Dr. Liliya MacKenzie has practiced orthodontics since 2009 and has owned MacKenzie Orthodontics in Saint John, Quispamsis, and St. Stephen since 2011. She is the only bilingual English/French orthodontist in the region, fluent in English, French, and her native Bulgarian. Her focus is precise, evidence-based orthodontic care for patients of every age, from early screening of young kids to smile touch ups to complex teen and adult treatments.
Dr. MacKenzie moved to Canada from Bulgaria on her own in 1998 to attend university. She completed her Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours with Distinction and a Master of Science from Mount Allison University, where she received the Gold Medal in Biology and Governor General’s Gold Medal (the highest academic honour in Canada). She completed her Doctor of Dental Medicine at McGill University’s Faculty of Dentistry, graduating with the AW Thornton Gold Medal in Dentistry, the highest overall standing in the program. She was nine months pregnant with her first child at graduation, and began her orthodontic residency at the University of Rochester’s Eastman Institute of Oral Health five days after giving birth. Her second child was born during her specialty training, the first time in the program’s history that a resident had a baby during her training there. She completed her orthodontic specialty certificate, winning the Strong Star of Excellence for dedication to patient care, with a two-year-old and a nine-month-old at home. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Dentists of Canada in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics.
Since 2019, Dr. MacKenzie has served as the orthodontist on the Cleft Lip and Palate Team at Saint John Regional Hospital, treating children with cleft and craniofacial conditions alongside the hospital’s multidisciplinary care team. As a mother of three, she understands what it means for a family to place that kind of trust in a specialist. Her clinical training also included dedicated work in temporomandibular disorders and craniofacial care during her residency in Rochester, and she regularly treats complex overbites, deep bites, and open bites using both fixed appliances and clear aligners.
Dr. MacKenzie’s academic record includes 28 peer-reviewed publications in academic journals, and she presented research at the American Association for Dental Research on the skeletal effects of orthodontic appliances in patients with deep and open bites. From 2010 to 2013, she was a part-time Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Dentistry at Dalhousie University, and from 2015 to 2020, she served as a content expert for the National Dental Examining Board, writing licensing examination questions used to certify general dentists across Canada. Her full teaching, research, and leadership record is detailed on the practice blog.
Dr. MacKenzie became the first Top 1% Blue Diamond Plus Invisalign provider in Atlantic Canada and has lectured internationally for Align Technology from 2019 to 2025. She now serves as a Key Opinion Leader for Angel Aligner, teaching orthodontists in Canada and internationally on topics including Phase 1 treatment with aligners, Class II correction in growing patients, and digital treatment workflows. Her practice is one of the highest-volume clear aligner providers in Atlantic Canada, offering both Invisalign and Angel Aligner systems. She has lectured at the Alberta Society of Orthodontists and the Canadian Association of Orthodontists, with international speaking engagements in the United States, Costa Rica, Spain, and Portugal. She got married in 2018 and, like many of her own patients, had her smile refreshed with Invisalign just before her wedding.
Since 2011, in Saint John, Quispamsis, and St. Stephen, Dr. MacKenzie’s team has donated more than $750,000 in free orthodontic care to children who could not otherwise afford treatment, through the Cleft Lip and Palate Team, Smiles4Canada, and the Kiwanis Club of Saint John.
MacKenzie Orthodontics provides specialist services to underserved rural communities such as St. Stephen and the Charlotte County area, increasing community access to orthodontic care.
Free ConsultMacKenzie Orthodontics has earned more than 1,500+ five-star reviews across its Saint John, Quispamsis, and St. Stephen locations, with hundreds of reviews at each individual location. Many of those reviews come from patients who were treated as teenagers by Dr. MacKenzie who are now bringing in their own children for orthodontic screening.
Free ConsultDr. MacKenzie lives in Quispamsis with her husband and their three children, now two university students and one still in elementary school. She built the practice on the same standard she held herself to throughout her training: showing up fully, under any circumstances, for the people counting on her.
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