The ADM proudly presents

2026 Webinar and Live Q & A

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

10:00 am New Zealand Time (NZT), 2:00 pm USA (PDT – San Diego)

>>REGISTER TODAY!

(Webinar to be held on Zoom and will last about an hour and a half.)

Silver Diamine Fluoride: From Mechanism to Clinical Practice in
Minimally Invasive Dentistry

 

Presenter:

 

Dr. May Lei Mei, BDS, MDS, PhD
Professor, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, New Zealand

 

 

 

Abstract:
Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) is a 38% solution containing approximately 255,000 ppm silver and 44,800 ppm fluoride ions, stabilized with ammonia. It is used in diverse dental applications, including management of early childhood caries, arrest of root caries, prevention of fissure and secondary caries, desensitization of hypomineralized and hypersensitive teeth, remineralization of demineralized enamel, prevention of dental erosion, and treatment of infected root canals. Silver acts as an antimicrobial agent, inhibiting cariogenic biofilm, while fluoride promotes remineralization and prevents demineralization of tooth structure. Ammonia provides an alkaline environment that inhibits collagen degradation in carious dentin. With its painless application and proven efficacy, SDF is a cornerstone of minimally invasive dentistry.

Bibliography
Dr. Mei is a Professor in Cariology and the Deputy Convenor (Early Learning) of the BDS programme at the University of Otago, New Zealand. She is the Associate Editor of the Archives of Oral Biology and the Frontiers in Oral Health. She also sits on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Dentistry and the Dentistry Journal. Dr Mei’s research focuses on cariology and biomaterials, in particular on the effect of SDF on mineralized tissue, collagen and biofilms, and on the development of novel bioactive materials for caries management. Dr Mei was the President of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) Cariology Research Group (2022-2023) and has been a member of the Academy of Dental Materials for over 11 years. She received a number of prestigious awards, including the IADR (Australia & New Zealand Division) Oral Biology Award, IADR Centennial Emerging Leaders Award, and IADR Basil G. Bibby Young Investigator Award.

Panelists:

Dr. Leon Prentice
Chief R&D Officer at SDI Limited

 

 

 

Dr Leon Prentice is Chief R&D Officer at SDI Limited, where he and his diverse team of scientists and engineers work to make available new materials for whitening, preventative, and minimally invasive dentistry. A particular focus is topical systems for desensitisation (and caries prevention/arrest); in addition to SDI’s conventional SDF, a parallel ammonia-free silver fluoride is patented, awarded, and available internationally.

Dr Prentice’s original academic background is in chemical engineering and physics, from which he focused into process and biomaterials engineering. He completed a PhD in glass ionomer cements with the Melbourne Dental School, developed SDI’s Riva range of GICs, but then spent 15 years in light metals research with CSIRO (Australia’s national lab) before returning to SDI in 2021. He is Chartered and a Fellow of both IChemE (FIChemE CEng) and Engineers Australia (FIEAust CPEng EngExec) and a Certified Materials Professional (CMatP). His current voluntary roles include IADR and Materials Australia committees.

While publications are rarely a focus for industry research, collaborations have resulted in patents, publications, an h-index of 19, and multiple successful doctoral students. Dr Prentice currently co-supervises 6 PhD students and 2 post-docs, and engages in numerous studies whether corporately-, grant-, or university-funded. In his spare time, he enjoys cycling and (real!) football, participating in church, encouraging his teenage daughters’ STEM journeys, and living in inner Melbourne.

 

Professor Rahena Akhter
Associate Professor and Head Cariology at Sydney Dental School

 

 

 

 

Dr Rahena Akhter is an Associate Professor and Head of Cariology at Sydney Dental School (SDS), The University of Sydney and a practising clinician. Dr Akhter specialises in Preventive Dentistry and obtained her PhD from Hokkaido University, Japan.

She is actively involved in teaching in both the Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) and the Bachelor of Oral Health Therapy (BOH) programs at Sydney Dental School. Dr Akhter brings extensive international experience from Japan, Bangladesh, and Australia, and currently leads several funded Higher Degree Research (HDR) projects as a principal investigator.

Dr Akhter has published 167 peer-reviewed works, including 65 journal articles, 82 conference proceedings, and 10 book chapters in leading dental journals. She has successfully secured approximately AUD 3.5 million in competitive research grants in Australia and internationally.

She is an active member of several international professional societies and serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for multiple high-impact international journals.

 

 

Hooi Pin Chew
Associate Professor at the Division of Operative Dentistry in the School of Dentistry, University of Minnesota

 

 

 

I am an Associate Professor at the Division of Operative Dentistry in the School of Dentistry, University of Minnesota and also serve as the Deputy Director of MDRCBB. My research interests is driven by my clinical practice and teaching and hence my research is a combination of laboratory, translational and clinical. The two main impetus for my research are firstly to generate knowledge to shift the current practice of ‘reactive dentistry’ to a more ‘proactive’ one, i.e. a more preventive-oriented one; and secondly to develop objective, sensitive and quantitative assessment techniques for biomaterial clinical trials in order to reduce the need for large sample size and produce faster and more robust results. For these, I have worked extensively with optical methods such as optical coherence tomography, and recently along with machine learning to exploit its ability in deciphering the troves of insights obscured in big data.