Digital Dentistry Center Named in Honor of Visionary Benefactor

Georges Sara Georges Sara was never a dentist but he invented a system of digital dentistry that is helping to revolutionize the field. Sadly, before he could fully realize his mission, Sara, who was Australian, died of COVID-19 last year while visiting the U.S. to advance digital dentistry. A large part of Sara’s work was using the technology invented by his company, Stoneglass Industries, to teach dental school students. In 2017, he began donating equipment and software to RSDM to help the school expand its burgeoning digital dentistry program. At the time of his death, he had donated more than $1.2 million worth of lab scanners, 3D printers and licensing for his prosthodontics center. To mark his legacy, the Georges E. Sara Digital Dentistry Center was named in his honor last month.“The feedback from the students about their educational experience has been amazing,’’ said Dr. Heba Elkassaby, RSDM’s Director of Digital Dentistry, who worked closely with Sara. According to his daughter, Jessica Mitri, Sara viewed his relationship with RSDM as a way to train a new generation of providers who could combine the best of traditional dentistry with new technology. “He wanted to help students become the best dentists and prosthodontists they could possibly be,’’ said Mitri. “My father was the type of person who felt like if you build something that’s so worthwhile and helps so many, people would do the right thing and continue it,’’ said Mitri. “Dad got the feeling that Rutgers was the right place to do this, and when he got a feeling, he went along with it.” In a message she read at Sara’s memorial service last fall, Dr. Elkassaby expressed her gratitude and summed up his legacy. “Georges will continue to change the lives of students, lives of dentists, lives of lab technicians, and lives of patients. While Georges may have died, his dream never will.’’