Threading Prevention Through the Undergraduate Dental Curriculum: Developing Competence in Patient Engagement and Self-Care

Dr Claire McCarthy qualified from Trinity College Dublin and has over 20 years’ experience in dental academia. She holds a PhD in Clinical Dentistry from King’s College London (KCL), focused on aerosol mitigation and ultrasonic device performance, for which she received the KCL Outstanding Thesis Award. She also holds a master’s degree in Higher and Professional Education and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the Faculty of Dental Trainers. She is the newly appointed Head of Dental at Canterbury, responsible for the development and establishment of a new BSc programme in Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy and serves as Programme Director. She is also a long-standing member of faculty at King’s College London, where she has taught undergraduates and post-graduates for over two decades all aspects of non-surgical Periodontology. She previously led the BDS1 and BDS2 undergraduate Periodontology programme for eight years.

Claire has an established international academic profile as a Visiting Professor at NYU College of Dentistry since 2014, where she developed the postgraduate non-surgical periodontal programme. Her research focuses on ultrasonic instrumentation, aerosol reduction, and implant decontamination, with an emphasis on clinically translatable innovation. She was selected for the 2025 MedTech Accelerator Programme in collaboration with the London Institute of Healthcare Engineering and received the Best Pitch Award in 2026. Her work has been recognised through the Robin Davies Research Award (2020), Fellowship of the College of General Dentistry (2023), Faculty Membership of the British Society of Periodontology (2024), a KCL Teaching Award for Student Support (2025), and an award for curriculum innovation in behaviour change. She contributes to national policy and professional standards through involvement in guideline development, sits on the Council of the British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy (BSDHT), and serves as Chair of the Accreditation Committee for the Irish Dental Council, External Assessor for MFHEA, and is the current Staff President of the KCL Dental Society.