Jens Ove Andreasen, the father of Dental Traumatology, has passed away on September 26th 2020.
Dr. Andreasen graduated from the Royal Dental College, Copenhagen, in 1959. He did his postgraduate training in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University Hospital in Copenhagen where he has been serving all his life. Already as a young surgeon, early in his career, he became interested in helping all victims of dental trauma, which he met daily in his profession. He realized there was not much knowledge in this field at that time.
For this reason, he started research and was a leader in the world started registering all trauma cases in a careful and systematic way already in the 1960s. He also took initiative to in-vivo experimental studies reproducing treatment scenarios of various dental traumas affecting both permanent and primary teeth, resulting in pioneering scientific articles, which have become classic and is the foundation of today’s knowledge in dental traumatology. He also took initiative to the foundation of the International Association of Dental Traumatology in 1989 and was its first president. This organization has since then arranged 21 World congresses on Dental Traumatology worldwide. He also realized the importance of a reaching out in science and was one of the initiative takers to start a scientific journal in dental traumatology 1989 and the scientific journal Dental Traumatology is today the main journal in this field.
In 2008 he founded the interactive internet based Dental Trauma Guide, which today is a non-profit evidence-based platform available to all dentists worldwide. It contains information from his experiments and a trauma database from clinical long-term studies of all types of traumatic dental injuries carried out at the trauma centre in Copenhagen. With the help of this database the clinicians all over the world can get immediate assistance with diagnosis, treatment, follow up and prognosis of their trauma cases. He also took initiative to the Copenhagen symposium which gathers colleagues interested in traumatology and related fields from all over the world in Copenhagen every year.
Jens Andreasen has authored 400 publications and 12 textbooks, covering not only dental traumatology, but also autotransplantation, tooth eruption and tooth impaction. His Textbook and Color Atlas of Dental Traumatology, also called “the trauma bible” is the gold standard worldwide and is now in its 5th edition. Dr. Andreasen has received four honorary doctorate degrees and has lectured in 49 countries. His lectures always attracted and inspired people.
Few researchers and teachers in Dentistry have reached out the way Jens Andreasen has done with his impact worldwide. We, who had the privilege working close together with him, were always impressed with his high energy and visions, always inspiring us all in a positive way and conveying empathy for patients, colleagues, friends and staff of all categories. He was unique.
He was a true professional, leading colleagues worldwide, but also a devoted family man and our thoughts are with his wife Anna-Lena and his family. He will be missed by many colleagues and friends worldwide, and his legacy will live on forever.
The legacy of Jens Ove Andreasen, the Dental Trauma Guide, will continues to be the world leading tool in the field of evidence based dental traumatology, providing
easy-to-follow animated treatment procedure. The Copenhagen Symposia and the Copenhagen Webinars, also founded by Jens Ove Andreasen, will continue as well.
Lars Andersson, Eva Lauridsen and the entire team behind Dental Trauma Guide