Dental olympians, 2016

Olympian – person of great attainment ¹

Four years ago, with the London Games upcoming, I wrote, in a Dental Olympians Comment, about the rise of zirconia as a base material for crowns and bridges. Whether this has continued to make inroads into the metal ceramic market is uncertain. I also wrote about the possibility of the dental implant becoming a mainstream part of everyday dental practice. Recent evidence on the exponential rise in peri-implantitis and peri-implant mucositis (published recently in Dental Update²) had led me to question my glowing report on implants four years ago, along with others, such as the great Jan Lindhe.³ My predictions were therefore somewhat wide of the mark, but it is always difficult to predict the future (as exemplified by the fact that I am writing this Comment on the day when Leicester City amazed and pleased the world by winning the Premier League title at odds of 5,000 to 1!). Therefore, while I did not name any Olympians four years ago, I will do this time. So, who are the dental Olympians of the past four years, as per the definition above?