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Straumann® ProTalk with Dr. Ronald Jung · Straumann® ProTalk

0:00
I wanted to become a professional soccer player.
0:04
I wanted to become actually an architect and ended up as being a dentist.
0:08
We're not producing cars, we're not producing radios.
0:11
We are trying to provide oral health and care.
0:17
What you'll mostly learn out of this is Never give up.
0:22
What's your vision of dentistry in 10 years from now?
0:24
I do believe becoming a dentist will become even more attractive
0:27
in the future than in the past.
0:29
How do you look at digital dentistry and especially, let's
0:31
say, extreme developments that we see now in robotics and navigation?
0:36
Again, I see this as a very positive development and and the
0:39
ones which see this as a threat they potentially They will die out.
1:00
Welcome to Pro Talks, the Pulse of Dentistry.
1:04
My name is Georg Schreber and together with my colleague and friend, Andreas
1:07
Utz, we are very pleased to host this series of inspirational talks.
1:12
In this podcast, we are going to engage with remarkable
1:15
personalities in dentistry.
1:17
And the goal is actually to get together with them on their journey
1:21
of development, to live together with them their pivotal moments in their
1:26
careers that made who they are today.
1:28
And of course, it's about talking about the future of implantology, the future
1:33
of innovation, and particularly also the development of technology and what
1:37
it will bring to patients for tomorrow.
1:40
In essence, it's about talking about the future of dentistry with
1:45
leaders, thought leaders in dentistry.
1:48
And today I'm very pleased and personally honored to welcome Professor
1:52
Dr. Ronald Young here with us.
1:54
Welcome Ronnie to Basel.
1:56
Hello, George.
1:57
Hello, Andy.
1:58
This is for me really a privilege to be together with you guys because we
2:01
share a lot of years together and a lot of moments which we, which really
2:05
shaped our way out as we are today.
2:08
And I'm very thrilled to spend this podcast with you.
2:11
Yeah, Ronnie, it's a great pleasure to have you here and introducing you.
2:14
is on one hand very easy because you're such a known personality in
2:18
our field, but on the other hand, it's also very difficult because you
2:20
have such a long list of incredible accomplishments in your career.
2:24
So you're a trained prosthodontist, you're in implant dentistry,
2:29
you're also an oral surgeon.
2:31
And after the initial years, actually, we met for the first time
2:35
really in let's say San Antonio.
2:38
When you were a visiting associate professor with Professor Cochran
2:42
and we had a lot of time to discuss about implantology.
2:46
We as a company started to develop the bone level implants and you gave
2:49
input about the surgical protocols.
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That was very remarkable and I also remember the after work drinks after
2:55
long days that we had together.
2:57
Then your next step was actually in 2008 that you finalized your habilitation.
3:03
Then already in.
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2011, you got a PhD from Okta University.
3:09
And just shortly after you had your second stint actually in the US.
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So at this time you were at Harvard dental medical school.
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And then in 15 you got a full professorship in Zurich.
3:21
And now in 22, you're ordinary professor at University of Zurich
3:26
and you're chairman and clinical director of reconstructive dentistry.
3:31
It's a remarkable career and it has been a great pleasure actually to be, very
3:36
close to you and see your progressing.
3:39
I know you as a very scientific person.
3:41
Together with your team, you have close to 400 period publications.
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And, to say this, you still have one to two decades to come.
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So there is meant of more opportunities for you to actually publish, but
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you're not only a scientific person.
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I think what really is important to you is translating this into actions.
4:01
that dentists can use the next day in their clinical practice.
4:05
And having seen many of your presentations at congresses, it's astonishing how
4:11
enthusiastic, energetic, and also close to patient you actually are.
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And there is always something to take home with from your presentation.
4:19
So you are really someone that can translate science.
4:23
into clinical impact in practice.
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And besides that, you have had a number of leadership positions
4:30
in the last couple of years.
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And just to name two, you have been president of the EEO from 22 to last year.
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And during your term, I think we can say that you really brought
4:42
the EEO to the next level.
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And now you're president elect of the ITI and you will start your
4:48
presidency actually this year.
4:51
Ronny, we make it a habit to actually start these podcasts
4:57
with the first question, which is always the same to our guests.
5:00
And we would like to ask you to introduce yourself in just one minute.
5:04
So who is Ronny?
5:07
Thank you very much, George.
5:08
That was an excellent summary regarding that it was nice to listen to that.
5:13
So for me, when I try to summarize myself, it's not that much about.
5:18
The career steps I have achieved.
5:20
It's more about people and it's more about the passion for what we are doing.
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And for me, it is most important that we can really share this passion on
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everyday base for what we can do, because we are, we have the most privileged job.
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We can treat.
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human beings, we can make their life changing.
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And this is what makes me every day really so happy.
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And this is in a one minute say, it's just, I'm an extremely
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positive, passionate dentist.
