Meet the homegrown keynote speakers for the Australian Dental Congress 2025

A cornerstone of every Australian Dental Congress, the appeal of any Main Scientific Program rises and falls, along with the rich variety of topics on offer, on the calibre of the speakers brought on board to bring it all to highly informative life.

With its focus on ‘Educating for Dental Excellence’, the Australian Dental Congress 2025 (ADC2025) will continue that tradition, with its keynote speakers testament to the ever-expanding boundaries
of dental research, and the many innovative ways in which the resulting discoveries are being applied to patient treatment.

These four homegrown speakers, part of a superlative roster of speakers for ADC2025's expansive Main Scientific Program, will give delegates the chance to hear from people at the leading edge of their respective fields, in what is shaping up to be the dentistry CPD event of the year.

Dr Steven Naoum

Currently a senior lecturer at the University of Western Australia in the discipline of orthodontics, Dr Steven Naoum has also held several past positions at the University of Sydney including as the Oral Health Lead at The Poche Centre for Indigenous Health. He has received numerous grants to further his research work in a range of areas including management of patients undergoing orthodontic maxillary expansion, and oral health programs in rural and remote areas. A co-author on almost 30 papers for research publications, Steven has presented research on a range topics including ‘Factors affecting the fluoride release from composite resins’.

Associate Professor Ramesh Balasubramaniam

An oral medicine specialist with expertise in temporomandibular disorders, orofacial pain and dental sleep medicine, Associate Professor Ramesh Balasubramaniam is the discipline lead in Oral Medicine at the University of Western Australia’s Dental School and is actively involved in teaching and research. Ramesh has numerous peer-reviewed publications to his credit, in addition to co-authoring several chapters, and co-editing and co-authoring three books – notably Contemporary Oral Medicine – and also serves as a reviewer for several journals. He has lectured around the world and has public appointments at the Oral Health Centre of Western Australia and the Perth Children’s Hospital.

Associate Professor Sue-Ching Yeoh

An Ahpra-registered oral medicine specialist, Associate Professor Sue-Ching Yeoh maintains a clinical appointment at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and Chris O’Brien Lifehouse where she is a member of the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Oncology Team. Sue holds an academic post with the University of Sydney and is the current Head of Training for the DClinDent (Oral Medicine) program. Sue has significant experience in the management of oral conditions in medically compromised patients, particularly in the fields of haemato-oncology, head and neck oncology, immunology and rheumatology, and dermatology. Her clinical interests include disorders and vesiculobullous disease, odontogenic and salivary gland pathology, among others.

Professor Paul Abbott

Emeritus Professor of Dentistry at the University of Western Australia, Professor Paul Abbott AO is a specialist endodontist with more than 40 years’ clinical practice experience. He has presented more
than 1,000 lectures and courses in 52 countries and has more than 400 publications with 250 articles in refereed journals, 25 textbook chapters and 48 newsletter articles to his credit. From 2015 to 2022, Paul was Editor-in-Chief for the international journal Dental Traumatology. Paul’s main research and clinical interests revolve around dental traumatology, tooth resorption, and the diagnosis and management of pulp, root canal and peri-radicular conditions, with particular emphasis on pain control and disinfection of the root canal system.