The ADM proudly presents
2026 Webinar and Live Q & A

Wednesday, September 2, 2026
11:00 am (PDT) / 1:00 pm (CDT) /3:00 pm (BRT)

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

Bridging Laboratory Research and Clinical Failures in the Era of AI

 

Presenter:

 

 

Rafael R. Moraes
Professor, School of Dentistry, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil

 

 

 

Abstract:
Clinical failures in restorative dentistry rarely arise from a single material property. This is particularly evident in resin composite restorations, where degradation, fatigue, biofilm, adhesive interfaces, operator-dependent factors, and patient-related conditions interact over time. Using resin composite restorations as a guiding example, this talk will discuss how laboratory studies in dental materials can better reflect clinically relevant failure patterns, moving beyond isolated outcomes toward experimental designs that incorporate aging, degradation, interface behavior, and oral-environment complexity. The presentation will also consider how artificial intelligence may assist this process and support more clinically meaningful experimental planning. The goal is to strengthen the bridge between elegant laboratory testing and real clinical problems.

Biography:
Rafael R. Moraes is a Professor and researcher at the School of Dentistry, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil. His research focuses on dental materials, restorative dentistry, and resin composites, with an emphasis on generating evidence from both clinical and laboratory studies. He has published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers, which have received over 13,000 citations. More recently, he has also been studying artificial intelligence, with particular interest in its practical use by students and researchers, as well as its impact on education, scientific practice, and the emerging culture of AI use in academia.

Panelists:

Timothy D. Dunbar
Senior Product Development Specialist | Solventum Dental Solutions

Tim was born and raised in southwestern Pennsylvania. He was graduated from Wheaton College (IL) with a B.S. in Chemistry in 1992 and then received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Penn State in 1998. After completing a two-year post-doctoral research fellowship with Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM), he was hired into 3M’s Advanced Materials Technology Lab in 2000. In 2007, he joined 3M Oral Care Solutions as a product developer, developing such products as 3M™ Filtek™ Supreme Flowable Restorative, 3M™ Filtek™ One Bulk Fill Restorative, and 3M™ Filtek™ Universal Restorative. After the launch of Solventum, he continued developing dental restoratives, namely 3M™ Filtek™ Easy Match Universal Restorative and Solventum™ Filtek™ Easy Match Flowable Restorative. Author of over fifteen publications, inventor of over twenty issued U.S. patents, and father of four grown children, Tim resides in Woodbury, MN, with his wife.

 

Faleh Tamimi
Professor, Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Education, Qatar University

Professor Tamimi’s translational research program is focused both on understating fundamental problems concerning health and disease in the oral cavity, and developing new technologies (i.e. biomaterials, drugs, AI) to manage pathologies of these tissues (e.g. bone fractures, osteoporosis, oral cancer).

Professor Tamimi, holds a BDS degree from the University of Jordan and 2 clinical certificates, in Geriatric Dentistry, and in Implant-Prosthodontics, respectively, as well as a Ph.D. in Biomaterials from the University Complutense of Madrid. He also received postdoctoral research training at McGill University.

He is a tenured Professor, and has held numerous leadership positions at McGill and abroad. Dr Tamimi has received ample recognitions and awards such as the VitalDent Foundation award, the Harry Rosen Award, the ACFD W.W. Wood Excellence in Dental Education Award, a Canada Research Chair Tier 2, and the Outstanding Research in Health Award form Qatar University. He has received the award of Alumni of the month from the University of Jordan in 2019 and in 2024 he received the title of Honorary Professors from the same university.

He has received research funding from many prestigious organizations such as CIHR, QRDI, NSERC, CFI, and has published over 240 peer-reviewed scientific articles, many of which are in high-impact journals.