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And and my mission is really to share this passion for so many people
5:54
and inspire them for their life and hopefully treat more patients with
5:57
better treatment over the years.
5:59
I
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can absolutely confirm this.
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You're such a. a passionate person and whenever I see you interacting
6:05
with the crowd, I think this is really where you're, this is where
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you live up to your highest level.
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And I think this also makes you so important for the field because you
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can transmit the science to more and more people and by this also
6:17
advance the field and hence patients are actually then profiting from it.
6:21
When you reflect on your last two decades in dentistry, we've heard
6:26
that you had a remarkable career, but can you share a little bit, what have
6:30
been the most important moments in your career where you had to take a
6:34
decision actually to go left or right?
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And this decision made you the person who you are today.
6:41
I love this question because a lot of people think when you
6:44
listen to Ronnie's career that everything is meticulously planned.
6:47
And I can tell you the truth, nothing which I ever planned have worked out.
6:52
Starting very early I wanted to become a professional.
6:56
soccer player, I wanted to become actually an architect and and
7:00
ended up as being a dentist.
7:02
So I think for me, what I have learned and what I would like to give further is the
7:07
fact that you always should stay agile.
7:09
You should stay curious, you should stay interesting.
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And I don't believe that I'm just made for dentistry.
7:15
I think when you have a personality, which you're really passionate
7:18
about what you're doing, you can.
7:20
You can be successful at many places and it's the attitude,
7:23
how you approach things.
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And and there, and this is, I think where the secret is, this is where,
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why I loved doing it every day.
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I never really planned the steps.
7:35
I just stayed open.
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And when he was there, then I used this as an opportunity.
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And this is how I actually.
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Yeah, it was my, this is one pattern, which was really,
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it's very true in my life.
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You just mentioned your sports career and maybe let's go back to this a little bit.
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You shared a story, which I remember very well.
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It's from your time where you played for GC, so the Grasshoppers Club in Zurich.
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And you were on the track basically to become a professional soccer player.
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And you played for many years with with that club.
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You also were.
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not so fortunate with injuries.
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Actually I remember, but the story goes like this.
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You had to do a track race, basically up a hill, up a mountain.
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And the goal setting was, reach that boss as fast as you can.
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So there was a boss up the mountain positioned.
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And everyone actually started to race up the mountain.
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And then midway, I guess you, you just realized that the boss wasn't stationary.
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It was moving.
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So it was one of the settings of your trainers to, to I know
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create this sense of things are not as they might seem to be.
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What have you learned from those kind of experiences in sports that you
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now also apply in your daily life?
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I want to thank you so much, George, for bringing it up.
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I think you had a great memory because that's true.
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That's really, it was a story which we want to share together.
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And I think it's a perfect example in order to how you should shape yourself
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when you really want to do in any way, a kind of a successful career.
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It shows that.
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You can never rely on really a goal, which you have there, because that
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target always changes over the time.
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And and what you mostly learn out of this is never give up.
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This is the main thing, because nothing nothing in life is is often.
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Everything which is too easy is often not the real success.
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And I think I learned from that number one, that you always need to stay
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sufficiently agile in order to manage also different setups to to manage different
9:45
changing targets that the goal changes.
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And and when you're too focused on one thing, it goes a little bit back to
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the question, which we had before, when you're just too focused on one thing
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and you're just dedicated to that.
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You might lose another opportunity because you're too focused.
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So that means.
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I need to calculate now in this particular situation, my my energy to a level
10:08
that I still managed to reach the goal.
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When others, they have just calculated their body capacity
10:13
to reach that first defined goal.
10:15
They won't get it to the to the other one.
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And this is what I have learned as I never give up and try to really
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stay open and try to be able to still adapt in each situation, your
10:27
style to the current situation.
10:29
Speaking about being or staying agile and, managing your energy well, what you just
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said, how do you manage your energy today?
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I know you, you are very present when, whenever you are in the room, you're
10:40
very energetic, you work hard you travel a lot and all of this is draining
10:44
energy, but still, I experienced you always as a very energetic person.
10:48
And when you enter the room, you always leave energy in the room.
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How do you manage your own energy today?
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As a number one it's, it starts everything from this passion, because
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I really love what we are doing.
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And I think that creates so much energy in your life.
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Number two, for me, I have learned over the years that about 98
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percent of my happiness comes from the happiness of others.
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So therefore I engage really with other people.
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I don't need, I don't need, I never need time for me.
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So when I'm with friends, when I'm at the university, when I'm having dinner
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somewhere, when I'm with my family, then I'm always fully in that environment and
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I'm not distracted by by anything else.
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Then I'm fully in that environment.
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So I never do anything heavy done.
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So that also means that you will never see Ronnie relaxing on a sofa.
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For me, there's only two conditions in my life, either
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to be fully active or I sleep.
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To be asleep.
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Yes.
