Brings real-world insights to the classroom.
Dr. Hannah Jack serves as Honorary Clinical Lecturer in the Discipline of Orthodontics, Department of Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Health Sciences Division at the University of Otago. She obtained her Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) from the University of Otago between 2002 and 2006, followed by two years as a dental house surgeon. She completed her Doctorate of Clinical Dentistry (DClinDent) in Orthodontics at the same institution from 2010 to 2012. For her doctoral work, she was awarded the John McDonald Medal by the Royal College of Surgeons in July 2013. Additionally, she holds memberships including MRACDS (Orth) and MOrth RCS (Edinburgh). As a specialist orthodontist, she practices at Southern Dental Specialists in Auckland, New Zealand, with over a decade of experience in clinics and hospitals. She has served on the executive committee of the Wish for a Smile Trust for more than ten years and remains an honorary lecturer at the University of Otago, contributing to orthodontic education and craniofacial research at the Sir John Walsh Research Institute.
Hannah Jack's research centers on orthodontics, with a focus on clinical outcomes, psychosocial factors, and access to care. She is a member of the craniofacial research programme, investigating topics such as smile dynamics in unilateral cleft lip patients, orthodontists' experiences in community volunteering, treatment costs for low socio-economic status families, malocclusion as a potential disability, swallowing patterns and perioral electromyography, oral health-related quality of life in orthodontic and cleft patients, and primary surgical outcomes in New Zealand cleft lip and palate cases. Notable publications include: "Association of Clinical, Biomechanical, and Psychosocial Factors with Smile Dynamics in Unilateral Cleft Lip: A Multicenter Observational Study" (The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal, 2024, with Wong LHM, Firth F, Fowler P, Bennani H, Noble Campbell T, Farella M); "Some orthodontists' experiences of volunteering for a community orthodontic initiative" (American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, 2019, with Smith LA, Fowler P, Antoun J, Blanch K); "The impact of treatment cost on low SES families: an orthodontic viewpoint" (2019, with Smith L, Antoun J); "Considering malocclusion as a disability" (2019, with Antoun J); "Evaluation of primary surgical outcomes in New Zealand patients with unilateral clefts of the lip and palate" (2011, with Antoun J); and earlier works on lip advancement effects on oral pressure and swallowing function (2013-2014). Her scholarship has garnered over 170 citations and includes collaborations on New Zealand Dental Association Research Foundation-funded projects.
