The First LA&HA Honorary Lecturer Certificate Awarded to Prof. Dr. Norbert Gutknecht of the Aachen Dental Laser Center

Prof. Dr. Gutknecht, who is the Scientific Director of the Aachen Dental Laser Center (AALZ) in Germany, covered many topics of current interest to the dental laser community, including the “triangle of success” that exists between research and higher educational institutions, laser manufacturers, and other major participants in the dental industry. Closer cooperation between these groups is vitally important, not only for helping to develop better treatments and innovative new solutions for the use of lasers in dental care, but also for ensuring that laser technologies become more widely accepted, understood and embraced by dental practitioners and the public alike.  

Educational institutions in particular play a key role in fostering the development and use of laser technologies in the dental profession, according to Prof. Dr. Gutknecht, who has authored more than 130 scientific papers on dental laser science in international journals. During his visit to Ljubljana, Prof. Dr. Gutknecht gave a lecture on the topic of laser dentistry to the students and staff of the Faculty of Medicine – Dental Medicine Department at the University of Ljubljana, where he was hosted by the head of the department, Prof. Dr. Uros Skaleric. The University of Ljubljana is among a select group of forward-thinking higher educational institutions that are actively working to advance the boundaries of dental education by offering students the opportunity to work with dental laser technology starting at the undergraduate level.