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There's nothing else.
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That's my driving a car by myself is for a long distance is a nightmare
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because I literally fall asleep there.
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So it's really dangerous.
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Therefore I need to constantly be interacting with someone.
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Exactly.
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That's very interesting, and I think, Ronny, that's an amazing skill to have,
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to be really present in the moment, I think a lot of people are struggling
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with this, and I think it's the really great leaders who manage this to stay
12:12
present in the moment and really be attentive to, to, to the person they are
12:17
speaking to, and people realize this.
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We speak, we spoke about your career, and George asked you the question
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about, what have been pivotal moments and important decisions and we all
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know that, there are people that make a difference to all of us, every, everyone
12:30
had a mentor at one point in time.
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Who was your mentor or your mentors throughout the last 20
12:36
years who you would say had a big impact on who Ronnie is today?
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. I like this as well and I can just tell you.
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I can not, I'm not a person which is just following kind of one mentor.
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I think that's maybe also me.
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I tried to pick from different, really unique and admiring
12:55
personalities certain parts.
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And that made me the person I am.
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And when I chronically look back, people which really were very
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important for me, number one, it was Professor Peter Scherer.
13:06
This was the the professor which actually brought aesthetic dentistry
13:12
and orthoramics into into dentistry.
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From him, I learned the dedication to really perfectionism on the
13:18
level of aesthetic dentistry.
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Then Christoph Hämmerle was then successor of Peter Scherer at our department.
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And from Christoph, I learned really a very structured approach and
13:30
on, on, on the research activity.
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So I learned a lot how to really meticulously plan and and
13:35
structure kind of research plans.
13:38
And then another inspiring person was David Cochran when
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when I was in in San Antonio.
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From him, I learned one thing and I love sharing this with you guys.
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I was once in his office and he told me this Mlany, I'm sick and
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tired of people with good ideas.
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What I need are people which are finishers.
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And that is so true.
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That is so true because he comes to a level, also now you see that as well.
14:01
People coming and everybody has a great idea and you start to become
14:05
tired about these great ideas because in the end of the day.
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A great idea doesn't change the future.
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It's the ones which really bring this idea into reality
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as that's what you want to see.
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That's what I have learned from him.
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Then Klaus Lang was also somebody which which inspired me.
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He always considered me being his grandfather because I was
14:22
like his academic grandfather.
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And Klaus, what I really love is.
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How passionate you can be also far past his retirement, how
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much he engaged with postcredits.
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It's just for him, it's a true pleasure to sit together with postgrads
14:40
discussing literature and behind every study he can tell a story.
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And I think that's also something which inspired me because I
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think at the end of the day.
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To engage with the with the audience, you need to tell stories.
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It's not about the fact.
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You need to embed the the fact into a story.
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And this is what people can can learn about.
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And that's what they capture there.
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And another person which is really also very important for me is is Danny Boozer.
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And Danny Bussi is for me just a wonderful example of really a person
15:09
with enormous amount of energy and he really gets the things done.
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So he was never somebody which was just talking and nothing get done.
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He was an absolute doer.
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And I think that's also something which I like.
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And and I think the combination of all these personalities made me
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also a little bit the person I am.
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So a lot of very inspiring personalities that you just
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mentioned and a lot of advices you got probably throughout the last 20
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years, 20 plus years in your career.
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What is the one advice that you did not get and you would have, you would
15:41
wish to have gotten, let's say, in your early 30s in your career looking back?
15:48
This is a very difficult question.
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This
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is now we have a, that's you got me, Andreas, I never thought of that.
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I wouldn't say I regret anything or I wouldn't say I missed any
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advice from that point of view.
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I obviously we could spend another podcast just on on Ronnie's failures and because
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I did many failures and many mistakes also in my life and And at that moment, yes,
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you do regret having taken that decision.
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There can be small things that can be bigger things, but I, again,
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I don't see these as failures because what I think in life is that
16:29
everything happens for a reason, it's also very things which are very.
16:34
Yeah, which touched you very much at the end of the day, it
16:36
always opens other doors and it makes you at the end stronger.
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So therefore, I'm not the person regretting having done things.
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I'm more the person trying to take this up to the next level and
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make it even something positive.
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And therefore I cannot really say what I have regretted regarding the decision.
16:55
There will be multiple, but at the end of the day, I try always to convert
16:59
this into something even better than when it will not have happened.
17:04
So you had a lot of mentors, very strong inspirational mentors.
17:08
What would be the advice you would give to someone, let's say a student
17:11
of you that is in his early thirties?
17:14
I think that's another way to put it.
17:18
I think number one.
17:20
And again, try to really love what you're doing.
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I think that's the main thing.
17:26
Because that creates so much energy and that makes you so
17:28
much better in everything.
17:31
Number two, don't take yourself too serious.
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I see this now, also the older I get, too many people take themselves too serious.
