Ruddle On The Road: Kuwait City, Kuwait
(Part 3 of 3)…And off we flew to Kuwait. Kuwait City, specifically. We landed in Kuwait City and moved to the MovenPick Hotel. There, we started our last Congress, and basically at this Congress, I’d like to acknowledge Ahmad Asad, he was the Chairman of the Kuwait Dental Association, and Ibrahim Taqi. I don’t know if I’m saying all these names correctly, but Ibrahim was the Chairman of the Higher Organizing Committee. So, I really want to thank those guys for a marvelous exhibition.
The conference was a smashing success. We had 400 people packed in a room that they thought would hold 200 graciously. They weren’t sure how many would come, but 400 did come.
So, basically if you add up all the people that I came into contact from Dammam to Jeddah to Kuwait City, in my lectures, it was a little less than 2000 doctors. This is not said to impress anybody. It’s simply to say that I came into contact with a lot of people and, of course, there was a lot of picture taking. There were a lot of conversations. There were a few dinners and there were lunches.
I started to get into their heads a lot about their lives, what they think about, their culture, how short of an amount of time they’ve had to come so far. In other words, the country of Saudi Arabia was really only formed about 60 years ago. Then, when you think about all that and then, of course, the men/women thing in their own societies, it was a fascinating experience for an American kid.
So, to close it all up, I wanted to acknowledge a couple of other people. Essam Zaatar. He is at the school, the head guy at the school, and he’s working very hard to influence future generations in how to do predictably successful endodontics. I’d also like to acknowledge Dina Elrefaey, is her name, I believe. Dina, though we call her affectionately Dr. Dina, she’s a dentist and she’s a person who is facilitating endodontics all across Kuwait. She’s a marvelous woman, greatly respected and held in high esteem, and I want to thank her personally for all she’s doing to grow endodontics in that region of the world.
Then, of course, Mohammed Khaleel. He’s an interesting guy, good friend. I told him he could be my son… I think he was 42 years old. He was a… he is a… rep in Saudi Arabia and he journeyed along with us in all three cities that I’ve mentioned. He has a marvelous rapport with academicians and researchers, endodontists and general dentists alike, and everybody loves Dr. Dina and Khaleel.
So, these people helped make Phyllis’ and my trip a smashing success. Now, I’m home left with amazing memories, unimaginable experiences and maybe we’ll talk about it more in the future. I want you to know, at the close of this particular session, that endodontics is alive and well. It’s growing rapidly in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Many of the endodontists in Saudi Arabia are U.S. trained. There was quite a contingent that came out of USC. When I was at Dammam, you can see that they’re influenced by other great names. Do you remember the name Walia?
Hello? Walia. Walia, 1988, Journal of Endodontics, first reported and proposed that nickel titanium could be the metal of choice for instrumentation of curved canals. Well, he’s on the base at Aramco. That’s an American facility, Houston-based, basically moving the oil out of the Persian Gulf, out of the Arabian Gulf, whichever you like to say, and out to the rest of the world. So, Walia is on this base of 10,000 people and he’s a resident endodontist/dentist. He has a few other dentistos and all of them together are working to keep Aramco going quite well, I might say, in the Eastern province.
So, from Cliff Ruddle, I want to wish you all the best. Work hard because everything that you know and do, it’s being disseminated, as we speak, around the world. The gap is closed and there is very little difference now between endodontics in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai, Jordan, and I could go on and on.
It’s been a great pleasure and I look forward to speaking with you at another time.
(Addendum: Cliff and Phyllis would also like to extend special thanks to their great friend, Dr. Waleed Foulad, for his gracious hospitality. Thank you very much!)
