• Dean’s Message
• Expressions Spring 2026

Shaping Tomorrow’s Dentistry

Leading Oral Healthcare through Innovation and Education

Professor Lijian Jin leads the Faculty in advancing global oral health through innovation

The HKU Faculty of Dentistry is entering a new dynamic phase, marked by clearer strategic goals and focus, stronger team spirit and partnerships, and a broader global outlook and perspectives. It is a privilege to continue this exciting journey as the Dean after serving as Acting Dean since 1 July, 2024. The dedication of our staff, students, alumni, collaborators, partners, and friends has enabled the Faculty to secure once again second place globally in the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject (Dentistry), with a notable track record of rankings on the top 3 for ten years out of 12 years from 2015 to 2026. Yet, it strengthens our role as one of the global leaders in dental education, innovative research, knowledge exchange and professional service.

Currently, dentistry is being reshaped by artificial intelligence (AI), digital technologies, precision healthcare, and new service models and approaches. At HKU Faculty of Dentistry, we enthusiastically embrace these changes with a well-defined objective - to ensure that innovation and discovery lead to better, safer, and more equitable and cost-effective oral healthcare for the communities we serve.

Notably, our newly established Global Hub for Future Dentistry (GHFD) lays the cornerstone of our future development in innovative and translational research, and sets Faculty’s long-term strategy and approaches to speeding up “bench-to-bedside” solutions for oral health, general wellbeing, better quality of life and healthy aging. Launched at the Inauguration Ceremony of the Global University Innovation Network (GUIN) of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) in July 2025, and highlighted as one of the features of the HKU Innovation Week (Main Event) in October 2025; the GHFD was established in close partnership with HKSTP and the HKU Techno-Entrepreneurship Core (HKU-TEC). Designed as an innovative and multidisciplinary platform where scientific discovery, cutting-edge technology, and clinical needs converge, the GHFD aims to attract top talents, innovative teams and proactive companies from around the world to Hong Kong SAR, China.

The GHFD strengthens our research and innovation ecosystem and creates exciting opportunities for students, early-career researchers, and collaborators to participate in cutting-edge projects with promising potentials and real-world impacts. It represents a strategic and proactive investment in the future of the Faculty and the oral healthcare profession.

Innovation must be matched by education. As clinical practice evolves, oral healthcare professionals around the world require timely, high-quality and evidence-based learning and seek career advancement. To meet these increasing needs, we have also launched the Global Education Hub for Oral Healthcare Professionals (GEHOHP), another key focus of the Faculty’s development.

GHFD aims to attract top talents, innovative teams and proactive companies from around the world to Hong Kong SAR, China

This GEHOHP serves as a central platform for delivering up-to-date scientific evidence, sharing the best practice and providing professional education to practitioners in Hong Kong and beyond. Building on this foundation, the Faculty significantly expands its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) offerings in the coming years. The close alignment between the GHFD and GEHOHP enables rapid translation of new knowledge and technologies into educational contents, while the valuable feedback from practitioners helps refine research directions and innovation priorities for the future.

Education remains the core of HKU Dentistry. Our Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) curriculum and postgraduate programmes are continually refined and updated to reflect and anticipate emerging trends in healthcare and society. A structured graduate internship programme and enhancements to the BDS curriculum reflect our strong commitment to nurturing future dentists who are clinically competent, ethically grounded, culturally sensitive, and system-aware with global perspectives and preventive healthcare mindset in line with WHO’s action plan on oral health.

Our 6-year BDS curriculum emphasises leadership, critical and independent thinking, problem-solving skills, social responsibility and wellness. The extensive 4-year clinical exposure and hands-on practice, interprofessional teaching & learning, strong engagement with new technologies and international capstone experience (ICE) for all students well prepare our graduates to meet the demands of modern dentistry and contribute meaningfully and greatly to their communities.

As the only dental school in Hong Kong, the Faculty bears a unique responsibility for supporting oral health policy, professional standards, health promotion and community healthcare. Over the years, our links with the Health Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government, the Department of Health, Dental Council of Hong Kong, College of Dental Surgeons of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Dental Association, and the Prince Philip Dental Hospital have been further strengthened, and the collaborative teamwork is strongly committed to better serving our community and beyond.

Faculty representatives contribute actively to the Working Group on Oral Health and Dental Care, and the Oral Health Group established by the Hong Kong SAR Government Health Bureau, as well as the Special Care Dental Services Coordinating Committee established by the Department of Health, offering expert advice on long-term strategies, policies and priority areas. The Oral Health Survey 2021 highlights the persistent burden of dental caries (tooth decay) and periodontal (gum) diseases as well as the resultant socio-economic impacts, thereby reinforcing the great need for prevention-focused and community-wide proactive promotion and effective interventions.

Aligned with the WHO’s global strategy and action plan on oral health, we strongly support preventive primary oral healthcare and recognition of the close link between oral and general health. Community outreach projects, charity-supported services, collaborations with non-governmental organisations, and targeted care for underprivileged and at-risk groups are integral to our mission and reflect our long-term commitment to equity and social responsibility. Recently, Faculty’s community oral healthcare has been further strengthened via consolidating the staff team.

“Tomorrow’s Dentistry Starts Today” is more than a motto; it is our guiding ethos. Through the GHFD, the GEHOHP, educational excellence, impactful research and innovation, and deep community engagement, HKU Faculty of Dentistry is laying the groundwork for the future in which good oral health is recognised as a fundamental part of overall well-being for all - “No Health Without Oral Health” (WHO 2024).

Together with our colleagues, students, alumni, partners, and friends around the world, we are shaping a brighter future for dentistry and oral healthcare professionals, and for the many lives at different ages they touch.

Professor Lijian Jin

DDS (Zhejiang), MMedSc (Karolinska Inst), PhD (Peking), Odont Dr (Karolinska Inst.), FDS RCS ad hominem (Edinburgh)

• Dean of HKU Faculty of Dentistry
• Modern Dental Group Professor in Clinical Dental Science
• Chair Professor of Periodontology
• Clinical Professor in Periodontology