SOUTH AFRICA SOCIETY OF PERIODONTOLOGY

Officer's Term: 1/05 to 10/07

President

President Elect

Secretary

Treasurer

ABOUT SASP

It all began somewhere under the pavement stones of central Cape Town, the spot where Jan van Riebeeck set foot on South African soil in 1652. First Commander of the Cape but also member of the Dutch guild of barber surgeons, he was charged with the task of setting up a scurvy station on the slopes of Table Mountain. His objective was to nurse back to health the scores of scorbutic sailors temporarily discharged from passing sailing ships. The results of this endeavour were spectacularly successful and from these modest beginnings grew the settlement which ultimately became Cape Town, the legislative capital of modern South Africa.

One needs just a small degree of imagination and a larger degree of poetic licence to cite this as the beginning of periodontology in South Africa. Was it not the florid gingivitis and marked mobility of teeth which led to the diagnosis of scurvy, and was it not the resolution of these symptoms which heralded the success of Van Riebeeck's treatment? Surely then it could be said that Cape Town is the only capital of a modern state built on periodontal support!

Unfortunately the abundance of South African produce snuffed out this early periodontal endeavour (and scurvy!) for the next two centuries. It was only during the early decades of this century that periodontics slowly crept back into the repertoire of the dentist, albeit that the treatment offered was confined to chromic acid and gingivectomy.

The teaching of periodontics at South African dental schools started perhaps in the early fifties when Prof. Jan Breyer gave short courses in the subject to final year dental students at the University of the Witwatersrand.    However, it was only in the early sixties that modern periodontology was taught to students at the University of the Witwatersrand for the first time by Dr. Tony Melcher (now Prof. A. Melcher of Toronto) who was then in practice in Johannesburg and a part-time lecturer at the School. His course formed only a small part of the academic activities of the day but it could be considered as the spark which later started our Society. Prof. Melcher's enthusiasm fired Prof. John Lemmer to undertake the under-graduate teaching of this discipline when the former embarked on a brilliant research career in London and Toronto. A few years later, in 1964/1965 Prof. Lemmer offered a post-graduate course in periodontology as a subject for the Higher Diploma in Dentistry. At the completion of this course the members of the class rallied together to form the Johannesburg Periodontal Study Group, which was the embryonic South African Society for Periodontology.

THE JOHANNESBURG PERIODONTAL STUDY GROUP

The Johannesburg Periodontal Study Group came into existence probably in August 1965. Unfortunately the early records of the group were lost so that we have to rely largely on the memories of the older members of the fraternity. The founder members of the study group were, as far as could be ascertained from frail memories, John Lemmer, Derrick Dell, Paul Lohse, Arthur Lewin, Basil Abrams, Mannie Ichilcik, Michael Kusner, Terence Knight, Bernie Radomsky, Archie Buskin and the Wynand Dreyer. The group slowly enlarged and later members included such persons as Alf VoIchansky, Ed Rosenberg, Jan Dreyer, "Smoky" Smukler, Les Fleisch and others. The group met monthly at the Dental School in Johannesburg with Derrick Dell acting as chairman and the author as secretary for more years than either would care to remember. At these monthly meetings members presented papers and cases for the critical ears and eyes of their colleagues, The study group was extremely active and regular participation was considered essential for continued membership. This principle worked so well that it was built into the constitution of the succeeding Society.   Although misgivings arose around this point in later years, it was a powerful unifying factor in the Study Group and early Society. However, this is a story to be considered later in this discussion.

THE PERIODONTAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA

In 1968 the membership of the Study Group stood at 17 and it was on 22 January of that year that the Group agreed to seek special group status within the then Dental Association of South Africa (DASA). A constitution was approved on 26 February 1968 and ratified by the Federal Council of the DASA in May of the same year.   Up to that point the Study Group had held 38 or 39 meetings and the first meeting held thereafter was numbered afresh number one. This meeting thus can be considered the Society's date of birth. Unfortunately the exact date could not be ascertained from the annals but it was probably in June 1968.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIETY FOR PERIODONTOLOGY

Two years later, on 29 July 1970, a change of name was approved namely The South African Society for Periodontology, with its Afrikaans counterpart of "Suid-Afrikaanse Vereniging vir Periodontologie". It was in fact the Afrikaans translation which partly precipitated this change of name because it was felt that "Periodontale of Periodontologiese Vereniging van Suid-Afrika" sounded clumsy and jarring to the ear.

