The Resilience of Being There

The Resilience of Being There

Five years ago, I had a dream.

A dream of gathering all the disciplines of implant dentistry under one roof — dentists, oral hygienists, dental nurses, and lab technicians. A dream of creating a space where we could learn together, not divided by titles or egos. Not trapped in those old-fashioned congress formats where people are afraid to speak up, to share opinions, or to show their work. I envisioned a place driven by humility, passion, and clinical experience — always guided by science.

And today, we did it.

Study club after study club. Hardship after hardship.

Along the way, I heard it all: “It’s impossible. It’s too expensive. People won’t come.”

The old story — that failure belongs to money, not to lack of courage. That sitting on the couch and criticizing is safer than standing up and creating.

But through it all, one song kept echoing in my mind:

“Take your passion, and make it happen.”

The anthem from Flashdance, written in 1983 by Giorgio Moroder, Keith Forsey, and Irene Cara. Three people from different worlds who came together to create a song that not only won an Oscar and a Grammy, but became a hymn for resilience, grit, and daring to dream.

It wasn’t just about dancing — it was about refusing to give up, about finding strength when everyone else says it’s impossible.

And that’s exactly what we lived.

On the 13th of September, together with ITI and Straumann, 60 people gathered in Lisbon to celebrate and advance implant dentistry — dentists, hygienists, nurses, lab technicians, all in one room, finally.

Like in the movie, the stage lights came on.

And what once was just a dream became reality.

But this is not the end.

We are not going to stop.

In three years, we will double that number — and we will bring students into this beautiful house too

Because achievement is not luck — it’s resilience.

It’s showing up again and again, until passion becomes action, and action becomes history.

“Take your passion… and make it happen.