FMS Graduate School and I was the Regional Research Student Advisor (Dental Sciences) for 7 years overseeing the recruitment and mentorship of over 30 PhD students from 8 countries, one of the highest international recruitment figures across the faculty.  My research interests include clinically and educationally relevant themes. I have successfully supervised 6 PhD, 2 MPhil, 6 MSc, 2 BMedSci and 2 MRes projects and I currently supervise 4 PhD projects, spanning in-vivo, in-vitro and qualitative methods; all being directly relevant to patients and dental curriculum, (dental erosion of dentine, the effects of tooth whitening on enamel properties, efficacy of direct crowns and social accountability in dentists). Previous research students under my supervision have been awarded First Class Honours (BMedSci), a One North East Women in Science award (MRes), the best Nutrition Research Group student abstract at International Association for Dental Research 2010 (PhD), and 3 PhD Poster Prizes at the Centre for Oral Health Research meetings.
I am actively involved in reviewing PhD research projects via the APR process in FMS, have been internal examiner for numerous PhD and MPhil candidates and have also mentored international PGR students who find it challenging to settle within the UK culture.
I have been an external examiner for higher research degrees (DClinDent, MClinDent, Professional Doctorate, MPhil, PhD at Edinburgh, Leeds and Manchester). 

My experience, expertise, and skills in Paediatric Dentistry/education at all levels are recognised through the numerous undergraduate (Leeds, Cardiff, Queen's Belfast, and UCLan) and postgraduate external examiner appointments including Royal College exams: FDS, MFDS, and M Paed Dent. 

Memberships
• International Association of Paediatric Dentistry
• International Association of Dental Research
• British Dental Association
• British Society of Paediatric Dentistry, including the Teachers, Consultants and Specialists branches
• British Society of Disability and Oral Health
• British Society for Oral and Dental Research
• The Dental Sedation Teachers Group
• Association for the Study of Medical Education
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 

Honours and Awards

1. The Dean's Medal, from the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, for the best overall performance in the Fellowship Examination 1993, awarded 1994

2. The Shirley Glasstone-Hughes Memorial Prize, British Dental Association 1993 

3. The European Society of Endodontics Research Award for the evaluation of inflammatory mediators in primary molar pulp blood 1995

4. Distinction in Postgraduate Certificate of Academic Practice, Newcastle University 2007

5. Bold for Change, Newcastle University for leadership demonstrated during the School’s successful Athena SWAN application and beyond 2017

6. Celebrating Success Award for Athena SWAN, Newcastle University 2019

7. University entrant for the HEA Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence 2019

8. NUSU TEA award – Outstanding Contribution to Teaching FMS 2020

9. Highly Commended: British Society of Paediatric Dentistry Outstanding Innovation Award 2020

10. National President of the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry 2023   


Informal Interests

Being a mother, watching rugby, pencil sketching and walking the dog along the north-east coastline

Teaching

I am currently the Degree Programme Director for BDS. I have particular interest in working towards a decolonised BDS curriculum which facilitates cultural competency in learners, teachers and support staff. 

I am also a Visiting Professor at the University of Indonesia and a Visiting Scholar at the University off Indiana School of Dentistry.

Undergraduate Teaching

I am a member of ASME and achieved a distinction in the Post Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I am involved in teaching all stages of the BDS course - pre-clinical and clinical
I am Overall Teaching Lead for Paediatric Dentistry

Previous Senior Roles

Stage Director for Stage 4 and Senior Tutor

Deputy Director of Education 

Developed and led BDS Outreach Course for 15 years

Developed and led award winning BDS Oral Health Education Course 2013-2018

stage 1 Introduction to Dentistry
stage 2 Key Clinical Skills Course

stage 2 Nutrition and Diet Course

stage 3 Paediatric Dentistry

Stage 4 Paediatric Dentistry
Stage 5 Paediatric Dentistry
Involved in Stage 3, 4 and 5 OSCE, MOSLER, case presentations, written exams
Course Leader for BDS PDC Outreach Course, Stage 5 Child Dental Health and Special Care Dentistry

External Examiner experience:

Cardiff University (Final BDS)

Leeds University (years 1, 2 and 3)

Belfast QUB (Paediatric Dentistry and Special Care Dentistry all years)

Edinburgh Dental Institute (Postgraduate MClinDent and DClinDent degrees) 

UCLan (Final BDS)


Postgraduate Teaching

General professional trainees
MFDS courses
Pre and Post CCST Specialty Registrars
Section 63 courses for GDPs
External Examiner for The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
External Examiner for the Membership in Paediatric Dentistry

Revalidated NHS Clinical Trainer and Educational Supervisor

 

 

Research

Research Interests

I am a clinical academic in Paediatric Dentistry and my main research interests involve dental erosion in young people and endodontic treatment in children. Dental erosion, a type of tooth wear, is a condition which appears to be increasing in the younger population. I am involved in prevalence studies of erosion, whether fluoridated water impacts upon a populations experience of the condition, and whether the use of an index for measuring erosion can be used to initiate an appropriate care pathway for an individual. I am also interested in laboratory based investigation of erosion looking at the synegistic effects of different types of tooth wear and the effects of erosion upon tooth tissue at the nanoscale.

My PhD thesis investigated pulp therapy in the primary dentition at a time when major changes have occurred within clinical treatment guidelines. I take part in the UK and International debate on changing treatment modalities and have co-authored texts and clincial guidelines concerning this.

Other Expertise

I have clinical expertise in providing dental care for children and I am active in engaging with junior hospital staff via supervision of research projects involving dental trauma,  the medically compromised child and hypodontia. I am a revalidated NHS Clinical Trainer and Educational Supervisor (for higher specialist trainees).

Current Work

My current work centres around my main research theme of dental erosion involving: gathering data on global prevalence rates, the effect of water fluoridation, and nanoscale laboratory studies. I have also studied the development of a partial index for dental erosion to be used by primary care practitioners.

Future Research

Future work may include continuation of the laboratory based studies concentrating particularly upon monitoring techniques which could be used in a clinical environment.
Primary care based studies may be developed to train primary care practitioners in the use of a screening index for tooth wear.

Research Roles

Fellow of the Graduate School, supervising PhD and MPhil projects and previous Regional Research Student Advisor for Dental Sciences.

Postgraduate Supervision

I have previously successfully supervised several Phd, MSc  B Med Sci and MRes students.
I am presently supervising 3 PhDs.

External examiner for higher research degrees.

Esteem Indicators

Keynote presentation in Chicago 2007, for the American Association of Paeditric Dentistry.

Keynote presentation in Hannover 2007, for the German Association of Paediatric Dentistry.

Annual Prize from the European Society of Endodontology.

Winner of the Shirley Glasstone-Hughes Prize.

Publications