Encompassing 43 countries, the EFP is a nonprofit federation of national societies for periodontology, representing over 20k professional members, experts in the treatment and study of gum diseases. In addition to its European core, the EFP, with members from Argentina to Australia and Norway to Nigeria, has a global agenda to promote awareness for periodontal science and the importance of gum health.
Moritz is currently the chair of restorative dentistry at the University of Birmingham and holds an adjunct professorship at Columbia University. He is a specialist periodontist trained in Germany and the United States.
His award-winning translational research has explored the links between the clinical features and molecular foundations of periodontal and peri-implant diseases and other systemic diseases.
At Birmingham, he is running a significant portfolio of externally funded research programmes, including leading a module of the NIHR-funded Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre and innovative structured postgraduate training programmes such as the PGCert in Periodontology, unique in its access to surgical treatment of patients within a part-time programme.
Having served on the boards of both the British and German national societies and as a member of the EFP's Executive Committee for the last three years, Moritz has been driving the development of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of gum diseases in Europe, the UK, and Germany. These developments have already had a real-world impact on patients and practitioners alike.
Moritz’s priority during his presidency will be to further the EFP’s global impact as the largest periodontal federation worldwide. He hopes to expand the EFP's lead in guideline development in dentistry by opening pathways for educating the clinical workforce for periodontics and driving periodontal science by empowering young, internationally mobile researchers.
Moritz said, "To keep improving periodontal education for students and professionals, and stimulating the progress of periodontal researchers is not only in the interest of the EFP or the dental profession. These advancements are critical to ensure that current and future dental patients will be better served."