The growth of the Society was quite slow in those early years and the membership was only 29 in 1969 and 36 in 1973. This slow growth was a direct result of the stringent requirement of having to present a paper at a meeting before membership of the Society was granted. Needless to say this requirement caused some resentment and the minutes of the meetings held in those years made frequent reference to the possible abolition of this requirement. A category of associate membership was consequently established for those interested in the subject but either unwilling or unable to present a paper. The principle was finally only abolished in January 1980 at the Annual General Meeting of the Society held at Golden Gate in the Free State.

Although the requirement of presenting of a paper led to slow growth, it certainly did manage to keep all members involved in the early years of the Society. It may be argued that this very stringent requirement was essential to ensure the survival of the Society during its formative years.

A discussion of the history of the Society would be incomplete without mentioning the names of the very able Chairmen who managed the affairs of the Society over the first 100 meetings. They were:

1968/69:	D. Dell
1969/70:	A. Volchansky
1970/71:	W.P. Dreyer
1971/72:	H. Smukler
1972/73:	E.S. Rosenberg
1973/74:	E.S. Rosenberg
1974/75:	P .J .Lohse
1975/76:	S.L. Yudelman
1976/77:	J.B. Radomsky/S.A. Buskin
1977/78:	S.A. Buskin
1978/79:	D. Aremband
1979/80:	J. Lemmer
1980/81:	W.P. Dreyer

MEMBERSHIP

It is particularly gratifying to know that amongst the 123 members of the Society in 1981, a substantial number were extremely active - not only in the affairs of the Society but also in the broader field of the profession as dental educators, researchers and politicians. Members of our Society were active in the affairs of the DASA as Branch Presidents, Federal Councillors and members of standing and ad hoc committees. In at least one instance the Society was instrumental in establishing a sub-subcommittee of the parent Association. Who can forget Alf Volchansky's valiant efforts to establish a Post-graduate Academy which ultimately led to the Post-graduate subcommittee, a committee later aptly renamed the Continuing Education subcommittee? 

A number of members of the Society at that stage had established themselves in the field of periodontology in other parts of the world, in various centres from London to Boston and from Philadelphia to Jerusalem.

It is good to know that the South African periodontist earns the highest praise where ever he/she is active.

Furthermore it would be incomplete not to mention the distinguished persons who have accepted honorary membership of our Society up to 1981:

• Prof. C.J. Dreyer (SA)
• Prof. H. Löe (Connecticut)
• Prof. G. Kramer (Boston)
• Prof. L. Abrams (Philadelphia)
• Prof. S. Ramfjord (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
• Prof. M. Ruben (Boston)
• Dr. Claude Nabers (San Antonio, Texas)
• Dr. H. Corn (Philadelphia)
• Dr. M. Alderman (Philadelphia)
• Prof. A. Melcher (Toronto)
• Prof. J. Lindhe (Sweden)
• Prof. S. Nyman (Sweden)

BRANCHES

A further milestone was reached on 24th July 1978 when the Cape Western Branch of the Society was established with Dr. Pat Josephson as its first Chairman.

The members living elsewhere then automatically constituted the Southern Transvaal Branch.  On 15 November 1980 a Natal branch was established with Dr M Baranyay as its Chairman.

With these events the Society assumed a truly national character but along with this, numerous logistic problems were created in the day-to-day running of the Society. The Executive Committee members were spread over the length of the country making consultations between members difficult and reliant on telephone and postal services.

THE SPECIALITY OF PERIODONTICS AND ORAL MEDICINE

Perhaps the most significant development stemming from the activities of this Society was the establishment of periodontics as a speciality. Quoting from the chairman's report at the Annual General Meeting held on 26th April 1971: "1970 will go down in the annals of the S.A. Society for Periodontology as the year of the memorandum. Much of the time and energy of this Society has been devoted to the drafting of a memorandum in support of the establishment of periodontics as a speciality". That this representation was successful and the specialist's register was established in 1972.

