Our Founding Father
Dr. Peter Blijdorp
1-6-1947 – 29-11-2021
Peter Blijdorp was not only the founding father of blue®m, but also a maxillofacial surgeon and an authority on implantology in his working life. He has placed tens of thousands of implants and provided intensive care for all his patients: before, during and after dental treatment. Dr Blijdorp has also written more than 50 scientific publications in the field of implantology and sinus lifting. In addition, he has developed many new surgical techniques. Dr Blijdorp, who already placed his first implant in 1976, has discovered that the use of active oxygen has a positive effect on the recovery and maintenance of gums, healthy teeth and implants.
Peter studied dentistry and medicine in Utrecht and specialised as a maxillofacial surgeon in 1979, after which he obtained his doctorate in 1984 with the thesis ‘The influence of the age at which the palate is closed on speech in the adult cleft patient’. It was the special combination of being a maxillofacial surgeon, dentist and physician that made him develop such a specific, holistic vision on the human body.
Protocols as a guideline, use your common sense
Peter Blijdorp was innovative and dared to go off the beaten track and follow protocols in order to help his patients as best as possible. His vision was simple: “Be open to the latest developments and dare to go further. Don’t be paralysed by fixed regulations, dare to deviate from them with common sense if that will benefit the patient. Use your carpenter’s eye, make sure you can drill and screw properly and quickly! Share your knowledge with others and learn from others. Work as a team, do it together. And most important: do everything with pleasure, stay experimental, and always take full responsibility for your patient’s well-being. That’s how you keep your work interesting and challenging”, says Peter Blijdorp in the NVOI Bulletin, May 2019.
First encounter with oxygen
Somewhere at a congress in the late 1990s, Peter saw a lecture on active oxygen. A dentist was using this solution for whitening teeth with oxygen. Peter particularly was interested in the effect that the gradual release of oxygen had on the gums. Never before in his career had he seen a product with such a positive impact. He studied everything about this product. Was it body-friendly, how did it work exactly? He discovered the principle of ‘oxygen as a wound hormone’ and used it during his operations to make the outcomes of his operations more predictable. He also discovered the five most important properties of oxygen in maxillofacial surgery, he called it ‘the five pillars’:
✓ anti-inflammatory
✓ antibacterial
✓ anti-fungal
✓ antihistamine
✓ neovascularisation
The beneficial effect on the condition of the gingiva, better blood circulation and healthier appearance, due to the release of oxygen (neovascularization and increased cell metabolism) are still the main benefits of the blue®m products.