Season’s Greetings

Dear ITI Fellows and Members,

As 2025 and my first year as ITI President draws to a close, I would like to reflect on what has been a special year for me and a very strong year for the ITI. In taking over from Charlotte Stilwell, I had to hit the ground running. After a year on the Board of Directors suddenly I had responsibility for all things ITI. I am used to taking on leading roles, but this has been the smoothest transition ever and is primarily thanks to Charlotte and her determination to make this as seamless for me as possible. She mentored me over one year and prepared me for this amazing role.

Highlights of the ITI Annual Global Meeting in Paris

My first Annual Global Meeting as ITI President in Paris was simply overwhelming. What remains for me is the happiness, passion, and enthusiasm that people shared with me. This was the true highlight, meeting people and really feeling the global ITI family. This is what makes the ITI the most amazing organization.

The retreat meeting of the ITI Board of Directors in Paris was very productive in strategic terms. Our focus is on growth, innovation, and leadership. Sustainable growth is particularly important and we can achieve this by raising awareness beyond the ITI and nurturing a sense of belonging as well as through collaboration with other organizations.

ITI Future Leaders and Scholars

The ITI Future Leaders program also made its debut in Paris. This amazing program invests in the younger generation. It was wonderful to meet up with the 10 selected Future Leaders and hear their individual stories and experiences. These are the movers and shakers of the future, and nothing makes me happier than to see young talents growing and taking on leadership. They will be the foundation of our future ITI. A big thank you must go to German Gallucci and Kati Benthaus for putting this challenging program together.

As well as the Future Leaders I also met with many of our current and past Scholars. For over 30 years the ITI Scholarship program has been running and offering young dental professionals the opportunity to expand their horizons by experiencing different approaches to implant dentistry in an international Scholarship Center.

ITI Sections and National Congresses

In addition to Paris, I also had the tremendous pleasure to visit a variety of ITI Sections and speak at ITI National Congresses, including Thailand, Norway, Ukraine, Italy and Brazil.

For me it is unbelievable to see how much passion, professionalism and effort goes into providing the Sections with a lively, relevant and challenging program each year on the part of the ITI Section Leadership Teams. For example, all the above congresses were sold out and that testifies to the strength of the ITI within the Sections – they really are the heart of the ITI and part of our DNA.

Highlights of the first GCCG

Yet another first for 2025 was the Global Consensus for Clinical Guidelines (GCCG). Consensus conferences are important as they shape guidelines for treatment, but there have been so many in recent years – I have personally attended more than 25 throughout my career – that their impact is slowly being diluted. What makes the GCCG conference in June this year a milestone was that it gathered a number of dental associations under the leadership of the ITI, EAO and Osteology Foundation for us all to seek consensus together for one single indication – the edentulous maxilla. With this first GCCG conference, we are on the way to providing more patients worldwide with better care and better treatment. We have written history in implant dentistry, and more GCCG conferences are sure to follow.

2026 is sure to be yet another packed year for our global ITI family. So I would like to wish all of you, my friends and colleagues, a wonderful and relaxing end to this year so you can start off the new year with a full charge of energy.

Ronald E. Jung

ITI President