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28 NEWS Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition | 6/2017 “ Machines will never replace the human hand…” An interview with Dr. Stavros Pelekanos, assistant professor at the School of Dentistry of the University of Athens, Greece, and faculty member of the Global Institute for Dental Education, Los Angeles, USA By DTI What is the role of aesthetics in dental implantology today? Dr. Stavros Pelekanos: Implan- tology in the 1980s and 1990s was bone-driven. The Albrektsson criteria for a successful implantation back in 1986 did not even refer to esthetics and were followed for many years to come. Nowadays, prosthodontists start the treatment and perform backwards planning, always keeping in mind the correct positioning of the tooth or teeth to be replaced. Patients’ expectations regard- ing aesthetic results are grow- ing with the emergence of new technologies and materi- als. However, have these inno- vations truly arrived in every dental office? Well, in continuation of my response to your first question, there are two major problems that the dental com- munity has been facing in recent years, incorrect implant positioning and peri-implantitis both being dif- ficult to resolve. As patients become more aware of these complications, they expect and demand more es- thetics and predictable results. New technologies such as high-resolution CBCT, CAD/CAM abutment manu- facture, abutments produced using new zirconia technologies, and digi- tal planning are already widely in use in everyday dentistry, minimizing risks, as well as enhancing esthetics and treatment workflow. Have digital solutions changed the way dental restorations and full-mouth rehabilitations in particular have been per- formed over the past several years? Digital planning, intra-oral digital impressions and CAD/CAM tech- ÿPage 29