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Volume 36 , Issue 1
January/February 2016
Page 7

Editorial: Reminiscences of the Late Professor Per-Ingvar Brånemark May 3, 1929-December 20, 2014

Myron Nevins, DDS/Tomas Janson, DDS

“No one should have to put their teeth in a glass before they go to sleep.” This thought personifies Per- Ingvar Brånemark, MD, PhD, who passed away on December 20, 2014 in his hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden at age 85. The patient was always the first item on his agenda. Dr Brånemark always followed surgery with postsurgical clinical assessment. He checked on patients no matter where the surgery took place and to make sure the appropriate care was administered. He remained in touch with his patients years after they were treated.

Osseointegrated implants have been a major advance in dentistry, providing predictable care to both edentulous and partially dentate patients. Prior to osseointegration, implant dentistry lacked predictability. Just as the alchemists in the Middle Ages searched for the philosopher’s stone, a mythical substance that would transform metal into gold, so did implantologists attempt to resolve edentulism. Dr Brånemark knew precisely what he did not know. He always gathered the most accomplished researchers, business advisors, and clinicians to make sure he had the best advice possible. He noted that certain multipotential undifferentiated cells were formed and released from the bone marrow. This led to the early recognition that bone would come in contact with implantable titanium chambers. The basis of his research was developed through intimate knowledge of the inflammatory process and bone healing. Osseointegration provides an attachment mechanism of the nonvital titanium components to living bone. This phenomenon has been demonstrated repeatedly in both preclinical and clinical trials. Furthermore, this science has been studied and adapted to many orthopedic applications, which range from maxillofacial corrections, including facial prostheses (ear, eye, and nose), to limb replacement for amputees.

This special man of enormous charm, brilliance, compulsive imagination, and a conviction that anything could be achieved has changed dentistry. According to an ancient text, “The masters in the art of living make little distinction between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure, their education and their recreation. They simply pursue their vision of excellence in whatever they do.” Dr Brånemark enjoyed English literature, classical music, and theater. This brilliant investigator had no time for vacations as stated by his wife, Barbro. He was obsessed with the quality of the product he had put his name on. When the manufacturing process had the slightest change, he spent endless evenings and weeks to personally inspect every individual implant before they were distributed to consumers. He never tired of finding special solutions for the needy, without concern for the financial implications.

Dr Brånemark has been described as a genius. Not only did he create a worldwide implant market estimated to be worth more than 30 billion dollars, but he also accomplished this with a solid research background, solid data, solid understanding of biology and mechanics, and clinical application. He did this by attracting the best minds to be part of his project rather than attempting to do everything himself. It is realistic to think that the translation of his early research to clinical trials and then to resolve patients’ dental issues has touched millions of people. Every well-educated dentist at some moment of the day suggests osseointegrated implants to a patient.

Myron Nevins, DDS

Editor-in-Chief

Swampscott, Massachusetts, USA

Tomas Janson, DDS

San Diego, California, USA

Originally published in the Journal of Periodontology in November 2015 (Nevins M, Janson T. Reminiscences of the late Professor Per-Ingvar Brånemark. J Periodontol 2015;86: 1189.) Reproduced with permission from the American Academy of Periodontology.

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