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whichcannowbeperformedwithsignificantlyhigherpredictability.Thisdevelopment wasfurtherenhancedbyaconsiderableimprovementinthetrainingofimplantologists. These improvements are significant for both undergraduate study and post-graduate training.Thus,theuniversitiesandprofessionalassociationswhohavecontributedim- mensely in this area deserve much credit in this respect. _The battle of healing times Itwasbutanepisode,yetonethatcausedanincrediblefuroratthetime:thedebate about shortened healing times. Stimulated by a media hype in which the specialised pressonlyplayedsecondfiddleandthelaypressappearedtobeinthelead,thehealing timesofsomeimplantmanufacturerswereinflated.Valueswerecorrecteddownwards almostonadailybasis.Somemanufacturerswentalongwithit,whileothersremained firm. Some participants felt they needed to be at the forefront, others stayed out of it. A short but remarkable ascent was followed by a rapid crash. A personal highlight for me was an article in a tabloid newspaper that said, “Extrac- tion in the morning; directly followed by augmentation and implantation; a firmly seated supra-construction implemented at lunch time, and then endless servings of spare ribs”! As can be seen from this euphoric statement, some got carried away, while others had to painfully back-track. What remains is the realisation that, owing to im- provedsurfacesandotherconditions,thelonghealingtimesrecommendedintheearly phase of implantology can in fact be reduced considerably, but not at any cost. _New options for improving the implant site The afore-mentioned dominance of prosthetic implantology was only possible be- cause many new and safer augmentation procedures were established during the ob- servationperiod,enablingdentiststodesigntheosseousbedfortheimplantasdesired. Revolutionary augmentation procedures in the area of the maxillary posterior teeth, which had been the focus of discussion in the first year of the period in question, con- stituted another important approach for real progress. Thankstosurgicaltechniquesforsinuslifts,whichunderwentanincrediblenumber ofmodificationsalsowithregardtolessinvasiveprocedures,itwaspossibletotreatar- eas of the jaw that had previously been considered impossible or that could only be re- storedforimplantationbywayofhighlyinvasiveorthodonticprocedures.Whileinitial sinus-lift procedures were generally reserved for highly specialised centres, they have now become common knowledge in implantology and are offered and performed ex- tensively. _Establishing virtual implantology It seems easy to figure out what the old-school fraction must have thought about thenewplanningandplacementoptionsfororalimplants.Thisfractionhadalreadyhad bionicstickygranules Degradable Solutions AG A Company of the Sunstar Group Wagistrasse 23 CH-8952 Schlieren/Zurich www.easy-graft.com Ingenious: Simple handling and accelerated osteocon- duction for long-term volume preservation. easy-graft® CRYSTAL AD Fig. 17Fig. 16