Rate My Professor Carolina Loch Santos da Silva

Associate Professor Carolina Loch Santos da Silva serves in the Department of Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Otago, where she heads the Discipline of Oral Biology. She holds a BSc in Biology and an MSc in Zoology from institutions in Brazil, followed by a PhD in 2013 from the University of Otago. Her doctoral thesis, titled 'Morphology, structure and evolution of teeth in fossil and extant physeteroids,' was supervised by Professor R. Ewan Fordyce from the Department of Geology and the late Professor Jules A. Kieser from the Sir John Walsh Research Institute. Since completing her PhD, she has progressed through academic ranks at Otago, from lecturer to senior lecturer, and was promoted to Associate Professor. She is a core member of the Sir John Walsh Research Institute, contributing to the Craniofacial Biology and Biomechanics and Oral Implantology research programmes. Loch Santos da Silva has supervised multiple doctoral students on topics including dental consequences of vitamin D deficiency during development, effects of stroke on oral function and health, and ethnobiology of native plants for oral health applications.

Her research specializes in evolutionary oral biology and comparative dental morphology, examining teeth from fossil and extant species to understand biology, evolution, and environmental interactions. She applies advanced techniques such as electron microscopy, biomechanical testing, geochemical analysis, and micro-computed tomography to study dental hard tissues, anatomy, and ultrastructure. Current projects encompass biomechanics of the human jaw, development of dental appliances at the interface of oral and general health, and laboratory characterization of novel dental materials. Key publications include 'Reflections of their homelands: Early life enamel formation disruption in nineteenth century settlers of Otago, New Zealand' (Kavale-Henderson et al., Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2026), 'Sociodemographic characteristics of Aotearoa New Zealand oral health students' (Loch et al., Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2026), 'Variation in modern human deciduous molar enamel formation time' (Mahoney et al., American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 2025), and 'A contribution to the anatomy of two rare cetacean species: The hourglass dolphin and the spectacled porpoise' (Graïc et al., Anatomical Record, 2025). She received the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) Centennial Emerging Leaders Award in 2020 for the Australian/New Zealand Division. Additionally, she has served as Co-President (Academic) for the University Staff Women's Caucus Committee and participated in outreach activities, including school science programs and women in science conferences.