Why implant surgery
During the first years of his professional career, Dr. Richard Jurkovič, MD, PhD, MPH worked at the departments of oral and maxilofacial surgery in Košice and later in Bratislava. Most surgeries in these departments are related to destruction of soft and hard tissues in facial area, the aim of the interventions is to remove tumors, bones damaged by inflammations, cysts, dead teeth, etc. From the point of view of Dr. Richard Jurkovič, MD, PhD, MPH this destructive surgery is depressing. Although these interventions are indispensable and necessary, he prefers to think in the context of reconstructive surgical procedures.
As most patients lost several teeth in destructive interventions and the options for their reconstruction were limited, Dr. Richard Jurkovič, MD, PhD, MPH decided to specialize in this field. According to his words “dental implantology, as it is known in the developed world, has been receiving minimal attention in Slovakia.“
In his practice, Dr. Richard Jurkovič, MD, PhD, MPH has become interested in periodontal diseases which has naturally lead to his narrow specialization in dental implantology.
In dentistry, it is a specialization which “has unique opportunities to return to patients chewing function with the emphasis on esthetics.“ The main motivation for Dr. Richard Jurkovič, MD, PhD, MPH has been the fact that dental implantology focuses on reconstruction, e. i. restoring of what patients have lost due to tooth and periodontal diseases or inborn tooth defects.