Rate My Professor Mitten McLean

Dr. Mitten McLean serves as a Professional Practice Fellow in the Department of Oral Diagnostic and Surgical Sciences within the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Otago, part of the Health Sciences Division. This department encompasses disciplines such as oral pathology, oral medicine, oral surgery, radiography, and special needs dentistry, contributing to undergraduate programs including the Bachelor of Dental Surgery, Bachelor of Oral Health, and Bachelor of Dental Technology, as well as postgraduate Doctor of Clinical Dentistry qualifications. McLean is actively involved in teaching, co-ordinating the DEOH401 Adult Restorative Dental Care paper. This distance learning course, spanning 60 points over a non-standard period from June 2026 to June 2027, targets registered dental therapists and oral health therapists with at least two years of post-graduation clinical experience in restorative care. It features compulsory on-campus blocks in Dunedin, focusing on evidence-based treatment planning for adult patients aged 18 and older, patient assessment, informed consent, communication, ethical considerations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and strategies to address oral health inequities. Participants require mentorship and specific equipment like intraoral mirrors and monitoring devices.

McLean's research contributions center on clinical aspects of oral health, particularly intraoral environmental factors and advanced anaesthesia methods. In 2016, McLean co-authored the pilot study 'Interarch comparison of intraoral pH and temperature: a pilot study,' investigating associations between pH, temperature variations in maxillary and mandibular arches, and tooth wear severity using custom-fitted intraoral appliances on 14 participants. A key 2022 publication, 'Jet injection needle-free dental anaesthesia: Initial findings' in the Journal of Dentistry, co-authored with Paul A. Brunton, Senthilkumar Vedagiri, and others from the Sir John Walsh Research Institute, evaluated the effectiveness of jet injection systems for local anaesthesia in dental procedures. Additional collaborations include a 2022 case study on user experience-driven design for a new local anaesthetic dentistry jet injection device. These works highlight McLean's role in advancing patient comfort and innovative dental techniques at the University of Otago.