This book has taken the 40th anniversary of the ITI as an opportunity to look back on its beginnings. It describes the history and founding phase of the ITI, its struggle for consolidation and scientific recognition, and its development into one of the world's leading organizations in the field of implant dentistry. Special attention has been given to the founders of the ITI, but also to its Presidents and Honorary Fellows. This account therefore also represents the legacy of the doyens of the ITI and pays homage to them. The structural changes within the organization over time and their impact on the growth and current attributes of the ITI have been another focus. Finally, the role of the ITI's main partners—Straumann and Quintessence Publishing—have been outlined.
Contents
Chapter 01. The prehistory of the ITI: from experimental field to science
Chapter 02. The ITI: history and development
Chapter 03. ITI pioneers: Founding Members, Presidents, and Honorary Fellows
Chapter 04. The ITI: current organization and protagonists
Chapter 05. Membership
Chapter 06. Research
Chapter 07. Education
Chapter 08. ITI publications
Chapter 09. Events
Chapter 10. Partnerships
Chapter 11. Outlook
Chapter 12. Index of persons
Author and advisory board
Dominik Groß, Professor Dr. med., Dr. med. dent., Dr. phil., was born in 1964 in St. Wendel, Germany. He is a dentist, a physician, and a historian and holds doctoral degrees in each of these three disciplines. From 1990 to 1996, he worked as an assistant dentist and later as section manager for pediatric dentistry at the University Hospital of Ulm. In 1996 he transferred to the University of Würzburg, where he completed his venia legendi ("Habilitation") in 1998. In 1999, he was nominated a private lecturer ("Privatdozent") there while maintaining a private dental practice in Stuttgart (1998 to 2005). In 2005, he was appointed full professor for the "History, Theory, and Ethics of Medicine" at RWTH Aachen University and Director of the respective institute. Since 2008, he has headed the Clinical Ethics Committee of the University Hospital Aachen and the Dental Ethics Working Group of the German Society of Dentistry and Oral Medicine (DGZMK). A member of several professional committees, Groß is an advisor to the German government, the German Medical Association (Bundesärztekammer), and the German Dental Association (Bundeszahnärztekammer, BZÄK). He has published several books on the history and ethics of dentistry and is a three-time winner of the Dental Ethics Award.
Daniel Buser, Professor Dr. med. dent., was Professor and Chair of the Department of Oral Surgery and Stomatology at the University of Bern, Switzerland from 2000 to 2019. Buser received multiple scientific awards for his work, including the ITI's André Schroeder Research Prize (1995); the Honorary Membership Award of the American Academy of Periodontology, AAP (1997); the Brånemark Osseointegration Award of the Academy of Osseointegration, AO (2013); the Jerome M. and Dorothy Schweitzer Research Award of the Greater New York Academy of Prosthodontics, GNYAP (2015); an ITI Honorary Fellowship (2017); and most recently the Robert N. Eskow Implant Dentistry Award of New York University (2018). He has authored or co-authored approximately 400 publications and book chapters. Buser still treats more than 100 implant patients a year personally. He presents widely at national and international conferences and holds surgical CE courses around the globe, which are branded as "Buser Implant Seminars."
Thomas Straumann, Dr. h. c., was instrumental in establishing the company that is the Straumann Group today, having initiated a management buy-out of the Synthes osteosynthesis division in 1989 and defining its focus on dentistry. He led the company, which went public in 1998, as CEO and Chair of the Board. Today he serves as Vice President of Straumann's Board of Directors. A close and amicable cooperation with the ITI and the promotion of its development have been of immense importance to Thomas Straumann throughout. For more than 20 years he sat on the ITI's Board of Directors and chaired the ITI Development Committee for many years. In 1997, he established Medartis, a company active in orthopedics and traumatology, which has been listed on the Swiss stock exchange since 2018. In 2011, Thomas Straumann was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the ITI.
