Dr Giovanni Ghirlanda specialises in oral surgery, periodontics and implantology. He graduated in dentistry and dental prosthetics and later completed a master’s programme in implantology at the University of Murcia in Spain. In 1992, he was a visiting doctor at Harvard School of Dental Medicine in Boston in the US. From 1996 to 1999, he was an adjunct professor in the unit of histology and general embryology of the Sapienza University of Rome in Italy. Dr Ghirlanda is an active member of the Italian Society of Osseointegration. From 1994 to 1996, he was president of the dentists’ committee of the Ordine dei Medici-chirurghi e degli Odontoiatri della Provincia di Roma (order of surgeons and dentists of the province of Rome).