Suresh Nayar

Dr Suresh Nayar

BDS, MDS, MPhil, MFDS RCS, MRD RCS (Eng), MRD RCS (Edin), MRD RCS (Glasg), FDS (Rest Dent) RCS, FCGDent, FDS RCS (Edin)

Associate Professor & Director, Maxillofacial Prosthetics Service, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
President-Elect, American Academy of Maxillofacial Prosthetics
1st President-Elect, Trustee & Web Editor, European Prosthodontic Association
Past President, British Society of Prosthodontics

Dr Suresh Nayar is an internationally recognised clinician-scientist and academic leader in maxillofacial prosthodontics, digital jaw reconstruction and advanced oral rehabilitation. He currently serves as Associate Professor and Director of the Maxillofacial Prosthetics Service at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he leads one of North America’s most advanced hospital-based prosthodontic and jaw-reconstruction programs.

Dr Nayar trained in India and the United Kingdom, attaining specialist accreditation and multiple Royal College memberships and fellowships across the UK. He holds an MPhil from the University of Sheffield and previously served as a Consultant in Restorative Dentistry within the UK National Health Service. Prior to his appointment in Seattle, he was a senior academic and clinician at the Institute for Reconstructive Sciences in Medicine and the University of Alberta, Canada, where he built a major tertiary referral service for complex craniofacial trauma and oncologic rehabilitation and pioneered clinical techniques for advanced jaw reconstruction and rehabilitation.

He is currently President-Elect of the American Academy of Maxillofacial Prosthetics and 1st President-Elect of the European Prosthodontic Association and has previously served as President of the British Society of Prosthodontics, making him one of the few individuals to hold senior leadership roles across three major international prosthodontic organisations spanning North America and Europe.

Dr Nayar’s research program lies at the intersection of digital medicine, surgical reconstruction, and prosthodontics. His work focuses on 3-D imaging, additive manufacturing, virtual surgical planning, virtual-reality-based education, and artificial intelligence for diagnosis and outcome prediction in implant-supported and oncologic rehabilitation. He is particularly recognised for advancing digitally driven jaw reconstruction workflows that integrate surgery, digital design, and prosthodontic techniques into a unified patient-centred pathway with a goal of improving access to care worldwide.

Beyond academia, Dr Nayar is the Founder of the Head and Cancer Support Society of Alberta, Canada, an organisation dedicated to improving awareness, access, and outcomes for patients undergoing head and neck cancer treatment. His work has been widely recognised through multiple awards for clinical excellence, innovation, and humanitarian service.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions to prosthodontics and dentistry, Dr Nayar has been awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Fellowship of the College of General Dentistry (UK) — distinctions reserved for individuals who have made a sustained and exceptional impact on the profession.

Beyond Limitations: Advancing Maxillofacial Prosthodontics for the Next Generation of Care

Maxillary and mandibular defects arising from head and neck cancer treatment and trauma impose profound anatomic, functional, and psychological burdens on patients. Traditional reconstructive pathways—whether prosthodontic, surgical, or a combination of both—have long been constrained by trade-offs between tissue restoration, prosthetic support, defect surveillance, and rehabilitation timelines. While soft-tissue closure may suffice in limited defects, larger composite defects continue to challenge predictable oral rehabilitation, even in the era of microvascular free-tissue transfer.

The introduction of vascularized bone-containing free flaps represented a major advance in jaw reconstruction. However, conventional workflows frequently result in suboptimal implant positioning, compromised prosthetic foundations, and prolonged delays to definitive oral rehabilitation—often extending three to five years or more. These limitations have historically separated oncologic reconstruction from functional prosthodontic recovery to the detriment of patient-centred outcomes.

The convergence of digital surgical design, three-dimensional imaging, virtual planning, and guided implant placement is now redefining what is possible. By integrating resection, reconstruction, and prosthetic rehabilitation into a single digitally driven treatment pathway, it is increasingly feasible to deliver implant-supported oral rehabilitation almost immediately or within a markedly shortened time span. Emerging clinical data also suggest meaningful gains in mastication, speech, facial form, and quality of life when these workflows are employed.

In this lecture, a series of diverse clinical scenarios will be presented to illustrate contemporary reconstructive and rehabilitative strategies across a spectrum of defect types and disease processes. Importantly, the clinical narrative will be complemented by patient perspectives, allowing attendees to hear directly from individuals about their lived experiences, functional recovery, and psychosocial adaptation following treatment.

This lecture will also explore how maxillofacial prosthodontics is moving beyond traditional limitations through precision-based, team-driven, and digitally integrated care. Emphasis will be placed on the evolving role of the prosthodontist as a central architect of oncologic and trauma reconstruction, working alongside head and neck surgeons, surgical design specialists, anaplastologists, and dental technologists. By aligning biologic reconstruction with prosthodontic intent from the outset, the next generation of care offers not only quicker oral rehabilitation, but more predictable, functional, and human-centred outcomes for patients recovering from head and neck oncology or trauma.