Mariano Sanz is professor and chair of periodontology at the University Complutense of Madrid (Spain) and a professor in the faculty of Odontology at the University of Oslo (Norway). He graduated in medicine in 1981 from the University Complutense of Madrid, from which he received a degree in stomatology in 1983 and where he qualified as a Doctor of Medicine in 1985. He received his speciality in periodontology from the Universtiy of Califormia in Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1987. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of San Sebastian in Santiago (Chile), the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) and the University of Coimbra (Portugal). Since 2005, Prof Sanz has been chair of the ETEP research group on the aetiology and therapy of periodontal diseases, whose main lines of research are oral microbiology, bacterial-host interactions, and antimicrobial approaches in the treatment of gingivitis and periodontitis. The research group has conducted clinical trials to measure the efficacy of different approaches to periodontal regeneration surgical protocols using dental implants, and therapeutic approaches to treat peri-implantitis. Prof Sanz has published 230 articles in scientific journals, written 50 book chapters, and has participated as an invited speaker at more than 200 scientific events in the last five years. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Clinical Periodontology and Evidence-Based Dental Practice and a member of the editorial boards of various other dental journals. He has been awarded the Jens Waerhaug Research Prize by the Scandinavian Society of Periodontology (1984), the Outstanding Service Award from the International Association for Dental Research (2015) and the IADR Straumann Award in Periodontal Regenerative Medicine (2015). He is a member of the executive committee of the European Federation of Periodontology (EFP) and chair of its workshop committee. He has previously served the EFP both as president (1993-1994) and secretary general (1998–2005). He is president of the Osteology Foundation, president of the International Association for Dental Research’s continental European division, and president-elect of the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE).

Yair Sharav, DMD, MS, is a professor in the Department of Oral Medicine at The Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine in Jerusalem. Dr Sharav is responsible for establishing the Orofacial Pain Clinic at Hadassah Medical Center in 1974—the first of its kind in Israel—and directing it as well as the Center for Pain Research at The Hebrew University for over 25 years. He has also served variously as a past dean of the School of Dental Medicine at The Hebrew University and a former head of the Department of Oral Diagnosis, Oral Medicine, and Radiology at Hadassah Medical Center. Internationally, he was a visiting professor at Toronto University and a visiting scientist at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr Sharav's work has contributed widely to the knowledge and understanding of the diagnosis, treatment, and mechanisms of orofacial pain.

Hagay is Chair of the Endodontics division at the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), Netherlands, and maintains a private practice specialising in Endodontics. Hagay's PhD thesis was titled "New insights into the root canal wall". Since 2000, he has been actively involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching at ACTA. His research interests are the outcomes of root canal treatments with CBCT evaluation, root canal filling materials, and the effects of endodontic procedures on the root canal walls. He has supervised over 35 Masters and PhD students. Hagay has published over 45 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals on various aspects of Endodontology.

Dr Stankov is among the best-positioned professionals in the domain of dental medicine in Bulgaria. He manages a team of 24 staff as the Chief Doctor at the Dr Stankov Dental Clinique. His clinical work is focused on end-to-end esthetic treatment in dental medicine, implantology, periodontal plastic microsurgery, periodontal regeneration, complex cases of prosthetics on natural teeth, and implants. He is a renowned and influential national lecturer and a trendsetter in his area of expertise. He has taught several postgraduate courses in the fields of periodontology and prosthetics. He won second prize in the 1-year Global Institute for Dental Education (GIDE) master program at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA, in 2013. His career started after he graduated in dental medicine at the Faculty of Dental Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 2007. He is a visiting lecturer at the Zimmer Institute, Switzerland. He is an active member of the Bulgarian Academy of Esthetic Dentistry, the GIDE Study Club, and the Zimmer Club.

Jimmy Steele is Chair in Oral Health Services Research and Honorary Consultant in Restorative Dentistry at Newcastle University. He runs the undergraduate teaching in fixed prosthodontics and contributes to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in occlusion.