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Academia is the place for creative minds by Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa D ubai, UAE: Dental Tribune Mid- dle East & Africa interviews Dr. Khaled Abdullah Balto, Profes- sor of Endodontics and Consul- tant of Micro-Endodontics in King Abdu- laziz University (KAU) who shares his in- valuable insight into the matters of educa- tion, dentistry and both of their relation to the Middle East. Dental Tribune Middle East and Africa: Welcome Prof. Khaled Balto, please share with us a little bit about your origin and your many responsibilities in the Middle- East? Prof. Khaled Balto: I graduated in 1994 as the first batch from KAU. The dental pro- gram there is 7 years long and includes considerable portions of basic science, as well as one year of internship training. Fol- lowing my graduation I worked as a clini- cal instructor at the University [KAU] for one year. After that I did my post gradu- ate studies and clinical training at Harvard University. I returned back to Saudi Arabia in 2001 and since then have become a full time staff member and hold my own pri- vate practice, limited to Micro-endodon- tics. My responsibilities are vast, at the local level I am the manager of the endodontics department at KAU as well as for the Saudi Boards in the western region. I also manage the National Research Center for Osteopo- rosis as Deputy Director for Research Af- fairs and am heavily involved in lecturing and conducting hands-on training courses, not only in the Middle –East, but elsewhere in the world. I have an interesting piece of history when I was managing the Saudi Dental Society in the period between 2002- 05 when I arranged 10 conferences and was member of the Gulf Arabic Countries for Dental Education. On the level of the KAU and the Ministry of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia, I con- tributed to the academic assessment ac- tivity as Vice Dean, for quality assurance, which concluded with a successful peer visitation by the Association of Dental Ed- ucation in Europe as the first country out- side Europe to pass this. Also, I managed academic assessment on the level of high- er administration in the university for three years and laid down the foundation for the National Accreditation System for Medi- cal and Dental Science via the Ministry of Higher Education. Having such an extensive background, what would you say influenced your deci- sion to pursue a career in education? Academia is the place for creative minds, and this was the driving force in my deci- sion. To contribute on large scale you need both the logistics that enable you to do so, and an academic atmosphere supports that to a large extent. Also, being a teacher, am- plifies your scientific and moral messages across generations. So what you do with one patient in a clinic, could be applied to thousands and maybe millions throughout the years by teaching it to various genera- tions. What do you consider an important re- gion specific factor that contributes to the health of the dentistry scene in the Mid- dle East? As far as the Middle East is concerned; the two major factors that would contribute to the dental health are: public awareness and preventive measures. What have you learned from your current position as an educator that you would impart onto other practicing dentists? I have learned several things, among which are: Having the ability to alleviate human suf- fering gives great value to life, and thus ac- quiring skills in stress and pain manage- ment in the dental chair should be an ongo- ing practice for all dentists. The most powerful driving force to learn, and to continue to learn, is to share every- thing you know with others. You will be surprised to the amount of new knowledge that you receive. Customizing your dental treatment accord- ing to patient needs, including stress man- agement, is one of the golden keys for suc- cess. Doctor, what can you tell us about what to expect from KAU in the future? What are your plans for growth and how are you planning on improving the Dentistry scene in the University? KAU’s Vision Statement is to be a leading university in the Middle East. Based on this vision we are always striving to monitor our performance in accordance to the most modern developed practices across the world. Therefore, the practice of academ- ic assessment is an ongoing one. Amongst the indicators is the recent integration of micro-dentistry into the teaching curricula. What would you say makes your school most unique? What makes it different? Well, I do not think comparing my school to the other schools in the field is the correct thing to do. Every school has its weakness- es and strengths and identifying those as- pects is an accomplishment in itself. How- ever, monitoring our performance against a dynamic pre-set objective is what matters the most. What can you tell about how the school is adapting to the changes in the profession- al market? That is where the role of formulating Dy- namic Vision Statements comes into play. As well as that of those creative minds that we talked