How did your academic career start?

My career started when I was 22 years old and I saw my chairman Prof. Gabrielle lecturing on oral and maxillo-facial surgery. I fell in love with the surgical aspect and I asked him to become an internal student and do my project with him. Since then I developed, started my PhD and little by little everything unfolded.

Do you remember the first challenges?

Challenges have been many; every time I had to do something new for the first time was a challenge, whether it was my first speech, my first surgical intervention and so forth. But the highest challenge was when I changed my entire life in two days. I left Pisa and the oral surgery to enter the Perio specialty in London, UK in 2001. That has been the highest challenge because I had no money, my English was very poor, I had no organization, leaving everybody back home and I decided everything in literally 48 hours. But it has been the best move of my life as it did not just make a different professional: it made a better human being.

What are your most interesting projects that you think of with a particularly proud smile?

I think one was when I was a younger researcher and I got a unique large grant to develop a center of periodontal medicine. I bought the dental chairs, paid the salaries of doctors and assistants and created a little center that became the base of all my research.

“I have tackled the flapless approach [with Straumann^® Emdogain^®] since the minimally invasiveness is a call for every doctor. I strongly believe that in this process of reducing the morbidity with the same efficacy the flapless approach with Emdogain is where the future stands.” F. Graziani

Prof. Graziani, have you always lived in Pisa? Does your family come from this region also?

Yes, I spent all my life in Pisa, Italy - where in fact the famous leaning tower is located -, in the heart of Tuscany region, near the sea. I have just studied 4 years in London when I took my specialty in Perio, but then I moved back to Pisa. My family is very Tuscan, but my blood is also a bit Sardinian.

What is one of your favorite childhood memories from “home”?

I think those were from the summer when we moved to Tirrenia which is on the seaside, only 10 kilometers away from Pisa. We spent the entire period riding bicycles, going to the beach, staying with friends. These are the greatest memories, always connected to the summer.

What did the little boy Filippo want to become when he was growing up?

I had some options: I wanted to be a millionaire – 😊 true! - or a director of a 5* hotel. I liked hotels so much to the point that when I was a kid, I was reading the Michelin hotel guide as a magazine and I knew all the hotels in Italy, even if they got a swimming pool or not…. I don’t know why but I loved it.

 “Medicine is not static. It’s a process of development that is happening throughout time.” F. Graziani

You are using Emdogain in several indications, what is your experience with our 25 years experienced product?

I do remember the first issue of JCP with a very orange cover that was the launch of Emdogain. It was in 1997 and even though I got my specialty in 2001, we did discuss it a lot. Now I use Emdogain all the time, both surgically and non-surgically. I use Emdogain non-surgically in pockets deeper than 6 mm and I use Emdogain when I do my surgical regeneration. And you might know from my literature that I use it for furcations, supra-bony and intrabony defects. This is sort of a baseline. Then, if the defect is not supporting, I tend to add a bone graft that can be a xenogenic material, but the bio-stimulation of the root is always my first step when I do the surgery.

What do you think is the secret of Emdogain’s success?

I think it’s the uniqueness. It cuts down the treatment time and removes the complexity of grafting and adapting a membrane.

Why should the experts challenge themselves? Is this why you tackled the flapless approach of Emdogain^®?

I have tackled the flapless approach since the minimally invasiveness is a call for every doctor. Medicine is not static; it’s a process of development that is happening throughout time. I strongly believe that in this process of reducing the morbidity with the same efficacy, the flapless approach with Emdogain is where the future stands. The preliminary data in our publication¹ are extremely interesting, I’m using it routinely and for sure in the next 4-5 years we will clearly understand the indication.

Based on your experience, what is the advice you would give to a young specialist that just starts a career?

It’s very simple: talent doesn’t exist. Full stop! Whatever you do, you can improve it every day and you can choose to excel every day. In some days you will manage it, in some others you will miserably fail - it doesn’t matter, you should not have a loser approach: you wake up and you choose to be excellent. There is no talent, it’s just choice!

And what was the best advice that you received when you were in a similar situation?

I received two of the most beautiful advices from the very same person who regretfully is not among us anymore. The first: "They can take everything away from you, but they can not take your professionalism". And second: "You must have the greatest fun and enjoy life at the fullest. You can even sleep two hours, but then you shave, you go to work at the right time, you smile and try to be as best as you can. It doesn’t matter if you’re tired... it makes your backbone”. These are the 2 advices that will stay with me all my life and that I try to follow daily.

Click here to access the discover the step-by-step procedure of this case:

Straumann^® Emdogain^® is a unique gel containing enamel matrix derivative of porcine origin. The main component is amelogenin, which has demonstrated the ability to stimulate certain cells types involved in the healing process of soft and hard tissues towards a regenerative pattern, thus leading to true periodontal regeneration² and accelerated oral wound healing³. Emdogain® has a respected legacy as an irreplaceable tool for periodontology backed by extensive and long-term clinical documentation including studies with 10 years follow-up^4,5. Over the past 25 years it has been used in over 2.5 million patients⁶ and it is documented in over 1,000 scientific publications, including over 600 clinical papers⁷ on various indications. For more information: click here.