LASERS, MICROBIOLOGY AND DENTAL MATERIALS IN CLINICAL DENTAL PRACTICE

Professor Laurence Walsh AO
Emeritus Professor, School of Dentistry, University of Queensland &
Adjunct Professor, Griffith University, Queensland &
Chief Dental Officer, Dentroid

RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | December 2024

Prof Walsh is a well known senior dental academic and dental board registered specialist in special needs dentistry.  He completed his basic dental training and his PhD at the University of Queensland and then his post doctoral education at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, followed by executive education at Stanford University and Harvard University. In addition to his multiple dental and educational qualifications,  Prof Walsh is a member of the Australian Institute of Safety and Health, and an associate member of the Australian Institute of Physics. He has served for over 25 years as a laser safety officer.  Prof Walsh was a member of the UQ Centre for Laser Science for 11 years. 

Prof Walsh has one major national awards for research and teaching excellence, and has been made a life member of the ANZ Academy of special needs dentistry, and the Australian Dental Association. In 2018, he was appointed as an officer of the order of Australia (AO) in recognition of his contributions to dental education and dental research. 

Prof Walsh has served on the academic staff of the University of Queensland School of Dentistry for 40 years, including for 21 years as the research group leader in advanced technologies. Since retiring from UQ in 2020 and then being appointed as an emeritus professor,  Prof Walsh has continued his involvement with specialist training and clinical research at UQ, and continued applied research in advanced technologies. 

Prof Walsh was Australia’s first multi-wavelength laser user in 1988, and he has published over 100 articles and 3 textbooks on the topic of laser dentistry. He has a further 300 journal publications on other topics, and his published work has attracted over 20,000 citations in the literature. Based on citation impact, in October 2023  Prof Walsh was ranked in the top 5 Australian dental scientists of all time in the Stanford University listing of the world’s top 2% of scientists. 

Prof Walsh has represented the Australian Dental Association on multiple committees of Standards Australia since 1992 (including laser safety). He has taught laser safety and clinical laser procedures around the world for over 30 years.  Prof Walsh has been the president of the Australian Association for laser dentistry since 2018.