ABOUT

I graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Dentistry in 2012, and completed my PhD at the same university's Institute of Health Sciences. My dissertation looked at the cytotoxic effects of different self-adhesive resin cements. I received my Associate Professor title in restorative dentistry in 2021. During three years at Altınbaş University I chaired the restorative dentistry department and served on the faculty executive board. I joined Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa in 2022.

My dissertation was about what materials do to cells, and part of my work still traces back there. Bond strength of adhesive systems, color stability of composites, repair of CAD/CAM materials, the effect of calcium silicate-based cements on pulp cells. The same question sits underneath all of it: what happens to these materials after years in the mouth? I take part in research projects as principal investigator and as researcher.

Digital dentistry has become a separate line over the past few years. I use 3D printing in the clinic and study how printed restorative materials compare with conventional and milled ones. The interesting part is seeing how much of what we measure in the lab actually holds up in a patient's mouth.

A second line opened up over the past two years. We compare what large language models answer to clinical questions against consensus guidelines. The results are mixed. On some topics the models perform at expert level; on others they give a different answer to the same question a week apart. That inconsistency interests me more than the accuracy rate does.

In 2024 I completed a second bachelor's degree in sociology at Istanbul University. It may look unrelated to dentistry, but part of my work sits exactly at that intersection: how fluoride opposition gets marketed on social media, what stresses dental students, why patients turn to AI for health information. Materials science alone does not get you very far with those questions.

Carrying what you know outside the academy is part of the job too, I think. With that in mind I have written two books, both published by Nobel Akademik Yayıncılık: 50 Soruda Diş Çürüğü (50 Questions on Dental Caries) and 50 Soruda Gebelikte Ağız ve Diş Sağlığı (50 Questions on Oral Health During Pregnancy), both in Turkish. I currently serve on the university senate at Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa and on the faculty's education committee.