Spotlighting articles from past ADA Journals that have achieved landmark status thanks to their lasting impact on dental care and the dental profession

Paul B. Robertson, DDS, MS; Kenneth S. Kornman, DDS, PhD In the early 1960s, Dr. Sigurd P. Ramfjord and his colleagues at the University of Michigan began the first controlled longitudinal human clinical trials comparing periodontal therapeutic approaches for treatment of patients with periodontitis. In the current era of evidencebased medicine and dentistry, “comparative effectiveness” and the gold standard of randomized controlled clinical trials, it may be difficult for some readers to comprehend the magnitude of innovative thinking that Dr. Ramfjord introduced to dentistry. Periodontology and much of medical Originally published January 1987, The Journal of the American Dental Association, Vol. 114, No. 1, 37-40