Dear readers,
we have been online only for a few weeks now, but you might have guessed that we really like young professionals.
Last week we met one of the youngest co-founder of IBI sa, who not only is an engineer but also an entrepreneur.
Today we introduce another young professional who is quoted in Italy, and we’ve asked him to illustrate his job.

He welcomed us in his dentist studio, his name is Federico Ronchi.

Smartboneblog: What is your major and where have you studied?

Federico: I attended the “Sir James Henderson English School” in Milan, and then the faculty of Dentistry at Statale University.

Smartboneblog: Experiences abroad?

Federico: I have collaborated for almost 10 years with a biomaterials company in Connecticut, as a scientific advisor for Italy and Europe.

Smartboneblog: Is there a country that you follow with more interest than others?

Federico: Italian dentistry is generally seen as top level although quality can vary tremendously in my country, to a much higher degree than in other places on this planet.

Swedish implant surgery and bone reconstruction have gone through a highly authoritative scientific and educational evolution. The United States also offer good reference. Americans appreciate the aesthetic solutions that Italian dentistry provides, although we have opposite approaches to dental esthetics: Italians try to mimic existing teeth, in the States dentists select a final desired color and restore all teeth to that standard.

Smartboneblog: Does it take a lot of money to have a nice looking mouth?

Federico: It depends on what your starting point is! A ‘natural’ and ‘healthy’ mouth is a pretty mouth and costs nothing. The problem arises when we have to rehabilitate a severely compromised mouth and much of nature’s perfection has been lost.

Patients with orthodontic problems might have misplaced and unaligned teeth which are visibly out of harmony. These cases too may require quite a bit of work, over a relatively long time span.

Smartboneblog: What dental field are you specialized in?

Federico: Mine is a niche in dentistry. I take care of dental problems in a biological-natural way. We still have to restore teeth by using materials which have been engineered by man whilst we still struggle to regenerate tissue and for this reason the concept of ‘natural’ must obviously be re-defined. I study the impact that dental treatment has on the whole body and not just on the teeth, using a far more organic vision. I analyze the impact that metals bring, toxicity and tolerability issues that have often been ignored in the dental field for many years.

One field were we are starting to truly regenerate what has gone missing is bone replacement. Here we do have quite a bit of technology by now.

Smartboneblog: Do you also practice maxillofacial surgery ?

Federico: No, I deal with oral surgery.

Smartboneblog: Is oral surgery risky?

Federico: Just as much as any surgical procedure: it depends on the context in which one operates and on the patient’s characteristics. Generally, the risks are represented by two factors:

the anatomy of the patient: this means that you need to thoroughly study the x-ray in order to know what has to be done.
The second risk is surgical: for example, bleeding may occur in small and medium scale due, for example, to the rupture of a capillary. Complications are rare compared to those that occur during other types of surgery, but we must obviously be careful and know the situation with which we are dealing very well.

Smartboneblog: How much does technology affect the quality of your work?
Federico: A lot. Our field is deeply linked to technology and even if it has to do with manual work, technology is widely used.
Technology by istelf doesn’t translate directly into quality. Quailty control marks the difference between craftsmanship, where unique pieces are built through a repetitive series of unverified steps, and industrial processes, where flows of production are planned and checked. This is something rather new to my field because prosthetic parts have always been man-made by dental technicians and now we are moving towards digital scans, CAD software for project design and very sophisticated computer controlled manufacturing.
The workflow is virtually flawless and each part, while still being a custom design, has a constant quality and performance probability.

Smartboneblog: Do you have reference models?
Federico: With all the fields and schools of thought you can find sources anywhere. Personally I look for things that help me improve my working techniques or my knowledge of subjects I know little of. For example, finding reference on a specific material or on surgical techniques implies accessing to information in two very distinct ways. One type of search is often bound to a company name, an other to the name of professional.

Smartboneblog: One last question. Can you tell us of a case that you are particularly fond of?
Federico: All of them! In China there’s a saying: a good doctor first deals with the cases that can he can handle perfectly, and only afterwards with the more difficult ones. But we are westerners: we like being challenged by complex cases where you have to use inventiveness as well. And of course I have more fun if a solution must be found.
Now we have to say goodbye to Federico Ronchi: his patients are waiting for him.

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Biography
?Federico? Ronchi is author of publications on the toxicity of? amalgam and on composite material technologies.? Among? other things, he has been a speaker at theCollegio dei? Docenti di Roma and the “Institute of Pharmacology” of? Milan.? His main branch of activity, as a freelance in Milan, is biological? dentistry.?
He is the co-founding partner of the “International Biological? Dentistry Academy” and a member of the “International?Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology”.?
In 2010 he published Odontoiatria Naturale,? Prevenzione, diagnosi e terapie, per Tecniche Nuove? Edizioni” (Natural? Dentistry, prevention,? diagnosis and therapies, Techniques for New Editions.)?