Douglas N. Dederich
Professor
- DEPARTMENTDepartment of Dentistry
University of Alberta, Edmonton
- COUNTRYCanada
Dr. Dederich earned a BS in electrical engineering and DDS from the University of Iowa, followed
by an MSc and PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Alberta. He did his specialty training in
periodontics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine. He is formerly an Associate Professor
and Chairman of the Division of Biomaterials at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Alberta, Course
Director in Materials Science at the School of Dental Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, and an Adjunct
Associate Professor at both the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Marquette University School of
Dentistry. He ran a full-time private periodontal practice in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for over 6 years before
assuming the position of Head, Department of Periodontics, at the Louisiana State University School of
Dentistry at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, Louisiana from 1998 to 2005. He has served
as both Associate and Acting Chair of the Department of Dentistry at the University of Alberta. Currently he
is a Professor in the Department of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, at the University of Alberta.
He also maintains a part-time specialty practice in periodontics and dental implants. His Biomedical
Engineering PhD research area focused on the topic of laser/tissue interaction. His clinical interests also
include implant and cosmetic dentistry. He has published his research extensively in refereed scientific
journals and has lectured both nationally and internationally. He has served as a consultant to the United
States National Institutes of Health, The Council on Scientific Affairs of the American Dental Association and
the American Academy of Periodontology on lasers in medicine and dentistry as well as a number of
refereed dental journals including the Journal of the American Dental Association and the Journal of Dental
Research. From 2000-2004 he was an editor of Mosby’s annual “Yearbook of Dentistry” and currently
serves on the Editorial Board of Dimensions of Dental Hygiene Journal. He served a 4-year term on the
American Dental Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs, and was elected Vice-Chair of the Council on
Scientific Affairs for the year 2005-6. He also served as the Chair of the American Dental Association’s
Standards Committee Working Group 6.58 on Dental Lasers, a group that produced a Technical Report to
the Profession outlining standards of evidence for dental laser applications. He has published over 60
publications and abstracts in refereed scientific journals, and has made over 120 scientific presentations in
North America and Europe and has been a recipient of major NIH funding in the area of laser interaction
with hard tissue. He is listed in Woodward and White’s Best Dentists in America (2004).
Professor