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And the problem is, you spend too much time on trying to be amazing,
17:46
look amazing, act amazing, whatever.
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And this time is missing for really becoming disruptive, innovative.
17:53
So you shouldn't take too much care about yourself.
17:56
It should always be about the vision, wherever you are, whether it's a
17:59
vision within the university, whether it's a vision for an organization.
18:03
And try to spend as little time with yourself.
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Just invest this energy into the task you want to do.
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And number three, I think again, taking everything as an opportunity.
18:16
Don't stress yourself regarding decisions because also every
18:20
decision can be changed.
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I also have four kids and and it's, they have so many opportunities and
18:26
and I think it, it should be a pleasure to take decisions and not a threat.
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And I think this is what I, these three things I would like to give
18:34
to a young to a young generation.
18:35
Yeah,
18:35
That's very good advice.
18:37
That's very strong advice.
18:38
And also as you said, Andreas, I think also what you mentioned regarding your
18:43
learning from mentors it really, I can see this in you, you're so energetic
18:47
and you're also so passionate and you're seeing the opportunities, you don't see
18:50
a failure, you see another door opening and you are courageous enough to open
18:54
that door and I think that in the end maybe from seeing from the outside, it
18:59
looks like a a very continuous movement that you have made to the positions
19:03
that are in today, but actually, you.
19:04
I believe it's a lot of it's a lot of mental work also behind that defines you.
19:09
Now, let's let's switch gears a little bit and talk about dentistry.
19:13
Who to better to ask about past and future of dentistry than you.
19:17
You're a very innovative person together with with your team.
19:21
And looking back a little bit for you, what have been the
19:26
most striking innovations in the last decade in dentistry?
19:33
I think, for sure everything which is related to it's getting boring,
19:38
but related to the digital world.
19:40
I think that is definitely the thing we have striked a lot.
19:43
When we become a little more concrete and looking back to my environment
19:48
there, I think the diagnostic part, which became more digital and more
19:53
being able to visualize this has become a very important step in in dentistry.
19:59
And And this also on the level of the point to put the patient into the center.
20:06
We're dentists and and we love technology.
20:09
We love treating with our hands, but we sometimes forget that.
20:14
The most important part is actually the patient, it's about your mission.
20:18
And so I don't see these advances, advancements primarily just to make
20:23
myself a more successful natist, to try to engage the patient more, to try to make
20:30
the patient more confident about what we are doing, to try to provide the patient
20:34
also with more information and and.
20:38
And that leads to a better expectation management at the end to a more happy
20:43
patient with what she or he gets.
20:46
And I think there the digital approach has really changed our
20:49
way of treating significantly.
20:55
On a technological ways, I think one very important step in when we focus now on
21:03
implant dentistry is for me really the rock solid development there because that
21:08
was maybe one of the major changes for me as a dentist because allowing to become
21:14
less invasive with the same strengths.
21:16
That is something which really has has changed a lot.
21:21
There have been many modifications, but they did, they
21:24
were not major changes there.
21:26
So for me, things are important, which are really, which opens on the one
21:30
hand, more opportunities to reduce the invasiveness of the patient treatment.
21:35
And number two, to provide more patients with better care and
21:40
meaning to reducing invasiveness also opens the opportunity that.
21:44
Not just superstar dentists can provide a patient with a good drip.
21:48
And that's something which I'm really very passionate about.
21:53
That I can relate to very well.
21:55
And there have been a lot of internal efforts to get to that point.
21:59
Also to do a material development in a dental company.
22:02
It's it's not common because the volumes are very, I would say,
22:06
low compared to other industries.
22:08
But we actually, managed to do this.
22:09
And I think that was also a significant breakthrough.
22:14
Now talking about breakthroughs I'm also very scientifically oriented and I
22:18
believe that scientific breakthroughs, they need to be tested and proven.
22:24
And a lot of this actually happens with clinical trials.
22:28
Now, on the other hand, dentistry has become so successful that we have
22:33
success in survival rates, if you compare this to other medical fields
22:37
that, orthopedics, for example, they could dream of, or other let's say,
22:40
medical fields they will never reach.
22:43
And, I feel a bit the tendency that nowadays scientific data, particularly
22:50
also clinical studies, they become less and less important and a lot of
22:55
companies, they also bring products out without any clinical testing.
23:00
You have also been very strongly involved in a lot of the
23:03
clinical testing of products.
23:06
What would you say to people that are, seeing that trend and saying
23:10
that in dentistry, we don't need a lot of clinical evidence anymore?
23:16
I'm confronted a lot with this with this question, obviously.
23:20
And I agree with one part that that I think the the whole instruments in
23:25
order to analyze a new development and then test and improve and
23:30
scientifically prove a new development, a new device, a new technique.
23:34
Has changed.
23:35
So in the past we were very rigid from that point of view.
