PAEDIATRIC DENTIST

Associate Professor Jilen Patel is a clinical academic at the UWA Dental School and a Consultant Paediatric Dentist at Perth Children's Hospital and Principal at Castlegate Family Dental Care. His work spans across paediatric oral health, cariology, dental trauma and rural and remote care.

Research by Jilen’s team in teledentistry and preventive care informed the $11.5 million WA Early Childhood Dental Program, for which he served as Clinical Lead. As a Director of the Kimberley Dental Team, he has helped deliver dental care, education and advocacy to remote Aboriginal communities since 2009. This work has shaped state and national oral health policy and was cited in a Senate inquiry into oral health in Australia.

Jilen has led the reform of the cariology and dental public health curriculum within the Doctor of Dental 2 Medicine program at UWA. He has also established rural and remote clinical training in partnership with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, which now trains more than 50 students each year.

He has published widely in cariology, paediatric dentistry and remote oral health, with a particular research interest in silver diamine fluoride (SDF). This began with his master's thesis. His research includes a randomised clinical trial in which a multidisciplinary model of care incorporating SDF was associated with a 70% relative reduction in hospitalisation among refugee children. He is currently supervising Australia's first trial of SDF in the management of molar hypomineralisation.

His contributions have been recognised with the GC Minimal Intervention Research Award for his research on remineralisation, the RACDS and ADA National Lecturer Awards, the ADA Outstanding Dentist Award and a UWA Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. Across his roles he remains committed to bridge research, teaching and clinical care to improve oral health outcomes for children and underserved communities.

The young child, or even anxious adult, with carious lesions and limited cooperation is a familiar challenge, and managing them well often means combining approaches. This clinically directed session shows how conservative, disease-management techniques fit within a full spectrum of paediatric care.

The session provides a clear, evidence-based guide to silver diamine fluoride (SDF): which lesions to treat, how to apply it, how often to review, and what results to realistically expect. SDF will be discussed alongside other minimally invasive techniques, including the Hall technique, ART/ITR, selective caries removal, non-restorative cavity control and therapeutic sealants. Through interactive, case-based discussion, the session will explore when each approach works best and how to apply it in everyday practice.