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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.
I think it is fair to say that the past five years have been without
precedent in the recent history of Implant Dentistry. The tremendous
upsurge of vitality, energy and activity by young minded dentists and
believers in Implant Dentistry across the entire surface of the globe
has no precedent in recent memories. One is reminded of the fervor of
the early years of the Branamark's break through when valiant pioneers
went out to open the virgin territories of the globe in response to the
call and encouragement of the promoters of Implant Dentistry. That same
kind of devotion, of sacrificial activity, has been apparent during the
last five years.
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 dentist or specialist of the dental
community's, bring that individual in contact with the concept. And that
concept works its mysteries in the heart of that individual, liberating
the spirit, ennobling the emotions, the ideals, of the individual,
disclosing visions and insights that previously were unknown.
Study circle meetings are proving an astonishing source of attraction to
people who are not implant conscious. It is clear that in all parts of
the world, people are searching for new intellectual food. They are
famished. In that sense, our Study circles meetings offer opportunities,
without pressure, without harassment, without any form of evangelizing,
where human beings can get together and share the available knowledge
and be bathed in the spirit of the power of these words.
The result of this, of course, is that the human resources of the young
minded dentists have expanded rapidly in that period. There have been a
number of new enrolments, but far beyond that has been the expansion of
human resources as a consequence of the rise in activity level of the
rank and file of the Implant dentistry specialist. We also find that
when people decide now to enter this field, to take up membership of it
(say for example in the ICOI, ID-SC or AAID …etc), there is a far
greater likelihood of their remaining committed to the program as a
result of the fact that, more often than not, they have been through
these institute programs, and study circles and the like, and have a
solid base of knowledge on which to found their activity and so to
remain committed to the work of the specialty, through the vicissitudes
that are an inevitable part of life.
This activity of the last Five Years has been a major change in the
content and the functioning of the dental communities in all parts of
the world. And as a result, we have had a certain number of problems,
which I tend to categorize as “normal” problems (if there can be such a
thing!). They are problems which you can expect whenever there is a
commitment to some kind of change. They are mainly of two kinds, one
kind are dentists who say I am very comfortable with the way I am. I
don’t want to get involved in all this stuff. Go and do it, and good
luck to you, but I prefer not to participate in the study circles, the
institute programs and the various other activities. And our response to
that is that they are perfectly free to do as they wish.
This is a specialty which attaches a great degree of importance to
individual initiative and freedom. Those who feel, for whatever reason,
be they right or be they wrong, that they know enough about different
writings on implants that they don’t need this kind of thing, fine; they
are free to maintain their position. And they should not be criticized,
or harassed, or condemned, or pressured.
The other extreme we have, which is the other part of these so called
“normal problem,” are those who are at the other end of the spectrum.
The zealots, who insist that if you are not participating in these
various core activities of the implant dentistry programs, for a start
there is something wrong with you in relation to the covenant that you
made with the profession when you became a dentist, “Why are you not
doing implants? You should be,” and … you should not do anything else! I
categorize that also as a normal problem. It is a normal problem of
human enthusiasm. And gradually it moderates. And gradually it calms
down and gradually things return to a certain degree of equilibrium as
the dental community goes forward. The necessity to acquire a good sound
understanding of the theory of practice through text books have been
with us, and will remain with us, throughout. They will not change by
the commendable enthusiasm for the core activities.
This past five years, which is a source of exultation, enthusiasm and
joy in the Dental community, is also a five year period which has seen
the world around us plunge into a far greater degree of difficulty than
it has hitherto experienced. It seems to me that one of the great
challenges the world faces as a result of the experiences of the past
five years is the rise of pessimism, the deep concern that is pervading
a greater and greater portion of our society, the realization that
civilization itself is in jeopardy. And this is not a thought that any
reasonable person might well have entertained for an extended period of
time before the present phase of some five or so years. Now it is
becoming apparent that things are not going through one of the ephemeral
phases of ups and downs that distinguish human history. But rather
something very fundamental is occurring; one of the great historic
celestial??? Changes of human history are upon us.
