A new era for prosthodontics at UWA

Dr Adam Hamilton returned to Western Australia last year after spending several years in the US. He brings a wealth of international experience and enthusiasm to the Prosthodontics program.

Adam’s interest in dentistry was sparked at an early age. “When my sister was eight years old, she was playing on a playground at primary school, and she fell off the top of a fort,” Adam recalls. “She landed on her feet, but somehow her front teeth ended up embedded in her knee cap.

“I was nine at the time and seeing the dentist put them back into place was my first exposure to dental trauma. Obviously, her teeth did not go back all the way and going through orthodontic treatment to try to correct that was a big part of her life. She has a beautiful smile now, but it also exposed me to the impact that something like that can have on the personality of someone – their wellbeing having aesthetic consequences, and the joy of having that addressed.”

Adam was also influenced to join the profession when his brother (orthodontist Dr Robert Hamilton) enrolled into Dental School. “You always look up to your older brother,” Adam says. 

A varied career

Adam says the decision to specialise was a natural progression. “I was excited to work with my hands,” he says. “From a young age, I was carrying a hammer and I always enjoyed building things with my father. I enjoyed the physical creation that prosthodontics allows us to do – the diagnosis, mental stimulation, working with other people and being a leader all appealed.”

Adam did prosthodontics courses as a general dentist, but it was when he took a patient record to Dr Glen Liddelow and shadowed him, that Glen suggested applying for prosthodontics. 

“When I got home, I realised the deadline for the prosthodontics program in Sydney had passed. The deadline for The University of Melbourne had also passed, but I thought I would email them anyway and they got back to me and said they were still looking for another applicant and to come to an interview – and the rest is history.”

Following completion of his prosthodontics specialisation, Adam was encouraged by the International Team for Implantology to apply for a scholarship. He was accepted to go to the University of Florida to their Centre for Implant Dentistry, under the mentorship of Dr William Martin. 

Adam only ever intended on being in the US for year, and with his bags packed to come back to Australia, he attended an ITI congress in California. 

“As part of that congress, they had a segment called ITI Live,” Adam recalls. “This segment is a unique thing at a congress, where anyone attending can submit a lecture title, and as part of that submission you have to prepare a seven-minute presentation. 

It’s interesting that seven minutes on stage completely changed the course of my life.

“All the lecture titles are put up on a screen and the audience votes for the title that catches their interest. Out of the 30 titles, I think there were only five people chosen to present and I was very fortunate that mine was one of the few selected.”

After he gave his presentation, Adam was approached by Dr German Gallucci from The Harvard Dental School of Medicine, who asked if Adam would be interested in going to Boston to lecture to their students. 

After travelling to Boston and giving a lecture (which ended up being extended from one hour to four hours on the request of attendees), Adam was asked to work at the university. “It was an offer too good to refuse,” he says. “How do you turn down an offer from Harvard in one of the best implant programs in the world?

“At that time my fiancee' was still in Australia and was expecting me to come home. I called her and I said I have this offer to go to Boston and work at Harvard University and she hung up the phone and didn’t call me back for two days. Then she called and said: ‘Ok we’re moving to Boston.’  It’s interesting that seven minutes on stage completely changed the course of my life.”

Adam’s experience at Boston was invaluable. On first day in the job, Professor of Implant Dentistry, Daniel Buser, from The University of Bern in Switzerland, began a sabbatical and moved into the office directly opposite Adam. Adam saw Professor Buser every day and was able to pick his brain, all while admiring his willingness to share his knowledge and experience in implant dentistry. 

Adam travelled often, lecturing in Brazil, Chili, Europe and China. “Over time I developed a passion for educating and sharing the knowledge I had, although I had to try to tone my Australian accent down enough so people could understand me,” he laughs. “I was promoted to assistant professor, which was a big honour. 

“During that time, I also witnessed the biggest joy of my life, which was the birth of my two sons, with one unexpectedly being delivered by my own hands, but that is a story for another time.”

Around that time, COVID hit, which made Adam and his family consider returning to Australia. “Fortunately, the position at UWA became available and these positions don’t come up very often. It seemed like a great opportunity to balance my aspirations of a career as a prosthodontist together with family life and to be back in a country that I love”, Adam says.

A new start at UWA

After six-and-a-half years in Boston, Adam returned to WA in mid-2021 to take up the position at UWA.

“It’s exciting to see the progress of the university,” he says. “It’s also exciting to see a lot of opportunity for improvement and development of the prosthodontic program here at The University of Western Australia and what impact I can make. 

I want to show people that you can be a high-level clinician and an academic at the same time – they are not mutually exclusive.

“I am hoping to change the perception of academics in Australia, inspiring more younger dentists to take a role in academics as a career, which can be fulfilling and exciting and rewarding. I want to show people that you can be a high-level clinician and an academic at the same time – they are not mutually exclusive.” 

Adam says his focus is on the specialty program of prosthodontics at the university. “UWA doesn’t have a long history of having a specialty prosthodontic program, but developing an internationally high-level calibre of prosthodontists from UWA would be a huge asset to the university,” he says. “I think we have the technology and facilities and infrastructure to be able to do that, provided we can get the right students and encourage more students to consider specialisation in prosthodontics as a rewarding career pathway.”

As well as his role at the university, Adam also works for the Centre of Prosthodontics – in keeping with his role as a clinician. 

“The most rewarding and enjoyable part of my work is my patients,” Adam says. “Seeing the result of the fruits of the labour for some patients can be after many years of treatment. Witnessing them move from being very embarrassed with their smiles to being confident people, and seeing the transformation, not only with their dentition but their personality and their overall health, is so rewarding.

“Second to that is the same feeling you get when you impart that knowledge on a student,” he adds. “When I see them really grasping a concept and developing their skills, I feel accomplishment – even more so than what I do personally.”