Dr. Ole T. Jensen, world-renowned oral surgeon and innovative businessman, is excited to announce that this week marks the launch of his new dental implant company, Ditron Dental, as well as the establishment of the Ole and Marty Jensen Endowed Chair at the University of Utah School of Dentistry.
Ditron Dental offers a comprehensive portfolio of implants and prosthetic components dedicated to implant dentistry. Ditron Dental’s Molecular Precision Implant System™ offers outstanding simplicity, reliable function and exceptional flexibility for high-quality and esthetic restorations. For more information, visit ditrondental.com.
The inaugural Ole and Marty Jensen Endowed Chair holder is Rena D’Souza, DDS, MS, PhD, a current professor at the University of Utah School of Dentistry. A clinician-scientist, Dr. D’Souza is known nationally and internationally for her research in craniofacial development, genetics, tooth development and regenerative dental medicine. In addition to previously serving as the first Dean of the School of Dentistry, she served as President of the American Association for Dental Research, as a member of the National Advisory Dental and Craniofacial Council, as well as on the Physician-Scientist Workforce, a task force of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health.
The endowed chair is being established in tissue engineering to enable, as Dr. Jensen has said, “the ability to envision the possibilities so that one day we can alleviate the human suffering often seen today in oral maxillofacial surgery practice.” Dr. D’Souza’s research is in tissue engineering, and through this chair, she intends to build collaborative research in the area of craniofacial regenerative medicine across the University of Utah and beyond. The research mission will be to bioengineer a tooth, an implantable biological tooth, to replace missing teeth especially as found in craniofacial syndromes.
Dr. Grainger, Chairman of the Department of Bioengineering, Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and of Bioengineering, and Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at the University of Utah, will serve on the international selection committee for the annual Jensen Craniofacial Tissue Engineering Award. Grainger’s research is broadly interested in applications of materials in medicine, including surgical implants, drug delivery systems, diagnostic assays, regenerative medicine, biotechnology and infection.
“In the course of my career I have seen how critical it is for the academy, business and patient needs to align,” said Dr. Jensen. “In creating space and support for some of the brightest minds to pursue research that will influence the next generation of enamel organ engineers and dental implant practitioners, I am confident that both endeavors, the research institute and the new dental implant company, Ditron, will impact restorative dentistry today and in the future.”
