Avni Bhula, B.D.S., M.S., D.D.S., joined the UF College of Dentistry on November 1 as a clinical assistant professor and oral radiology clinic director in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diagnostic Sciences, Division of Radiology. She instructs dental students and radiology residents in both didactic and clinical settings and interprets 2D and 3D radiographs for internal cases from all College of Dentistry clinics, as well as external referrals.
Bhula is an internationally trained dentist who earned both her bachelor of dental science and master of oral medicine degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2009 and 2015, respectively. In 2016, she moved to the United States to embark on her doctor of dental surgery education at the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry at the University of the Pacific in San Francisco. After earning her DDS in 2018, she went on to complete an oral and maxillofacial radiology residency at the UCLA School of Dentistry in Los Angeles. From 2020-2022, Bhula was a forensic odontology fellow at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She has experience in academia, consulting and private practice.
Bhula is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology and has held faculty positions at the University of Texas School of Dentistry in Houston, and in the Department of Oral Radiology at UCLA. She is an active member of the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, or AAOMR, the Radiologic Society of North America, the American Society of Forensic Odontology, and the American Dental Education Association.
She has served on several AAOMR committees and has been elected the treasurer in the executive council at AAOMR. Bhula is the recipient of several awards including the University of the Pacific Dean’s Valedictorian Award, the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Award, American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology Award, American Academy of Oral Medicine Award and the San Francisco Dental Society Professionalism and Ethics Award, among others. She has several peer-reviewed publications, including a position paper from the AAOMR.
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