From 1989 to 1996 Prof. Dr. Murat Yildirim was an assistant dental surgeon at the Clinic for Prosthodontics and Materials at the RWTH University in Aachen. He gained his doctor's degree in 1993. Since 1996 Prof. Dr. Yildirim has been assistant medical director at the Clinic for Prosthodontics and Materials at the RWTH University in Aachen. In 2000 he was nominated a qualified advanced specialist of the German Society for Prosthodontics and Materials (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Prothetik und Werkstoffkunde). His postdoctoral qualification lecture and venia legendi (permission to teach) was given in stomatology, and he is today a certified lecturer for the implantology consensus conferences (Konsensuskonferenz Implantologie). His main areas of work include implantology, functional and aesthetic prosthodontics, controlled tissue regeneration, perioprosthetics, metal-free reconstruction and experimental implantology. Prof. Dr. Yildirim has published papers and given courses and lectures on the above-mentioned subjects.