The establishment of the speciality, however, brought its own problems. It led to a major crisis about the future of the Society. Some members felt that the Society should disband in its then present form and that a new society of specialists should be formed. The problem was eventually circumvented by a wise move of establishing a subgroup of specialists within the Society in 1974. All members on the specialist register automatically belonged to this group to which all matters relevant to specialist practice were referred. Needless perhaps to add, the greater proportion of this sub-group's activity has centred on fees and the establishment of a list of specialist periodontal procedures in the statutory and national fee schedules. The sub-group was also primarily involved in the problem of defining the scope of the speciality of periodontics. In a letter dated 2 August 1973 from the then honorary secretary, Dr. Meyerowitz, the Society's views were voiced: "It is the sincere belief of members of the SA Society for Periodontology that the various problems currently being raised in respect of the new specialities of periodontics and prosthodontics, are directly related to the very fact of their newness ...We have no doubt that within a few years, usage and demand will have already determined the fields of practice of each speciality, and we would earnestly request the Council to take no steps to define or limit the scope of any speciality, since we do not believe that this would necessarily be in the interests of either patients or practitioners". Time has proved these comments to have been justified.

Although oral medicine is an accepted integral part of the field of periodontics today the principle initially caused some division of opinion. At a meeting on 22nd February 1971 a motion accepting oral medicine as a part of the practice of periodontology was approved by 12 votes to 2 with 5 abstentions.  Understandably then that oral medicine remained the step-child for a number of years.  This was in spite of the fact that the 1970 memorandum of the society motivating for a speciality clearly outlined oral medicine as part of the field.  Fortunately opinions changed and 75 persons attended an oral medicine course held in June 1977.

Early in 1978 a memorandum prepared by Dr Leon Maresky motivating a change in the name of the speciality was considered by the Association and the S.A. Society for Periodontoogy.  The principle was approved by the DASA at its Executive Committee meeting held in September of that year.  After protracted negotiations with the S.A. Medical and Dental Council, a deputation of DASA consisting of the President of our Association, Dr. A.G. Dreyer, Prof. J. Lemmer and Prof. W.P. Dreyer finally persuaded the Council to accept a change in the name of the speciality to Oral Medicine and Periodontics.

This will no doubt prove to be a significant advance in the development of the discipline in South Africa.

It requires little foresight to predict that this change may eventually lead to constitutional alteration and even a further change in the name of the Society, It is quite interesting to note that Dr. A. Buskin, in his Chairman's report for 1977, had already then made a plea for the acknowledgement of oral medicine in the constitution of our Society.

DENTAL EDUCATION AND VISITING LECTURERS

The association between our Society and the academic institutions in South Africa has always been particularly happy and co-operative. In some small way the Society may pride itself that it had influenced the establishment of departments of Oral Medicine and Periodontology at the various Dental Schools in South Africa. It is gratifying to know that the departmental heads at the schools are all longstanding and active members of our Society, which can only help to enhance the co-operative relationship in the years to come. The Society furthermore attempts to stimulate the discipline by sponsoring annual prizes for the best student in the subject at each Faculty, and by making annual library grants available.

Perhaps a most important activity of the Society has been its programme of continuing education courses. The outstanding visiting lecturers who have presented these courses over the years have all had a profound influence on the development of the discipline in South Africa.

The first course was held in Johannesburg in March 1969 and was presented by Dr. Gerald Kramer of Boston. Although this course was restricted to only 26 participants it was financially enormously successful and the profits formed the basis of a lecturer's fund which proved to be invaluable in later years. All told the visit of Dr. and Mrs. Kramer for 3 weeks cost only R2 704,13! This is a far cry from the cost of bringing out a lecturer, and his wife, today!

In mid-July 1969 Dr. Harold FuIImer presented a short course on collagen during his visit to South Africa to attend the International Pathology Congress which was held in Johannesburg. In August of the same year Dr. Leonard Abrams of Philadelphia presented a course in the newly acquired headquarters of the DASA at Princess of Wales Terrace. This was possibly the first course to be held in the old lecture hall of the Association and the profits from the course even made it possible for the Society to donate curtains for the unembellished windows of this old hall.