23:38
You had a kind of a randomized controlled clinical trial and
23:40
this was the tool which you tested everything which was coming there.
23:45
And strongly disagree that clinical trials are not important anymore.
23:52
I think they're even more important in the context today because more
23:56
dentists are Providing also implant dentistry, therefore their understanding
24:02
goes only through clinical trials.
24:05
But I think what has been changed is is how these clinical
24:08
trials are being designed.
24:10
And I think it's not that Richard and I were just one design.
24:13
At the end of the day, today, when we look at successful research activities,
24:18
it's like an orchestra with different instruments and to be successful,
24:21
you're not just, you cannot just be the most amazing piano player, you
24:26
need to play multiple instruments.
24:28
And one of these instruments is a clinical trial, but there are many
24:31
other opportunities which we have today.
24:33
And and I think that's also meaningful because in order to reduce the
24:36
invasiveness also from that point of view.
24:39
And in this context, especially data science came into the field, which
24:46
will, which already did, but will even more revolutionize our understanding
24:50
for for new developments without really lower the benchmarks of what
24:57
a what a development needs to be in order to be treated in the patients.
25:01
And I think it's very wrong because again, that we are in a time period
25:04
where things need to move on very fast.
25:08
That's what, that makes also other companies less and other companies
25:11
more successful because at the end of the day, when you manage to put
25:15
the patient again into the center and understanding that this is the
25:20
most precious thing we can deal with.
25:24
We're not producing cars, we're not producing radios.
25:27
We are.
25:28
Trying to provide oral health and care and therefore I do believe
25:34
clinical trial will still be always in the center of developments, but you
25:38
need to play many more instruments.
25:42
Now to try to connect those two elements.
25:44
So you spoke before about the importance of the digitization in
25:49
dentistry and now we talked about clinical trials and I mean that also
25:53
leads to peer review publications.
25:55
Now how do you see this Ronnie?
25:56
The advancements in digital technology is so fast paced that
26:02
it outpaces basically the frequency of a peer reviewed publication.
26:06
So often you write a paper, you submit it, and it takes a year or maybe one and
26:12
a half years until it gets published.
26:14
In this period, the software has already turned over three times.
26:18
So how do we connect those thoughts of acceleration in digital dentistry
26:23
and science based research?
26:26
Or science based decision making.
26:28
I think that's a very important question and I think I fully agree with you.
26:33
The traditional system of publication is actually not anymore the way
26:37
to communicate this information.
26:39
And I think this is a true challenge and also a threat for
26:42
all the traditional publishers.
26:45
Because they stick.
26:47
They sticked too long they now start to really move on, but I think we are
26:51
there still not at the level where we should be in terms of the time between
26:57
a development or a, or an information and then the communication to that.
27:00
I think the traditional way of publication.
27:03
is not anymore the way of how things should be communicated today.
27:07
And you see there a movement, so you see change and solutions to that?
27:11
The major publishers in dentistry they are very much on
27:15
the pressure to move on there.
27:17
And I think they are doing, but this is like every company which
27:20
needs to get out of their comfort zone and and going to another level.
27:24
And they do struggle, but I think they have really been waken up and they are
27:28
aware that this is a huge threat for them.
27:32
Yeah, that's going to be interesting to see how that evolves, because also
27:35
for us it's very important to to be at the forefront understanding also what
27:39
comes out of the science that's then not one and a half years too late.
27:43
Now let's look a little bit more into the future, Ronnie.
27:45
What's your vision of dentistry in 10 years from now?
27:48
How will it look like?
27:49
How will your job, the the job of dentists or also what type of care
27:55
patients get in 10 years look like?
27:57
As another one, I have good news.
27:59
I do believe becoming a dentist will become even more attractive
28:02
in the future than in the past.
28:04
Okay.
28:04
Because I'm very convinced that through all the developments, through all
28:10
the digitalization, through all the automation in which will also happen in
28:14
dentistry, the dentist job will become a more responsible job for your health.
28:23
And It is far still underestimated the impact we can have as dentists
28:30
in order to provide patients with a good general health.
28:33
And and I do believe that we will have a strong A shift from more hand workers,
28:39
crafters into really medical doctors with a specialization in in oral health.
28:45
And I think there are so many opportunities which are in front
28:48
of us, which just thinking of it makes me really so happy.
28:52
And I think this will be.
28:54
A change taking place on many levels and this will start, we will change and we
28:58
are already the response for undergraduate education of the entire dental school.
29:03
So we will have also changes of the curriculum in order to get close to
29:08
the medical to the medical faculty.
29:10
And and at the end of the day, my dream, my vision would be that dentistry becomes
29:15
again, part of the normal medical study.
29:18
And we become then a specialization later on.
29:20
I know many don't want that, but I'm very strong about that, that this needs
29:25
to be the way how to really Be able to get full potential of our ability
29:30
within the oral cavity to provide patients Lifelong with a general health.
