Rate My Professor Jilen Patel

Associate Professor Jilen Patel is a clinical academic at the UWA Dental School within the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Western Australia and serves as a Consultant Paediatric Dentist at Perth Children’s Hospital. He earned his PhD from the University of Western Australia in 2024, developing a consumer-led quality improvement framework for dental volunteerism in remote Aboriginal communities; Doctor of Clinical Dentistry in Paediatric Dentistry; and Bachelor of Dental Science with Honours. His research specializations encompass paediatric dentistry, cariology, remineralising agents, dental public health, and rural and remote oral health, with expertise in teledentistry, preventive care, and service delivery in remote communities. Patel has secured more than $3 million in competitive research funding as chief investigator and established the Paediatric Oral Health Research Group, recognized as one of the most productive in the Dental School. He supervises a substantial portfolio of student and collaborative projects, and his research has been presented nationally and internationally, cited in a Senate inquiry into oral health in Australia, and has influenced state and national oral health policy.

Commencing at UWA in 2018, Patel led major curriculum redevelopment in the Doctor of Dental Medicine program, pioneering blended and problem-based learning approaches in cariology, dental public health, and paediatric dentistry. As Director of the Kimberley Dental Team Ltd since 2009, he delivers dental services, oral health education, and advocacy to remote Aboriginal communities. He also acted as Clinical Lead for the WA Early Childhood Dental Program, a $11.5 million state-wide initiative informed by research in teledentistry and preventive care. Key publications include 'Competitive swimming and dental staining among Australian children' (Australian Dental Journal, 2025), 'Evaluation of near-infrared digital imaging transillumination compared with bitewing radiography for proximal caries detection in children' (International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry, 2025), 'The Effectiveness of the Use of Silver Fluoride and Teledentistry to Manage and Prevent Childhood Caries Among Aboriginal Children in Remote Communities' (JMIR Research Protocols, 2025), 'A Deep Learning-Based System for the Assessment of Dental Caries Using Colour Dental Photographs' (Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 2024), and 'Dental Immunisation: Evaluation of a Community-Driven Strategy for Addressing Caries Burden in Indonesian School Children' (Journal of the California Dental Association, 2024). Awards include the Australian Dental Association Outstanding Young Dentist Award (2022), UWA Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, UWA Dental School Early Career Research Award (2024), and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His current initiatives enhance rural and remote clinical training programs, involving over 50 students annually in partnerships with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations.