Professor Jiří Vaněk not only graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University, but also spent a significant part of his professional life dedicated to dentistry. For almost eighteen years he headed the dental clinic, and at the end of his career he spent fifteen years in the management of the faculty in the role of vice-dean for dentistry. He was a member of the scientific council of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, as well as the scientific councils of the faculties, and participated in the activities of many professional societies and journals. From his position at the faculty, he contributed substantially to the formation of the curriculum of dental medicine studies or to the birth of the Dental Research Centre, under which virtually all the scientific and research activities of the clinic were concentrated. Not to mention diplomas, medals or other recognitions. His accomplishments in the field of dental transplantology and implantology have earned him a pioneer status, respect and fame for which, for most of his colleagues reading the first lines of this text, is probably only a formal reminder of the long-ago familiar. At eighty-five years of age, he is no longer practicing, but he is still close to the field, and he does not deny his dental instincts even when the tape recorder is switched off - at the personal mention of a problem with his teeth, he focuses in such a way that he unconsciously makes people bare their teeth. I passed this year's inspection, and today I have it straight. Thanks to the work of Professor Vanek, dentists are still building on it today, and will continue to do so for years to come.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
I was born on March 4, 1939, just a few days before Hitler arrived in Brno. My father and my maternal grandfather were both cabinetmakers. They rented a workshop in Drnovice, where I was born, from Count (Albrecht) Dubský of Lysice. We lived there for about three years before my dad repaired the house in Lysice, where he himself came from, and opened a joinery shop there. After the war, he became the first social-democratic mayor in Lysice... I started going to the burgher school in Lysice, which I finished in 1954 with a so-called one-year apprenticeship course, because I didn't get into another school right away. As my father was a tradesman, political reasons played a bit of a role...
What made you interested in medicine as the son of a craftsman?
It was the political atmosphere of the time. I mean, they turned our workshop into a Montenegrin knitting factory and my father got a job in civil engineering because the regime was giving the tradesmen a hard time. The only one who had peace in Lysice was a doctor, Dr Zeman, who had two sons, also doctors. So my interest was aroused by the certain status of the medical profession. But before that I had to graduate from the eleven-year school in Boskovice.
“I was admitted to the faculty only in 1958, in the field of dentistry, which I was a little disappointed because I wanted to go into general medicine. But I was glad that I was accepted at all.”
Jiří Vaněk
Were you accepted to the faculty right away?
No, a year after graduation I was still studying German at the language school on Česká a Běhounská Street in Brno. At that time we were closer to Austria as a country, and my mother was born there, so it made sense. We did English on the side, in Toman's café (on Svoboda Square in Brno)... I was accepted to the faculty in 1958, in the field of dentistry, which I was a little disappointed about, because I wanted to go into general medicine. But I was glad that I was accepted at all. It was on the intercession of a German who vouched for me. He lived in Brno, in Černé Pole, but he was originally from Lysice. Daddy was a respected figure in Lysice and this Mr. German had an influence as a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, among other things on the then secretary of the medical faculty, Konečný. So, at least I was admitted to dentistry at his intercession.
What was the actual studying like?
I wanted a broader medical education, so from the beginning of my studies, together with a friend, I came as a research assistant to Professor and later Dean (Jaromír) Vaska in pathological physiology with the intention of pursuing a different medical field. He trained us! In my higher years I went to various clubs, in the internal medicine or surgery, and already as a medical student I operated with professor (Vladimír) Kořístek, who was from Letovice, by the way, and was the brother-in-law of professor Vašků. This is how I got into the medical world and only later, during my practice at the dental clinic, then headed by professor (Josef) Švejda, did my relationship to dentistry begin to gradually change.
Who else do you remember from your studies?
For example, Dr Šalanský, Dr Churý, Associate Professor Novák and so on worked in pathological physiology at that time. In anatomy, I also saw professor (Karel) Žlábek or doctor Sklenská, in histology professors (Karel) Mazanc or Dvořák, in biology professor (Ferdinand) Herčík or associate professor (Oldřich) Nečas... All important people!
Where did you go into practice after your studies?
I wanted to go to Jihlava or Znojmo, but in September 1963 I started my placement in Breclav. In the end, it was one of the best periods of my life and I discovered that dentistry could be done on a large scale. Breclav dentistry was then headed by Dr. (Karel) Karmazín, who was very comprehensive in his approach. Then in 1966 I passed the first degree attestation to confirm my general medical knowledge. A year later, I joined the Second Dental Clinic in Brno. Of course, I was also conscripted into this and worked partly in Hradec Kralove and partly in Dědice in the Vyškov region as a military doctor. We used to go to Vyškov to show where Klement Gottwald was born...
What finally decided for Brno that you did not stay in Břeclav?
I wanted to be at a clinical workplace and also closer. At the time of the events of August '68, many doctors were fleeing abroad, to Switzerland, Germany and so on. Most of them were already experienced doctors with certificates. At the end of the year, I became a faculty member, then at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, and I started working at the Second Dental Clinic as a secondary physician in the inpatient department. Under the leadership of Professor Švejda, the clinic had a very broad professional scope. There was surgery, prosthetics, oral surgery... Later on I became an assistant professor and in April 1974 I was already attested at the second level. So this went on through the seventies and I gradually built up a certain position, even though I was never a member or candidate of the Communist Party.
And was it even possible to build a professionally strong position at that time without being a member of the party?
Yes, you could. Although at the same time we were a little bit hampered, so some things went slower... Nevertheless, I managed to write my PhD thesis Autotransplantation of retinated upper permanent canines without marrow extirpation, which I also defended in 1981.
What specifically got you excited about this issue?
You know, every tooth has its place, and if you don't cut it and you're missing a cusp, it's functionally and aesthetically quite unpleasant. It can be embarrassing, like in dance class, you know, classmates can laugh... It's a fairly common dental anomaly. So I've started dealing with canines that haven't erupted properly. I was able to not only straighten them out, but I was able to pull them out, treat them, remove the rotten pulp, drill out the patient's bed, and put the canine back in so it would be in place. That's what autotransplantation is. Later, we started autotransplanting other teeth. For example, a molar might have curved roots. So we'd take the molar out, shorten the roots, treat it, and put it back in. In short, we addressed the defects in the dental arch and kept it full for people. I was living it then! We worked with other departments as well, so it was exactly the broader medicine that I had wanted since I started my studies.
How did you get from autotransplantation to implantology, which you pioneered in the Czech Republic?
We started to solve what to do with patients whose teeth had to be extracted. Because even the autotransplanted canines only lasted three or four years. So we started dealing with metals that were being inserted into the empty spaces left by the teeth. We worked with (Vítězslav) Březina, a scientist at the University of Agriculture, and we found that titanium and titanium alloys were the right metal for such implants
Where did you get these materials in the 1980s?
From Poldi Titan Kladno or from the Institute of Nuclear Technology. I remember that we imported some materials from abroad, for example from Austria, from the Liehmann company, which was paradoxical, because colleagues from Austria could come to us, but we could not come to them. However, titanium implants were expensive and their use was therefore limited, so we tried to come up with another solution that was our own. In addition to titanium, we also came up with ceramic, but it was more fragile. In alloys with molybdenum and tantalum, titanium created different shapes of implants... We became the first department to use these implant materials, and we had an official patent for it.
“I had it so set in myself and strived for a long time for others, so that even dentists would have a general medical education and finish their studies as MUDr. - universae doctor.”
Jiří Vaněk
How did your colleagues who were, let's say, more conservative look at the new methods of implantology?
Well, you know, there were those who had different opinions and were not completely open to our methods. For example, associate professor, later professor, (Vladimír) Šícha. There was a certain risk, sometimes something went wrong, complications occurred, then the patient had to be compensated... We had to prove that the materials used were biologically harmless, so the concerns were justified, on the other hand, testing was not exactly easy at that time... It was only gradually that we started to make advances, when we surface modified the implants, shaped them better, or later on we started to take genetics into account, which was something that the current vice-dean, Professor (Lydia) Izakovičová Hollá, had already started to work with as part of the Dental Research Centre project... I had to defend a lot of things, but I think with success.