29:38
So you're also alluding to personalized medicine So taking the patient into
29:42
the center and I know that you're a big proponent of personalized medicine
29:48
also in dentistry can you give us a bit of a feel for, how will personalized
29:54
dental care look like in, in the future?
29:57
I'm getting very passionate about that.
29:59
I'm even getting bored about what we have, how we treat patients actually
30:04
today, because we have so limited, Possibility to personalize it.
30:09
Human beings are so much into, they like having a certain rhythm and they do things
30:14
because they are in the comfort zone.
30:16
And as we said before, in order to really be disruptive, innovative, you
30:19
need to get out of your comfort zone.
30:22
I don't need the comfort zone.
30:23
I get every morning at a different time point, I get up.
30:26
So I have never a rhythm there.
30:27
So I try to stay also from that point of view agile.
30:30
And that the personalization is only possible through a better
30:37
understanding of the data.
30:39
That goes from that point of view.
30:41
So without the data, we will not be able to get further in,
30:44
in terms of personalization.
30:47
And I think there are so many opportunities because we try to treat
30:54
millions of patients with very limited amount of devices, with with very limited
31:02
amount of of information, so to say.
31:04
But we do this because we did that for many years.
31:08
And through the better understanding of the patients and and and general
31:14
health and oral health status, I think dentistry will become again
31:19
more responsible for for the oral cavity and not just providing devices.
31:25
And there is one USP in dentistry, which no other medical discipline has.
31:32
Dentists see the patient.
31:34
Over a very long time period, that means sometimes even a lifelong period that
31:40
your your parents have been at that dentist, you go into the same office
31:43
as you're with your as a child, and then my kids go into the same office
31:48
and this gives a huge opportunity to really follow up these patients in a
31:55
very precise and very continuous way.
31:58
And this opportunity we need to take as as dentists.
32:02
And maybe there is another opportunity that is quite unique to dentists, I think.
32:07
Who owns saliva diagnostics in the medical field right now?
32:11
And I believe dentists are the closest to, let's say, saliva and, saliva
32:16
is said to be the new blood in all analytics and personalized medicine.
32:21
So maybe also there, there is a very interesting future
32:24
for the field of dentistry.
32:28
Absolutely.
32:29
Bonnie, I love your vision on on the future of dentists and that it's even more
32:34
exciting to be a dentist going forward.
32:36
I really like this.
32:37
I'm passionate about this as well.
32:38
And also, by the way, dental technicians, I'm sure, it's going
32:42
to be very exciting to be a dental technician in the future, seeing all
32:45
the advancements that we see today.
32:47
Let's speak a little bit more about, let's say, technology advancements
32:51
that we see in your vision.
32:52
If you think about dentistry in 10 years from now, what we hear often Is,
32:56
everything is innovated, that there are no major innovations to be expected in
33:01
implant dentistry because everything is now, everything is there and
33:04
everything is working so perfectly well.
33:06
How do you look at this statement?
33:11
I think it is partially true, obviously, that also in, in implant dentistry per
33:16
se, we did not had the major changes because we have really, a boost was taking
33:21
place about 20 years ago and we just, became better and what we are doing.
33:26
But the huge innovation was initially to provide the patient with a fixed
33:31
reconstruction areas, which they could never have fixed reconstruction.
33:34
This was a true patient benefit.
33:37
And I think implant dentistry becomes then interested interesting for the
33:45
future when it is again embedded into a more holistic concept when
33:50
it comes to the patient treatment.
33:52
So I always say I don't treat.
33:55
Missing teeth.
33:56
I also don't treat teeth which have a defect.
33:59
I treat human beings and we need to see implant industry embedded into the
34:04
overall concept and trying to provide this human beings and I don't see them
34:12
even not as patient as human being with with care, starting with with a wellbeing
34:18
with with a general health situation and obviously to replace these missing teeth.
34:22
And I think this is, yeah.
34:24
To embed these into this concept, that's, I think it's the most important part.
34:29
And that's why also I do believe that the general practitioner becomes really an
34:35
important person within the overall field.
34:38
And this general practitioner, she or he should become really
34:43
much more knowledgeable also about about the general health issues.
34:47
And the specialists, this is what today, is getting so narrow.
34:53
And treating a lot of very complicated or cases which have even complications.
35:00
I think there we have switched.
35:01
That's why it will be the gap between a specialist and the general practitioner,
35:06
I think will increase over the years.
35:09
And I see a lot of importance for the general practitioner
35:11
taking this responsibility.
35:13
And the specialist, they are more dealing with really the highly complex
35:17
situations and complication cases.
35:22
Let's move a little bit into digital dentistry in general.
35:25
You mentioned it already before, Ronny.
35:28
How do you look at this?
35:29
Digital dentistry is moving very fast.
35:31
I think a lot of dental professionals are challenged by this.
