IM0410

meetings _ DGZI I duckling to a proud swan, and it is still gaining ground.” DGZI has reached the proud number of over 4,000 members. On its 40th Annual Congress DGZI offered a program to suit diverse interests as well as its international participants. Science and practice and numerous different professional as- sociations—this is the motivation which makes us reflect on how we can further develop implantol- ogy together. Just as Gauß once said, “It is not only the knowledge, but the learning, not the possess- ing, but the gaining, not the being, but the reach- ing, which gives the real enjoyment.” “The past was identified by respectful aloof- ness”, characterized Prof Dr Dr Hendrik Terheyden, but he went on: “As a young DGI President I am in the happy position to approach future coopera- tions in a much more unburdened way.” Now that the conflict of interest between practitioners and scientists is obsolete, the question of which im- plantology association may claim one of the two fields for itself has also fallen away. According to ProfTerheyden,DGZIworkstogetherwithqualified university professors, and equally DGI has many practitioners among their members. “Does a com- petition between implantological associations makeanysense?Ileavethistoanyone sguess,”said Prof. Terheyden. Dr Heineman thanked Prof Terheyden for his welcoming speech and “for the possibilities which result from it”. Dr Heineman then moved on to a special feature of this congress. Though the Asso- ciation generally agreed not to deliver tributes or present awards, an exception was made in celebra- tion of its anniversary. The coveted DGZI Implant DentistryAwardwasgiventoDrSönkeHarder,Kiel, (3rd place), Prof Dr Thomas Gredes, Greifswald (2nd place), and Dr Stefanie Schwarz, Heidelberg (1st place) by Dr Roland Hille, DGZI Vice President and scientific chairman of the congress. The subject of the winning work was the “Immediate Loading of Implants”. One of the congress highlights was the short welcoming speech of Prof Dr Hans Grafelmann. Among other distinctions, he is an honorary doctor of the University of Istanbul and an associate pro- fessor in New York. But more than anything, it was he and six colleagues who founded DGZI on Febru- ary 20th , 1970 in Bremen. “I still remember the Im- plantologyCongressin1969.Therewere85partic- ipants and two university professors who attended the congress. Today there are more than 500 par- ticipants and many university representatives. DGZI has a worldwide reputation for its reliable training programs”, said Prof Grafelmann, consid- ering the development of DGZI. In the name of his Prof Dr Grafelmann Foundation, Prof Grafelmann handed over a check of ⇔20,000 to Dr Heinemann, which will serve as a basis for DGZI’s future devel- opment. In his speech it became clear how close to hisheartDGZIrestsasheexplained,“Itwasmylife- work. I want to thank all of you.” “40 years ago titanium was known as the material ofsubmarines” Dr Hille had the opportunity to introduce one of his own academic mentors, Prof Dr Wilfried Schilli, Freiburg, who gave the first scientific speech of the conference.Thesubjectofhisspeechwas“OralIm- plantologyin1970”.ProfSchillisaid,“Backthen,we the dentists as well as the general population had to worry about so many things, and carrying out implantology was not a top priority. Titanium was known for being a material used in Soviet nuclear- powered submarines that rendered them invisible to radar. However, the problem was obvious, as shown in the following statistic. One quarter of the 40–50 year olds belonging to the Bosch company staff were already edentulous. Those patients suf- I 39implants4_2010