According to an obituary published by the American Academy of Implant Prosthodontics, Dr. Leonard I. Linkow died on January 26 2017 at the age of 90. Dr. Linkow, who once signed a contract by the New York Giants to play for their minor league team, went on to become what many consider the "Father of Implant Dentistry."
"Today the name Linkow is synonymous with dental implants," said Dr. Sheldon Winkler, professor emeritus at Temple University in Philadelphia and Executive Director of the American Academy of Implant Prosthodontics, said in a statement. "Dr. Linkow is responsible for numerous innovations in implant dentistry. Among his major contributions are the blade implant, the self-tapping ventplant root form implant, the tripodal subperiosteal implant, and the immediate loading and internal hex designs for root form implants.”
Dr. Linkow also had the esteemed honor of being the only dentist ever to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Dr. Linkow published 18 books and authored more than 100 clinical articles. He served as president of the American Academy of Implant Dentistry in 1974 and was a Diplomat of the American Board of Oral Implantology, serving as president in 1993. He was a clinical professor of implant dentistry at his alma mater, the NYU College of Dentistry, at the time of his death.
NYU also established the Leonard I. Linkow Library of Implant Dentistry, which is readily available to professionals, educators and lay persons online.