My impression is that the decline of the quality of civilized life in
the world around us can be categorized under three headings. The first
is what I call the fracture in social functioning. By that I mean the
breakdown of the things that are taken for granted as part of social
intercourse, the commerce of daily life, the rise in crime, the spread
of disorder and disturbance in society, the militancy, the anger, the
tensions, the protests, that increasingly invade our society. The
gradual but relentless spread of terrorism, starting from negligible
beginnings but now becoming a major factor, which is of course affecting
those of us who travel, we have become intimately aware of the problems
of the society in terms of the extraordinary measures taken to combat
terrorism with regard to airline travel and the like. Beyond that, the
spread of corruption, almost becoming accepted as being normal, the
spread of corruption in government circles, involving high officials
throughout the world, in business, in civil service, and, in more recent
years, in religious organizations of all. The lack of control of human
greed, invading business practices, affecting employment, destabilizing
the security that individuals may legitimately want to feel with regard
to long term employment, all these things, are part of what I call the
fracture in social functioning, which I see as one of the three
characteristics of this declining order.
The second one is a breakdown in personal morality. Throughout the
world, not only in the western world, but in the world of the East, the
post-communist world, the so-called Third World, and so on, there is an
alarming and quite sharply increasing breakdown in personal morality.
The acceptance of dishonesty, the casual acceptance of lying in normal
transactions, the sexual promiscuity in various forms being masked in
the name of freedom and liberation, the pursuit of superficiality in
past-times and interests (rather than the superficial practices simply
being occasional when your mind is gone and you just want to watch T.V.
no matter what is on, that’s fine) this has become an addiction to
superficiality to shut out the realities of a troubling world. The lack
of refinement, in speech, in vocabulary, in manners, and even in the
disorderly dress, which often passes as present-day up-to-date fashion,
all of these things, I think, are part of the breakdown of personal
morality.
And the third characteristic of the society, which I see to be in an
alarming decline, is the rise of racial, ethnic and factional tensions,
the militancy and the separatist outlook of minorities in all countries,
whether they are racial or ethnic minorities. In these countries
likewise we see, the tyranny exerted by the majority in ignoring
minority rights, the division of society into competing adversarial
elements, segmented by religious differences or by social class, or the
like, and the indoctrination of grieved minorities in hatred. In so many
parts of the world, we see that the schools in their curriculum, in
their approach, in their textbooks, in the kind of teachers they select,
blatantly and quite unashamedly, teach hatred, and this has become
acceptable. This is reported in newspapers almost without comment. It
causes some ephemeral alarm when one of the products of the schools
becomes a bomber and blows up trains or something like that, but it has
become accepted that schools in certain areas, in certain places, will
be left free by society to teach hatred without restraint.
These three elements, I see as providing a framework with which to view
the disturbed and very ominous condition of present-day civilization, be
it in the West or in the East.
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 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.
There are a number of other aspects of the Writings which support my
thesis, that we today are engaged in laying the foundation for the
civilizing process. In that context 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 days of the
Cause, 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.
There I see in the philosophy of the decisions made by the 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 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 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 that there are
certain actions we should take today as part of our fostering the
civilizing process. I do not say them in the sense of wanting to divert
you away from the core dental treatment activities of our routine
practice, but rather I say them in terms of the fact that they fit in
with. 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. Of course these are only my own personal
impressions and no more than that.
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, but also consultation between the marriage partners,
consultation within the family setting, consultation as the basis for
human social interaction in local as well as more extensive groups. The
precepts 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. So frankness is something
we very simply recite as an element of consultation and we need to stop
and think that this is going to be a very very difficult thing to
accomplish. 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 members of the family in the same consultative body. And what do
you do when you are in disagreement with one of the other members is
your family? Is blood thicker than water under such settings? What
happens when dutiful Eastern wife feels differently about a matter from
her Eastern husband? Is she going to vote the way he does out of a sense
of loyalty and respect? Or is she going to follow the precepts of his or
her Faith and probably incur a certain degree of criticism on the way
home? 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 to much cherished, time honored,
practices that are part of the traditional culture of a number of
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 in hearing from you.
With warmest regards.
Souheil R. Hussaini, BDS, MS
President, Chairman of scientific committee - Continuing Dental
Education
Implant Dentistry - Study circle (ID-SC), Affiliated to Temple
University & ICOI,
USA
Oral Implantology Medical Center
204 Al Wahda Building, Port Saeed Rd, Deira,
P O Box 39695 Dubai, UAE
E-mail: info@id-sc.com / souheilh@eim.ae / implantologycentre@hotmail.com
Phone: 00971-4-2956595
Fax: 00971-4-2958757
Mobile: 00971-50-4568100
Website: http://www.ID-SC.com
English
عربي
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