Kåre Buhlin

I work as a senior dentist and specialist dentist in periodontology, senior lecturer and head of subject of periodontology. Regarding my research, I have been an associate professor in periodontology since 2013. I am also the director of studies for postgraduate education at the Department of Odontology and a member of the Education Committee (KU) at Karolinska Institutet since 2023. As a senior lecturer, I am responsible for 5 courses/units in the dental and dental hygienist programs, including Periodontology II and III and Local Anaesthesia.

Periodontal research

I am the main supervisor and co-supervisor for doctoral students. My and my research group's research is mainly about the relationship between periodontitis and other diseases in the body, mainly cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's disease, but I also conduct research on the effects of mouthwash on the periodontium and epidemiological research. 

Interest in educational issues
As a teacher (I teach students in the dental and dental hygienist programs) for many years, I have a good opportunity to influence the quality, continuity and development of dental education and thus increase students' opportunities to achieve their learning goals, which should be prioritized in the future. I have taught both dentists and dental hygienists, which means that I have good insight, knowledge and understanding of the complexity of both medium- and long-term education - not least the need for collaboration, which is often requested by the recipients. In the future, it is my hope that our education at KI can develop a greater degree of interprofessional learning in order to increase collaboration between professional groups in today's modern health and medical care.
As a teacher, clinician and researcher, I want to convey to students the need for an empathetic approach in the encounter with the patient. Only then, when patient and therapist collaborate, can a truly good treatment result be achieved.
As a pedagogical learning objective, I also think it is important that students adopt a holistic approach to patient work in order to achieve a broader perspective on health, dentistry, dental health and related diseases. This means that I also think it is important that even after graduation, the students have an active continuous learning which I, hopefully, may inspire as a teacher.