In 1971 Prof. Sigurd Ramfjord of the University of Michigan. Ann Arbor was the next guest for a course held from 2-4 September 1971. During his visit Prof. Ramfjord presented a paper on a longitudinal study of surgical versus conservative management of periodontal disease at the annual conference of the South African Division of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR).  This paper caused the same stir that was witnessed internationally when the results of his study were subsequently published.

The year 1971 also brought Dr. Morris Ruben of Boston to South Africa as guest of the University of the Witwatersrand, and he presented a course, inter alia, to the members of the Society.   Prof. Harold Löe of Aarhus, and later of Connecticut, was the next distinguished guest of the Society. In January 1972 he gave a stimulating course during which he presented the then recent and dramatic research data on plaque, gingivitis and chemical plaque control. Incidentally, the fees for this course amounted to only R30,00 which must still rate as the bargain of the 20th century! Prof. Löe was kind enough to return to South Africa, at short notice, as one of the invited lecturers at the 1972 Golden Jubilee Congress of the DASA. Quite understandably this kind gesture of stepping into the breach endeared him to scores of South African dentists who undoubtedly felt a personal pride at Prof. Löe's election as President of the IADR some years later.

Dr. Claude Nabers of San Antonio, Texas was the guest for 1974 for a course which was held at the Sunnyside Park Hotel. During the following year fellow-American, Dr. Herman Corn of Philadelphia, presented a particularly stimulating course from 18-22 October 1975 at the Landdrost Hotel in Johannesburg. Dr. M. Alderman, another American visited South Africa in 1976 and he gave courses in Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth on problems of the temporo-mandibular joint. This was the first time that the Society had presented a course outside Johannesburg.

During the 1977-Congress of the DASA, held at Stellenbosch, Prof. Jan Lindhe of Gothenburg, Sweden presented a short course to members of the Society and other interested congress delegates. Few of the persons present at that lecture will lightly forget the dramatic presentation by this dynamic Swede. Dr. Robert Schallhorn shared his knowledge on periodontology, and bone grafts in particular, with the Society in Johannesburg and Cape Town during courses held in October 1978. In 1979 Prof. Tony Melcher of Canada was a guest of the University of the Witwatersrand who kindly allowed him to present a short course to members of the Society. The members present were particularly pleased to hear this distinguished ex-South African who can be regarded as one of the fathers and founders of periodontology in South Africa.

Another Swede from Gothenburg, Prof. Sture Nyman, gave a course at Golden Gate in January 1980. The outstanding course, the brilliance of the lecturer and the beauty of the surrounds made for an unforgettable experience.

It was with deep regret that the course to be held by Prof. Jens Waerhaug in Cape Town in August 1980 had to be cancelled due to the sudden illness and subsequent death of this doyen of periodontology.  

Other prominent members of the international periodontal fraternity rubbed shoulders with the Society during visits to South Africa under other sponsorships. Amongst these were Dr. J.D. Manson (London), Prof. A. Frandsen (Copenhagen), Prof. P. Goldhaber (Harvard, Boston) and Prof. T. Karring (Aarhus) , to mention just a few.

The members' activity in the field of continuing education has not always been passive. The first 100 meetings, the symposia held in conjunction with the IADR and the exhibitions held at the 1972 and 1977 congresses of the DASA have continued to enhance the standard of periodontics in general practice. Furthermore, members of the Society, particularly Dr. Cyril Evian, were extremely active in initiating the National Dental Health Week. Who can deny the tremendous impact that this activity has had on the dental awareness of the public of South Africa?

CONCLUSIONS

The Society can look back on the last decade and a half with great satisfaction. It is not the numerous meetings of a Society which brings about great advances, but the enthusiasm and drive and hard work of its members. In this latter regard the South African Society for Periodontology has been blessed with great human resources.

It can thus be stated without fear of contradiction that the South African Society for Periodontology is looking forward to a brilliant future of even greater achievements.

Prof. W P Dreyer presenting a honorary membership certificate to Dr Derrick Dell with Prof. John Lemmer, who was also honoured, looking on.