35:34
And, Also, even feel the fear to become obsolete at one point, which I don't
35:39
think we agreed to, but still, how do you look at digital dentistry and especially,
35:43
let's say, extreme developments that we see now in robotics and navigation?
35:49
Again, I see this as a very positive development and the ones which see this
35:54
as a threat, they potentially, They will die out because this is the same
36:00
thing like with other industry areas.
36:02
So you need to stay agile.
36:04
It goes back to what we said at the very beginning.
36:06
And again, the dentist, and again, the focus again, half an hour on the
36:10
chain application, they need to stay agile and they need to learn to take
36:14
more responsibility for areas, which we haven't been able to look at.
36:18
And this is more than the general health point of view and the
36:20
saliva diagnostics as George said.
36:23
So when we look back 100 years ago, Why did the dentist have been separated from
36:30
a normal medical study at university?
36:33
Because there was so much to do.
36:35
They had so much decays and carriers.
36:38
There was, everything was a waste of time because each time the patient came
36:41
back to, to visit the dentist, they had two or three more decays to fill.
36:46
So their job was just to run after the the carriers.
36:50
And therefore you were focused on the very technical aspects of dentistry.
36:55
And now the Pendler swings back because we do have and we will not be able to escape
37:01
this optimization and the robotic part.
37:04
I tell you how I got into robotics.
37:06
A good friend of mine, he's a Swiss pilot and he flies the Boeing 777.
37:12
And I was asking him in 2018 how much time he flies by his own.
37:19
And he said from a flight from Zurich to Sao Paulo, which is about 12 hours.
37:23
He flies six minutes when the weather conditions are bad, it's only three
37:28
minutes because it's only taking off.
37:31
So just to take this into consideration, that's an airplane, which which
37:34
has about 360 passengers, which the conditions change every part of a second.
37:40
And and the forecast is very difficult.
37:42
And we in dentistry, we have so many more steady conditions, things which
37:47
can be much more much better planned.
37:50
But.
37:51
Many dentists, again, because of this fear, we hinder further development
37:56
because we are afraid of our profession.
38:00
The contrast should be the reality.
38:02
We should be curious about what's going on there because it opens opportunities
38:06
which we have not been seen before.
38:10
I think that's a beautiful way to put it, Ronnie.
38:11
It's not the question, what can I do as a clinician or what
38:14
can the technology do, how can.
38:16
the technology supports the clinician in his daily work and daily practice
38:21
in delivering, let's say, ever better clinical performance to his patients.
38:26
I think it's the combination of both that we need to look at.
38:29
And I think that's also the way we look at technologies like this.
38:32
How can we help experienced clinicians to, to become more efficient, and even more
38:37
consistent in their treatment quality.
38:40
And how can we maybe also help.
38:42
Let's say learning clinicians to learn fast.
38:44
I think that's a beautiful way to look at it.
38:46
Now looking into the future is not only, how the dental profession looks
38:50
like and how technology look like.
38:52
You also have to look into your, let's say, work future.
38:55
You have a big project at the University of Zurich.
38:58
ongoing, and I know you're one of many people that, that work
39:01
on the vision and building this.
39:03
They're a very exciting thing to build, and we do the same at Strömmen.
39:07
We are building a big research and innovation center in, in Basel as we
39:11
speak, and I think the challenge, and George, you put this very nicely in
39:14
our preparation, is the challenge is always, you build something today, but
39:18
you have to build it for the future.
39:19
So now the opening will probably be in Zurich in 2030, but you have
39:24
to build it for dentistry in 2050.
39:26
How do you approach this?
39:28
Yes, this is this is definitely one of my most exciting projects because it,
39:32
it combines what we discussed before.
39:34
So I approach a new building needs to be just a facility of the goals we
39:38
would like to achieve in 20 in 2050, for instance, this was actually the task.
39:42
So we.
39:43
Did a lot of workshops beforehand also with other disciplines, with
39:46
the ETH in order to try to mimic and simulate dentistry in the future.
39:51
And this information was then transferred into the the building per se.
39:55
And and this is the current situation.
39:58
So whether we are right or not that, that we will see, but I think we
40:01
managed to get also their building.
40:03
It's a. It's a pure wooden building with a lot of solar panels.
40:07
So we tried to to combine very sustainable type of construction with
40:12
high tech dentistry and and the the inner part of the building is organized
40:19
in a highly interdisciplinary way.
40:21
We have even, we have research surface together with with the cancer center
40:26
of the University Hospital of Zurich, because we, again, going back to
40:30
the saliva diagnostic, we do believe that we have a huge opportunity
40:35
to be earlier in in diagnosing significant issues like cancer issues.
40:41
Inpatients and this in house collaboration, I think that will
40:45
also bring us to the next level in terms of In terms of development.
40:49
Sounds very exciting.
40:51
Can't wait for you to see it.