The revolutionary year of 1989 brought further changes and some of the doctors were removed from the faculty environment. How did you perceive this period?
Some left, but the ranks were filled by others, often younger ones. Even in the dean's office, there were changes in leadership - our professor of dentistry (Josef) Bilder became dean... I was eventually appointed vice dean and remained so until 2019... A number of colleagues had made candidacies, but at the same time they were beginning to cultivate private practice... After the revolution, however, it was not only personnel issues that had to be dealt with; we also had to deal with where our dental departments would be in the future, as their existing facilities were affected by restitution. I wanted to keep the second dental clinic on the hospital premises so that it would remain close and in contact with the other departments, which was fortunately achieved in the end.
Throughout your career, you've remained loyal to the faculty environment...
Yes, one of the few, but I have. It gave me the opportunity to be in touch with the rest of medicine. I had it set up in me and I strived for a long time for others, so that even dentists would have a general medical education and graduate as MUDr. - universae doctor. If you come to my practice and tell me that you are taking, for example, some medication for blood clotting, then I should orient myself as a dentist as well... I wanted dentists to study for six years as well, so that didn't quite come through...
But besides your medical work and your work at the faculty, you were also involved in communal affairs, weren't you?
I became a councillor in Brno-Rečkovice for the ČSSD. Social Democracy was such a family tradition. I was interested in public activities and started to work and help in social committees and social unions. Among other things, I was instrumental in the improvement of the Řečkovice brewery grounds, where we organised over twenty Laurel Feasts. Various folklore groups came to visit us, performing from Slovakia, Pavlica with Hradistan or Jožka Černý, with whom I sang during my time in Břeclav in the sixties...
By the way, you have fixed teeth for many public figures. Some of them are here in your room and in your photographs...
For example, Minister (Mikuláš) Bek got his teeth from me... Also hockey players... There's Nadrchal, Potsch... Bubník, when I finished, he kissed my hands... (Vladimír Nadrchal, Rudolf Potsch, Vlastimil Bubník are former Czechoslovak national hockey players, medalists from the World Championships and the Olympics and multiple league champions in the jersey of Red Star Brno, or ZKL Brno - author's note.) Over the years there have been many people, some of them still call me. Hockey players are a grateful clientele for dentists, and I was close to hockey from a very young age. I even played in a regional competition as a kid, but unfortunately I got scarlet fever, which brought on other complications, including pleurisy, which kept me out of gym class for five years and I wasn't allowed to play sports, so that put a bit of a damper on my game. I used to play tennis and table tennis as well, I was quite good at that!
What are you most proud of in your career?
I would say in general how I have managed to significantly advance Czech and Slovak implantology, of which I have become such a central figure, and I have also managed to make Brno a certain implantology centre.
One of your daughters became a doctor, too. Do you talk about work at home, how often do you still think about it today and do you follow current trends, for example?
My daughter is a doctor in genetics at a children's hospital, my other daughter is a lawyer and my youngest son, although I wanted him to go to medical school too, went into technology. But my wife was a nurse, she worked at the Institute of Social Welfare at Kocianka, where she met today's Dean (Martin) Repko, so medicine has always been sort of present in our family. I don't practice medicine anymore, but I am still in touch with the clinic and some of the doctors. Of course, I continue to follow implantology as a field and am interested in trends. I'm seeing that the drive for patients to have the healthiest oral health and appropriate dental health is getting bigger and bigger.
Despite her - from the point of view of the communist regime - "incorrect origin", Dr Jiřina Jedličková developed into a renowned hematologist at the Third Internal Medicine Clinic of the St.Anne's University Hospital and the regional surgeon for hematology, and later, in the 1990s, the head of the local blood bank.
The life story of Dr. František Slavíček sometimes resembles an adventure from Verne's books, sometimes a reading from Albert Schweitzer's diaries, and here and there a spy thriller set in the former socialist bloc. In any case, it is varied.
