Naile Dame-Teixeira received her PhD in Cariology from the University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) in 2015. At present, she is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Dentistry (Brasilia, Brazil) and an Academy of Medical Sciences Newton International fellow at the University of Leeds. Dr Dame-Teixeira is a member of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) and recently contributed to the elaboration of their policies for topical fluoride use. Her career achievements include over 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals, successful grant applications in Brazil and the UK, and the 2015 IADR Colgate Research in Prevention Award. Her research interests comprise the oral microbiome and root caries. The experience in using Next-Generation Sequencing techniques led to attention in identifying microorganisms in low abundance, being the pioneer in detecting the ones belonging to the Archaea domain in caries-associated biofilms. Clinical studies, observational studies, and systematic reviews are used to characterise clinical features (systemic diseases, salivary components, and hyposalivation) that can be involved in the development of caries.