Press Release:
The ITI awards 2017 André Schroeder Research Prizes toAntonio Liñares González and Vinay V. Kumar.
Dr. Liñares González, Dr. Kumar and their co-authors submit winning papers on thehistological assessment of hard and soft tissues surrounding a novel ceramic implantand on implants in free fibula flap supporting dental rehabilitation.

Basel, Switzerland, May 22, 2017 – The International Team for Implantology (ITI), a leading
academic organization dedicated to the promotion of evidence-based education and researchin the field of implant dentistry, awarded the 2017 André Schroeder Research Prizes to Dr.
Antonio Liñares González and Dr. Vinay V. Kumar. The André Schroeder Research Prizes are
two of the most prestigious awards in the field of implant dentistry and are awarded annually toindependent researchers for advancing dental research and development. Dr. Liñares
González, Clinical Director of the Periodontal and Implant Center Antonio Liñares in La
Coruña, and Dr. Kumar, a Consultant at the Department of Head and Neck Surgery of theMazumdar Shaw Medical Center in Bangalore, were presented with the award by ITI PresidentDr. Stephen Chen during the ITI World Symposium in Basel on May 6, 2017. Each prize
winner received 10,000 Swiss francs as well as an engraved gold medallion.
Dr. Liñares González received the André Schroeder Research Prize for Preclinical Researchfor his study providing a “Histological assessment of hard and soft tissues surrounding a novel
ceramic implant: a pilot study in the minipig”. “As our main goal, my co-authors Leticia Grize,Fernando Muñoz, Benjamin Evans Pippenger, Michel Dard, Olivier Domken and Juan BlancoCarrión and I undertook to assess the soft tissue composition around ceramic and titaniumimplants”, commented Dr. Liñares González. The results clearly indicate that while soft tissues
around ceramic and titanium tissue level implants are similar in terms of biological width, theepithelium shows improved adaptation around ceramic implants compared to titanium
implants. “While the study suggests that ceramic implants may improve soft tissue conditions,
it is important to keep in mind that this was the first preclinical study on the Straumann Pure
Ceramic implant”, emphasized Dr. Liñares González. “Our study provides an excellent starting
point for studies focusing not only on the advantages of ceramic implants in terms of esthetics,
but also on their advantages in terms of soft tissue stability and prevention of complications.”
This year’s André Schroeder Research Prize for Clinical Research went to Dr. Vinay V. Kumar
and his co-authors Supriya Ebenezer, Peer W. Kämmerer, P.C. Jacob, Moni A. Kuriakose,Naveen Hedne, Wilfried Wagner and Bilal Al-Nawas, who conducted a study on “Implants infree fibula flap supporting dental rehabilitation – implant and peri-implant-related outcomes of arandomized clinical trial”. “I have always been passionate about restoring chewing function forpatients who had lost their lower jaw to tumors, infections or other traumas and I was lucky tofind a group of people that was just as passionate about this topic as I am”, commented Dr.
Kumar. “What we wanted to achieve with our study was to establish treatment norms andsuccess criteria for the dental rehabilitation of patients following segmental mandibularITI International Team for
Implantology
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reconstruction with free fibula flaps.” The results of the study revealed that peri-implant tissue
in patients with free-fibula-reconstructed lower jaws differs significantly from that of patientswith non-reconstructed lower jaws. Accordingly, the research team developed a classification
system as well as treatment norms for rehabilitating patients with reconstructed jaws. “Wehope that these results will encourage practitioners to successfully treat patients withreconstructed mandibles, thereby improving their quality of life”, said Dr. Kumar.
Dr. Liñares González holds a Licentiate in Dentistry from the University of Santiago deCompostela, Spain, a Master’s degree in Clinical Dentistry in Periodontology from the Eastman
Dental Institute University College in London, United Kingdom, as well as a European PhDfrom the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Dr. Kumar received his Bachelor of Dental Surgery from the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health
Sciences in Bangalore, India, in 2003, followed by a Master in Dental Surgery (MDS, Oral andMaxillofacial Surgery) from Mumbai University, India, in 2008. From 2010 to 2011, he was an
ITI Scholar at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, and in 2013, hecompleted his doctoral thesis at the University of Mainz, Germany.
The two winners received their awards from ITI President Stephen Chen in front of over 4,800
symposium participants. “We were speechless when we found out that the ITI ResearchCommittee had honored our work with the André Schroeder Research Prize”, said Dr. Liñares
González and Dr. Kumar. “We and our teams have put a lot of work and passion into ourstudies and it is very gratifying to see our effort rewarded by such a distinguished Committee!”

About the ITIThe International Team for Implantology (ITI) is an academic association that unites professionals aroundthe world from every field of implant dentistry and related disciplines. It actively promotes networking andexchange among its membership of currently more than 15,000 ITI Fellows and Members regularly share
their knowledge and expertise from research and clinical practice at meetings, courses and congresses
with the objective of continuously improving treatment methods and outcomes to the benefit of theirpatients.
In 37 years, the ITI has built a reputation for scientific rigor combined with concern for the welfare ofpatients. The organization focuses on the development of well-documented treatment guidelines backed
by extensive clinical testing and the compilation of long-term results. The ITI funds research as well as
Scholarships for young clinicians organizes congresses and continuing education events and runs morethan 600 Study Clubs around the globe. The organization also publishes reference books such as the ITITreatment Guide series and operates the ITI Online Academy, a peer-reviewed, evidence-based elearning platform with a unique user-centric approach. www.iti.org.

Media contact:
ITI International Team for Implantology
ITI Headquarters
Matthias Joesch

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Tel +41 (0)61 270 83 88
Fax +41 (0)61 270 83 84
matthias.joesch@iti.org

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