Page 14 - Academy of Osseointegration (AO) Academy News Vol 36, No 1 2025

Regents Professor Dr. Robert Gilbert
Triplett to receive Nobel Biocare Brånemark
Osseointegration Award
By: AO Fellow Amerian D. Sones, DMD, MS, past President 2022-2023; and Academy News Guest Contributor
Dr. Gilbert Triplett, DDS, MD, PhD, oral surgeon and Regents Professor in oral surgery at Texas A&M University School of Dentistry, will be honored at AO’s 2025 Annual Meeting in Seattle for his accomplishments in dental implant education and contributions in shaping the advancement of osseointegration globally. Thank you, Osseointegration Foundation Titanium Society members, for selecting him for the most prestigious and highest, the Nobel Biocare Brånemark
Osseointegration Award.
Thanks also to Nobel Biocare for
supporting this prestigious award
over the years.
the collge and the hospital where he also created the
Dr. P. Earle Williams Memorial Lectureship in memory of the first board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon in Dallas. In 1998, he was awarded Regents Professor, the highest honor in the Texas A&M University System. The Robert Gilbert Endowed Chair in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery was developed at the Texas A&M University, School of Dentistry, initiated by former Dean Lawrence E.
Dr. Triplett, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon in the U.S. Navy Dental Corps, retired as Captain with 21 years of service. He directed the research and training programs with an emphasis on combat casualty care and served as chairman of the dental department at one
of the Navy's flagship hospitals, where he ran the OMS residency training program.
His credits include assistant editor of the only textbook
ever written on the topic of
war injuries to the head and neck region. Recruited by
the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, he joined their faculty in 1984. In 1991, he was named chair of the Texas A&M University College
of Dentistry Department of
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
Dr. Triplett's areas of research
interest are bone physiology,
hyperbaric oxygen therapy, head
and neck infection, maxillofacial trauma, dental implants, guided tissue regeneration, and micro neurosurgery.
As vice chair of the department, director of hospital affairs, and chair of the dentistry Department at Baylor University Medical Center, he served as the primary liaison between
Wolinsky, DMD, PhD, and myself. AO Fellow and past President Jay P. Malmquist, DMD provided the keynote inaugural lecture in January 2022.
Dr. Triplett traveled to Gothenburg and studied with Prof. P-I Brånemark for two weeks in 1984, marveling at the skill he possessed. While at UT San Antonio, Texas in 1985 Professor Brånemark joined
Dr. Triplett and an implant
center was developed in Texas. Their first patient, May Smith, the grandniece of Buffalo Bill,
presented with a severe atrophic mandible and was rehabilitated by Dr. Triplett and maxillofacial prosthodontist, AO Life Fellow Stephen M. Parel, DDS, (and past President, 1994-1995).
Dr. Triplett states that “he never met anyone who cared more about the treatment of the edentulous patient than Professor Brånemark.”
Dr. Triplett speaks worldwide on tissue regeneration, implantology, and wartime combat casualties. A mentor to many dental residents
and faculty, he “leads by example” with exemplary patient management skills. It has been a privilege to work with him over the years and his patients adore him. Congratulations Dr. Triplett as we celebrate this proud, deserving moment with you!!
(from left) Jan Triplett, Drs. Amerian Sones and Gilbert Triplett at AO’s President’s Reception, Phoenix Museum of Art, March 2023.
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(from left): Prof. P-I Brånemark with first patient treated at UT San Antonio, May Smith, Grandniece of Buffalo Bill; Dr. Parel, and Dr. Triplett in 1985.