Dear Friends,

It is a pleasure for me to share with you my personal thoughts about the present stage and the future developments on Implant Dentistry.

If there is one victor in dentistry in the last Five Years, it is the creative power of the concept of Implant Dentistry practice for all. That is the one common theme as we review the upsurge of activity in all parts of the world. Study circles and institutes, irrespective of their format, irrespective of their methodology, irrespective of the approach they adopt, all bring the individual general dentist or specialist of the dental community, disclosing visions and insights that previously were unknown.

The result of this, of course, is that the human resources of dentists have expanded rapidly in the last 5 year period. There have been a number of dentists that are considered in some part of the world as Implant dentistry specialist. We also find that when people decide now to enter this field, to take up the membership of it (say for example in the ICOI, IDSC or AAID …etc), there is a far greater likelihood of their committed to implant dentistry practice than just increasing their knowledge.

Working in concert with our significant and assigned role to be a useful element as we receive this great knowledge, at work in the world, beyond our comprehension, shape the affairs of men and give rise ultimately to this new world dental civilization. What I want to point out to you is my understanding that we are called upon, at the present time, to sow the seeds of that new dental civilization. That it is not something we sit back and wait for, that it will occur hundreds and hundreds of years into the future when we are all dead and buried and forgotten about. All have as a fundamental objective, the maturing of a civilizing process to which we are subjected by such participation. And of course, you can imagine, such a civilizing process must have its moments of challenge and definitely its tests, and indeed heartache.

Collective activities, as well as persona, leads to the transmission of important values, from one generation to another, through C.E. classes; the systematic approach to the acquisition of knowledge that it is inherent in the institute process; the outward orientation, which is part of the service component of these core activities. If we look at these, if we look far beyond their immediate purpose and their immediate form, I think that we will see in them the vague outlines of a civilizing process to which we have been called by virtue of these activities.

To support my thesis, that we today are engaged in laying the foundation for the civilizing process, in that context I refer to President Woodrow Wilson of the United States in the latter part of World War I in the early part of the Twentieth Century. Wilson laid out fourteen points, which formed the basis for the League of Nations, which although it was doomed to failure, gave rise ultimately to the United Nations, which is having its own particular problems, but we anticipate will give rise to a further form and structure ultimately leading to international governmental organization. And I think he was directing our attention to the nature of processes in the growth of the peace process and that these processes have very long roots, extending back to the various earliest difficult days, and, in that sense, the civilizing process in which we are engaging may be regarded within a similar context of giving rise to forces and trends and behaviors, which will have their fruit hundreds of years into the future. Dentistry used to be a functional necessity like medicine and only now we can see beauty and elegance and the greatness of harmony in it.

There I see in the philosophy of the decisions made by the implant dentistry training providers the same commitment to beauty, again at a time when resources are limited. When there are limited amount of materials and energy available, nevertheless, beauty has been pursued the world civilization to flourish in centuries to come will be a civilization of beauty.

Those of you who engage in trivial pastimes such as myself, and occasionally go to movies, will occasionally see movies which portray the future. Sometimes it is a horrifying future, sometimes it is intended to be a fairly attractive future with intergalactic things going on and the like. What is noticeable, in even the most attractive portrayals of the future, is the absence of what we could call beauty. It is basically synthetic, it is plastic, it is smooth, it is shiny, but it does not have the things we would describe as beautiful — the elements of nature, the elements of the magnificence of inspiration, of architecture and the like. We refer to certain characteristics of the civilized individual: that he or she is enlightened, that he seems to be well-informed, high-minded, incorruptible, a person who promotes literacy and education, who encourages art and industry, and who has a great respect for learning and craftsmanship. The civilized individual is one of the high morals, a person who has the energy and commitment to oppose the passions of the lower nature of man, who is one of good character, who is spiritualized in the best sense of the word. And thirdly, we refer to the civilized individual as being altruistic. In other words, concerned with the welfare of others as well as that of himself, using his resources for philanthropic purposes, creating a society without the extremes of wealth and poverty.

This brings me to the point of my talk that I believe certain actions we should take today as part of our fostering the civilizing process. They are part and parcel of DENTAL life as expressed with priority to the core dental treatment activities, but with all the other elements of Dentistry life included. And I want, in the last part of my talk, to set out for you fairly specifically what I see to be the civilizing actions required of us now.

Consultation remains before us as an important moral practice, which is capable of being developed to a far greater extent than we have done so — consultation at the scientific meetings, consultation at the weekly staff meeting, consultation as the basis for human social interaction in local as well as more extensive groups. The precepts were given to us by all moral concepts respect for the views of others, frankness, courtesy, detachment, and a decision based on issues rather than other factors, all of these are things that slip easily from the tongue. Yet when you look closely at them, the practice of consultation requires that we inflict serious damage on a number of cultural practices in the world today. So be it. Various cultural practices in the world today must change in accord with the requirements of a new society. And consultation, I see, as the engine for modification of a number of traditional attitudes and practices that are cherished by people in many parts of the world. For example, frankness, there are many cultures in which it is considered impolite, to be frank. You offer hints, you make allusions, and you make veiled references to it. It is insulting to people to come out and say it straight out. Rather you have to honor their powers of perception by expecting that they will pick up on these hints and the like. Courtesy is again something we would all adhere to except in the heat of the moment. Detachment is great when it is somebody else’s idea that we can kick around very well, but when it is something that you have been thinking of for the last several weeks and you have finally cast the pearl before your colleagues and it is not accepted, detachment takes on a whole different meaning. Decision-based upon issues, again, can be very much perturbed, for example, when there are several dentists in the same consultative body. And what do you do when you are in disagreement with one of the other colleagues? Is blood thicker than water under such settings? What happens when dutiful Eastern dentist feels differently about a matter from her Eastern educated colleague? Is she going to treatment plan the way he does out of a sense of loyalty and respect? Or is she going to follow the precepts of his or her knowledge and probably incur a certain degree of criticism on the way the case was presented? These are very slight matters that I mention to you simply to illustrate the fact that consultation and development of interpersonal relations, if we are to pursue it seriously, we are going to have to be prepared for damage to be inflicted too much cherished, time-honored, practices that are part of the traditional culture of a number of our societies.

We do acknowledge that we are devoting our lives to creating a healthier world, to assisting humanity to pass through this turbulent age of transition, to rectify the problems that are manifest in a declining civilization and to create a new civilization of glory and wonder and great development beyond our possibility to conceive at the present day. It is toward this that we are devoting our lives.

Thank you.

Looking forward to hearing from you.
With warmest regards.

Souheil Hussaini, BDS, MS, PhD
President, Chairman of scientific committee – CME
Implant Dentistry – Study circle (IDSC), Affiliated to University of Toronto & ICOI, USA

Oral Implantology Medical Center
204 Al Wahda Building, Port Saeed Rd, Deira,
P O Box 39695 Dubai, UAE

E-mail: id-sc@oimcgroup.ae / souheilh@eim.ae / implantologycentre@hotmail.com
Phone: +971-4-2956595
Fax: +971-4-2958757
Mobile: +971-50-4568100
Website: https://www.ID-SC.com