A Journey Worth Taking
Dr. Moy
By: AO Fellow and Diplomate Peter Moy, DMD
My journey through osseointegration has been remarkable. I have much to be thankful for. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to be involved from the beginning.
I was just finishing my training in oral and maxillofacial surgery when Professor Per-Ingvar Brånemark introduced osseointegration during the now famous Toronto Conference in 1982. In the beginning, you couldn’t take training with the Swedish team in osseointegration as an individual. You could only take training as a team: one individual from the prosthodontic side and one from the surgical side. This requirement was based on Brånemark’s insistence on thoroughness and completeness in communication between treating team members, and more importantly, with our patients. As a young surgeon, I was fortunate to be asked by Dr. John Beumer III, former chair of maxillofacial prosthodontics at UCLA, to fill out the surgical side of the team from UCLA. For this, I am thankful.
I was fortunate that P-I (as he preferred to be called) took me under his wing and mentored me throughout my career in implant dentistry. Initially, he called me “the young aggressive surgeon.” I didn’t understand at first; I thought I was showing my enthusiasm for learning from him. As I became more experienced with osseointegration, I started to understand why P-I called me the young, aggressive surgeon. I needed to slow down, think through the process, and provide my patients with the very best that I have to offer. He saw something in me that was worth his time and effort – to transform me from a young, aggressive surgeon into a responsive, understanding and caring surgeon for the betterment of my patients. For this, I am thankful.
I learned how to be a decent surgeon by following P-I’s principle of the five “P’s”: Persistent Precision Provides Predictable Prognosis. To this day, following this principle daily has provided me with a successful career. From my first meeting with my patient, through diagnostics and workup, to performing the surgical procedure, to referring my implant patient back to have their prosthesis fabricated, to their examination immediately after delivery of their implant restoration, to their annual follow-up visits and care, I attempt to be as precise as possible to give my patients predictable outcomes. I use the five P’s in everything that I do as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. For this, I am thankful.
P-I taught me the importance of research and how to carry it out. Not having a PhD like him, I attempt to mimic his approach with my clinical research. I remember with fondness the times P-I invited me to spend two-week periods annually in his research lab in Göteborg, as well as time in the operating room to observe his surgeries. What I enjoyed most was the time spent in his office after the surgeries to discuss the details of the procedures he performed. P-I taught me to connect biology with every surgical procedure that I perform. To this day, I try my very best to mentor students, graduate residents in other specialty programs, oral and maxillofacial surgery residents, and implant surgical fellows in the same fashion. For this, I am thankful.
I have been privileged to observe and participate in the inception of the Academy of Osseointegration and to have served as its 26th president. It has taught me the importance of organized dentistry and its facilitation of scientific symposiums, hands-on training programs and continuing education. For this, I am thankful. To me, it is most important that all of us carry on the legacy of Professor P-I Brånemark. Without his penchant for research, for biology and for his patients, implant dentistry would still be in its formative stage and the Academy of Osseointegration would not exist. We have an obligation to “pass this forward” to many more generations to come. I encourage all of you to take this wonderful journey and experience the rewards that osseointegration can provide.
The Academy of Osseointegration is best positioned to permit its members to pass it forward; please take advantage of this opportunity. It is an extreme honor to receive the Brånemark Award from the Osseointegration Foundation – an award named to honor my mentor. And for this, I am most thankful.