about before. Studying and an- ticipating the direction of developments in the field, and incorporating them in the strategy of administration is a golden key in this path. What have you learned about the Den- tal scene in the Middle-East region, the changes you have seen and your insight on changes to come? It is very impressive, and rather surpris- ing, the changes that are taking place in the dental scene in the Middle East. In this part of the world we came long way for- ward in a very short time. An important in- dicator for such advancements is the emer- gence of specialty based practices to the market of several countries. Public aware- ness is on the rise as well as the number of well-trained dentists --not to mention the number of academic institutes that pro- vides solid dental education. I anticipate the next change and challenge is going to be coping with the technical advances, in- cluding biologic (stem cells lines) and tech- nologic (computer assessed applications and devices). And with this rise in both public aware- ness and well-trained dentists, how is the rising interest in the Dental education in the region affecting the scene? Definitely, the rising interests in dental ed- ucation is pushing standards forwards, but only if these dental education institutes monitor their performance against realis- tic and real pre-set standards of education. As in any medical related field, the indus- try of dentistry is always changing. Espe- cially considering a trend that the world is seeing now with an emphasis on the in- tegration of CAD/CAM dentistry being pushed farther than it has before in the way that a lot of professionals and clin- ics are constantly changing the way they completely perform. How has this affected the curriculum, or the way you teach your students? What are you doing to keep up with these changes? Throughout human history, changes have taken a long time to happen. It’s the same thing when we talk about emerging tech- nologies in the dental field. As an endo- dontist, I am not involved in the teaching of prosthetics, but I told you how enthu- siastic I am about the incorporation of Mi- cro-dentistry to the teaching curricula. I be- lieve all dental practices will be offered via the micro-clinical approach in 15-20 years from now. Dr. Khaled Abdullah Balto, Professor of Endodontics and Consultant of Micro-Endodontics in King Abdulaziz University (KAU) in Saudi Arabia (Photo courtesy of DTMEA) R as Al-Khaimah, UAE: Every long journey begins with a single step. Workshop on Computer Guided Implantology and 3D imaging us- ing AccuGuide® Software was organized by RAK College of Dental Sciences, RAK- MHSU on 17th January 2013. The work- shop was organized as a part of Continuous Medical education (CME) program and was accredited by Ministry of Health, UAE. It also provided meaningful coverage on ba- sics, concepts and controversies related to Computer Guided 3D Implantology. The opening ceremony for the workshop was attended by Dr. S.Gurumadhva Rao, Vice Chancellor of RAKMHSU and Dr. Ja- meela Alawadi, Vice president of Emirates Dental Society and the deans of the constit- uent colleges. The event started with a lec- ture on “Surgical Principles in Oral Implan- tology” by Dr. Vladimir Kokovic, ITI Fel- low and Associate Professor of Oral Sur- gery at RAKCODS followed by hands on training workshop on Computer Guided Implantology by Dr. Phillippe Tardieu, Ad- junct Associate Professor New York Uni- versity College of Dentistry, Inventor of the SAFE System® and inventor of the Immedi- ate Smile® protocol and components, Pres- ident of Uniguide Dental and Implantolo- gist in Dubai. During this one day workshop Dr. Philippe Tardieu informed dentists how to use and work on the AccuGuide® program and highlighted all the useful tools to include in an everyday practice. AccuGuide® soft- ware program is an open program; it is a new and has innovative suite of modules in the field of Computer Guided Implantology and diagnosis. This software includes mod- ules for image treatment, implant planning and design surgical guides. This workshop was attended by private- ly practicing dental specialists and GP’s who wish to start working in Computer- guided Implantology to improve their skill and confidence. Apart from this the work- shop was also attended by Dental Interns and students. At the end both the speakers were awarded with mementos by the Dr. Mustahsen Rahman, Dean of RAKCODS and Dr. S.Gurumadhva Rao, Vice Chancel- lor of RAKMHSU. RAKCODS is planning to organize similar workshops and CME activities in near fu- ture at advanced level for dentists, interns and students. Furthermore as a part of Con- tinuous Medical Education (CME) program another Hand on workshop on Implantolo- gy and rotary endodontics including a one day dental conference will be organized in the Mid of March by RAKCODS for all the dental specialties, interns and students. Report Submitted by: Dr. Ebadullah Shafi Member of the Organizing Committee A step towards a brighter future in the world of Dentistry 26 DENTAL ACADEMIA TRIBUNE DENTAL TRIBUNE Middle East & Africa Edition | Jan-Feb 2013