Ruddle On The Road: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
(Part 2 of 3) So, we flew then from Dammam across the Arabian Peninsula to Jeddah. Dammam was on the gulf so you can look right out and see the gulf, and just across the gulf is Iran. You can see the Straits of Hormuz, which is pretty much in the international news, but we left that gulf region and flew to the Red Sea because Jeddah is a Red Sea city. It’s a beautiful city coming right out of the desert, very fascinating.
The person I want to talk about here that we learned so much from was Khalid Merdad. He basically facilitated the entire Middle East trip. I first met Khalid some months ago in January when I was at Dubai for that Congress. Khalid was there and I met him and we had dinner together. He was basically helping facilitate our trip through the Middle East again, at this current time.
Khalid and his wife, Rana, a dentist, were extremely cordial and they invited us into their personal home, which was a gift in and of itself because it was like a small palace. I don’t say this to embarrass them but just to tell you the difference in taste and construction, and how things are made and the materials that are used. Very different than what we’re used to here in the United States. So, Khalid and Rana have two great little guys. It was a pleasure meeting them because they’re about the same age as my grandchildren.
The Congress was quite intense and it was basically the 3rd International Conference for King Abdulaziz University. So, the lecture was in a big hall. We had about 800 people present, standing room only. I had the opportunity to talk about current concepts in endodontics, Shape-Clean-Pack. Of course, the workshops broke out in the ensuing days and were held at the University itself. Again, that was the King Abdulaziz University.
At the University, I’d like to bring your attention to Ragab Saif. Ragab is a really nice Egyptian guy, very smart, he’s been Chairman at the school for many years and it was very nice interfacing with him. And, another faculty member, another professor at the school, was Madiha Gomaa. Madiha was fascinating because during our exchanges, she asked me how I saw the various dimensions of endodontics. In the classic model, we always think of the X, Y, Z-axis. So, we always think of three dimensions. Well, she said and brought to my attention another way to think of it. She said, “Cliff, what is the fourth dimension?” Well, I always thought the fourth dimension was probably time, but she gave me her thoughts on the fourth dimension, and we’ll talk about this in another blog in much more detail, but it’s fascinating. There are actually fifth and sixth dimensions if we can expand our mind and think outside the box.
In any event, I really had a great time there. Again, there were many, many workshops, thirty at a time, as usual. Then, we wrapped up our time in Jeddah.
(Continued in Part 3 of 3)
