Wir überwinden Grenzen

Prof. Dr. Benedikt Spies (34) is the new Medical Director of the Department of Prosthetic Dentistry at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg / In future, the clinic will focus on the possibilities offered by digitalization and an improved

Prof. Dr. Benedikt Spies (34) took over as Head of the Department of Prosthetic Dentistry at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg on March 4, 2020. After studying dentistry at the University of Freiburg, Spies worked as a research assistant and finally as a senior physician at the Department of Prosthetic Dentistry at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg from 2011 to 2017. He was then Senior Consultant at the Department of Dental Prosthetics, Geriatric Medicine and Functional Medicine at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Spies sees his main focus as improving dental care for older patients and the sensible use of digital technologies, also to make dental prostheses cheaper and easier to manufacture.

Senior citizens and digitalization

"I am enthusiastic about two developments, or rather tasks, that are otherwise rarely found in the same sentence: Digitalization and senior citizens," says Spies. Thanks to ever-improving preventive care, many people are now able to keep their own teeth into old age. However, these are then much more difficult to clean and provide dental care for than full dentures. "We need to focus even more on the dental health of older people. Digital technologies can also contribute to this, for example, by allowing lost dentures to be remade without great effort," says Spies, whose previous research has focused intensively on the clinical evaluation of dentures and the ageing simulation of dental materials.

The future belongs to 3D printing

Spies also wants to use the opportunities offered by digitalization to make dentures more affordable for patients. Many people have to laboriously finance even simple dentures. 3D printing processes, for example, could lead to a significant reduction in costs," says Spies. This is why he would like to focus on additive manufacturing, i.e. the printing of dental prostheses and corresponding aids, at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg in cooperation with neighboring clinics and associated institutes.

Caption: Prof. Dr. Benedikt Spies is the new Medical Director of the Department of Prosthetic Dentistry at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg
Image source: Medical Center - University of Freiburg / Britt Schilling

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Benedikt Spies
Medical Director
Department of Prosthetic Dentistry
Medical Center - University of Freiburg
Phone: 0761 270-49060
benedikt.spies@uniklinik-freiburg.de