40:53
And I think everybody is interested in your simulation
40:55
that you did with the ETH on that.
40:57
Shut up, take this screen off.
40:59
Exactly.
41:00
Ronny, last chapter maybe for today's podcast.
41:03
A topic that is close to my heart and very close to your heart as well.
41:07
The ITI.
41:08
You've just been announced last year to be the president elect of the ITI.
41:13
Going forward, which is a big honor, and it's not your first big role leading big
41:16
associations to success, you're also the president of the EAO currently, so what
41:22
is your vision on the ITI going forward, what is, and what is the contribution
41:28
the ITI should bring to dentistry, let's say in the framework of the vision of
41:32
dentistry you just presented before.
41:33
very
41:34
much.
41:34
Now, it is a big honor and and I'm very excited about that, but, and
41:40
Again, most important, I I don't look forward just to be the president.
41:44
I always said if I had my inauguration speech then in Singapore and said,
41:48
I will never be the ITI president.
41:49
I will be, I will always be Ronnie because I don't want to put myself
41:53
into the position of the president.
41:54
It's not about the president.
41:56
It's about the vision of the ITI.
41:58
And with the ITI, we have an enormous opportunity being the largest
42:01
network in the implant dentistry.
42:04
Being present in every continent in so many countries and my true passion is
42:10
again to bringing this understanding and the responsibility of the dentist
42:15
for the oral health into this global set up and on the bottom line, the true
42:23
passion I'm following there is really to provide more patients with better care.
42:28
That should be our overall aim.
42:31
And I do see that needs to be done again on multiple levels at the
42:35
starting of student education.
42:36
Then on.
42:37
young dentists on a curriculum based education, then also on,
42:42
on advanced dentist education.
42:44
So we need to rethink the way how we make congresses, how we educate
42:48
people in a completely different way.
42:50
And I have a strong focus also on developing countries in order to have
42:54
their really to provide these dentists with the right values, the right tools
43:00
in order to really get more patients into an environment where they have
43:04
been professionally and taken care of for their dental and oral health.
43:09
Okay.
43:10
Really looking forward to this, Ronny.
43:12
Maybe one last question on the ITI would be for me then, how do you see
43:16
the ITI being supporting the young generation of dentists that I think.
43:21
It's somewhat the future and it needs our support in developing, let's
43:25
say, significant clinical skills.
43:27
But this is anyway a passion the ITI was always following and I think that
43:31
is also one of the true successes of the ITI over the years because it was
43:35
always engaging also with the young ones.
43:36
It was not an elite type of type of organization and I
43:39
think that's very important.
43:41
And for me, leading the ITI is also trying to lead it.
43:46
With with providing the dentist with the positive energy in dentistry
43:51
it's, it should be a feeling, it should not just be a belonging it's
43:54
a journey which you do together.
43:56
And and sharing the same values.
43:59
I think that's an important part.
44:00
So I want to change it, not just to an an education or a lecture or
44:04
Congress type of organization, it should be at the end feeling and
44:09
and and and an energy which creates.
44:12
globally among the
44:13
dentists.
44:14
So true community.
44:15
Yes.
44:17
Only this brings us already to the end and we have a routine
44:20
question also at the end.
44:21
If you could invite any person that you are aware of living or not living
44:26
to an evening long fireside chat, maybe accompanied with a good glass
44:31
of red wine, who would you invite for an evening long inspirational
44:35
conversation at the fireside?
44:40
At the current situation where we are right now, I would really,
44:43
would be really interested in having a discussion with Elon Musk.
44:48
I think it's it's one of the craziest person in the world.
44:51
It's one of the most successful person in the world.
44:54
And, and being able to listen once to a person like this what he personally
44:59
thinks about dentistry, that, that would be really something which
45:01
which would be definitely inspiring.
45:03
Maybe it would be a nightmare or but it could be both because he's
45:06
definitely a firecracker, which can go in one or the other direction.
45:10
I have not a lot of admiration for him, but but I want to understand
45:14
people like these, which are so disruptively successful.
45:17
How they actually think
45:20
a very let's say polarizing personalities that might be extremely
45:24
interesting to hear their opinion.
45:27
So Ronnie, this brings us to the end.
45:29
First of all, I would like to thank you very much for spending time
45:33
with us, being part of this podcast.
45:36
It has been a great learning journey for me personally.
45:39
I we have been in contact for the last two decades very often, but
45:43
I still learned something today.
45:45
And for this, I would like to thank you very much for your openness and
45:48
also your honesty that you bring actually every day to the table.
45:51
So thank you, Ronnie.
45:54
Now to our listeners I hope this was also inspirational to you.
45:57
As always, if you have questions, then please post them on Instagram or let
46:01
us know by sending us a direct message and keep looking for the new episodes
46:07
of this Pro Talk podcast, and we hope to see you soon in the next version.
46:12
So thanks a lot for being part of this.