Dr Janice Ellis
Clinical Senior Lecturer

  • Email: janice.ellis@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 222 8198
  • Address: Restorative Dentistry
    School of Dental Sciences
    Framlington Place
    Newcastle University
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE2 4BW

    RESEARCH WEBSITE

Background

I am a graduate of Newcastle University having gained my BDS with Honours in 1987. Having undertaken the usual house officer and resident SHO posts I gained my FDS in 1991. I worked as a full time lecturer in Restorative Dentistry and started working towards a PhD until 1993 when my son was born and I became part time. I completed my PhD in 1998 (one year after the birth of my daughter). At that stage my career took a brief side step as I became a flexible trainee in Restorative Dentistry. I returned to an academic career pathway in 2001 taking on a full time lecturing post. I subsequently completed my training, and gained my CCST in 2003. In August 2006 I was promoted to Senior Lecturer and Hon Consultant in Restorative Dentistry.

Roles and Responsibilities

Within the School of Dental Sciences I am the Academic Lead for Prosthodontic Teaching. I also Chair the group developing and introducing a reflective portfolio for use throughout the school. I am actively involved in clinical teaching/training of undergraduates and postgraduates and have a particular interest in patient centred approaches to treatment, and oral health related quality of life. I am course director for our restorative course entitled ' Management of Tooth Loss' during which I deliver undergraduate hands on training in implantology.
I am Clinical Audit Lead for the Directorate, a clinical trainer and Departmental Educational Supervisor and Chair of the Teaching and Learning Committee and Student Progress Appraisal panels. I am also the Chair of the Skills Training Facility Users Group.
Outside of my local roles I am Hon Secretary to The British Society for the Study of Prosthetic Dentistry. I am an examiner for the RCS MFDS examination, and have acted as an external examiner for the IQE.

Qualifications

BDS Hons (Newcastle 1987)
FDS RCS Ed (November 1991)
PhD Newcastle 1998
FDS RCS Ed (Rest Dent) 2004
ILTM 2004
PGCE (Dist) 2006

Memberships

British Dental Association
International Association for Dental Research
British Society for Dental Research
International Association for Dental Research
British Society of Periodontology
British Society for the Study of Prosthetic Dentistry
Student Clinicians of the Amercican Dental Association
Association of Consultants and Specialists in Restorative Dentistry
Association for the Study of Medical Education

Honours and Awards

The British Society of Periodontology Fellowship Award 1992
The Sir Wilfred Fish Research Prize 1994
The British Society of Periodontology Marsh midda Fellowship 1998
Shirley Glasstone Hughes Award 2002
BSSPD Research Grant 2007 (As supervisor to Mphil student recipient)
Schottlander Poster Prize (BSSPD) 2007

Informal Interests

I have abusy family life and currently seem to spend most weekends acting as an unpaid taxi driver to Tim (16) and Lucy (13). I enjoy swimming and do so 3 or 4 times a week in my local open air pool, as well as taking part in the last two Great North Swims.

Research Interests

My research interests started in Peridontology and specifically drug-induced gingival overgrowth. This was the subject of my PhD which involved not only lab based studies developing gas chromatographic techiques to measure drug concentrations in gingival crevicular fluid but also large sacle epidemiologival studies into the prevalence in the local community. Whilst my research interest remained in this area for some time after completing my PhD, my interests broadened to include the connection between cardiovascular disease and periodontal disease. More recently I have become one of the lead members of a team including nutritionalists and social scientists that have research the impact of edntuloussness and the effects of convrentional and implant supported overdentures on this and patient satisfaction. As part of this reaserch we have undertaken a number of lines of research including the ability of implant supported overdentures to facilitate dietary change,the influence of aesthetics on patients acceptance, comparison on different attachment systems, the uptake of technology by practitioners, patterns of adaptation to denture wearing, eating related quality of life and decision making in relation to provision of high cost dental interventions such as implants. Much of this research has been undertaken in collaboration with colleagues at McGill Univerity, Canada.I currently supervise two PhD students working within this area.

Other Expertise

I have a PGCE in Higher Education Leadership and have been trained as a mentor. In my role as lead of our portfolio I have developed a good working knowledge of the use of reflection and other methods of attitudinal assessment.

Current Work

My current research work is to develope and validate a self-completed patient questionnaire. The format will be determined from data from qualitative interviews and the questionnaire will aim to identify patients who are at high rask of being unable to adapt to wearing conventional dentures. This work would have direct clinical applicability and would allow clinicians to identify those patients who would most benfit from this type of intervention. I have a number of other studies on going and or nearing completion, for example Decision making in relation to self funded dental treatments, a RCT of magnets and ball attachment retained implant supported over dentures.

Future Research

I would like to extend pilot research into the influence of aesthetics in patient satisfaction

Research Roles

Principle Investigator on a number of current studies.
Post-graduate supervisor (2 PhD, 1 MPhil)
Member of team with skills in dietary and quality of life research with regard to patients restored with implant supported overdentures.
Collaborative worker with McGill University, Montreal, Cork University, Ireland, Cardiff University Wales.

Postgraduate Supervision

PhD Projects:Dietary intervention outcomes for completely edentulous patients wearing either conventional or implant-supported dentures ( completed May 2007)
The application of industrial magnets in retsorative dentistry.
Barriers and Facilitators to the uptake of new Technologies in Dentistry (Provsional title)

Esteem Indicators

The Sir Wilfred Fish Research Prize Winner - BSP
The Marsh Midda Fellowship - BSP
The Fellowship Award - BSP
Shirley Glasstone hughes Award - BDA
Schottlander Poster Prize - BSSPD

Funding

MRC
Industry (Stauman, Aichi, Schottlander)
Oral & Dental Research Trust
Northern & Yorkshire Health Authority
British Society of Periodontology
Shirley Glasstone Hughes Memorial prize, British Dental Association
ITI - Foundation for the Promotion of Oral implantology

Undergraduate Teaching

School lead for Clinical Teaching
Academic Lead for Removable Prosthetics
Module leader of Clinical skills course 'Restorative Management of Tooth Loss'inc Resource day on implants sponsored by Nobel Biocare
Development of undergraduate portfolio.
Development of Student Progress Appraisal process

Postgraduate Teaching

MSc in Restorative Dentistry (Management of the medically Compromised Patient & Health and Safety at Work'
Section 63 courses; Medically Compromised, Partial Dentures, Aesthetic Dentures, Drug-induced Gingival Overgrowth, Impressions, Identification of the Failing Trainee, Appraisal, Mentoring
Invited speaker to the BSPD - teachers group (Assessment Methods)
I am an external examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (Part 1 MFDS) and for Cardiff University IQE.