Board of Directors
Dr. Rahim Damji graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Toronto in 2000. He subsequently completed a Residency of General Dentistry at Sunnybrook Hospital in 2001.
Dr. Damji is currently the owner of two practices, Markville Dental in Markham and Pringle Creek Dental in Whitby. After graduating from the Misch International Implant Institute in 2008, he went on to become a fellow of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists. Since then, Dr. Damji has also became certified in IV moderate sedation and performs dental surgery under sedation at both of his practices.
Dr. Damji has been involved with the Abulcasis Alliance since 2007 as a past director for the Ontario Chapter
Dr. Damji loves to travel and spend time with his two young boys and his wife, Dr Zahra Damji.
Who is Abulcasis
History Behind The Alliance Name
In the history of surgery and dentistry, the greatest name in the Islamic period is Abulcasis of Cordova (1013 – 1106 A.D.). He was the first to write on the practical methods of treatment of deformities of the mouth and dental arches. His books contain numerous illustrations of dental and surgical instruments, some of which are still copied and only modified for modern surgery. He was the first to thoroughly discuss dental calculus from a theoretical and practical point of view in a chapter titled On the Scraping of the Teeth. He described its harmful effect on the gingiva and recommended its regular removal. His set of 14 scaling instruments is illustrated in one of his books. He also recommended, along with regular scaling, the polishing of teeth with fine abrasives until they were white.
Like all Arabian physicians, he considered it wrong to extract a tooth unless there was no other choice. Then he recommended a most careful and thorough procedure to avoid fracture. If the tooth fractured he insisted that the root fragment must be removed and he described an appropriate operation.
He described methods of splinting teeth and making bridges to restore function as well as appearance. His books are the first to show illustrations of dental instruments. He was the first to mention that some barbers had taken up the extraction of teeth and he condemned the practice because of their lack of training in either the theory or practice of surgery. They had also started practising bloodletting and other surgical procedures.
Abulcasis improved on many prior techniques. He improved the method for resecting an unsightly, super erupted tooth. He devised a tube to protect the surrounding tissues when cauterizing teeth. In addition to being an excellent scholar, he was a superb clinician. He stated that there were in existence at that time many more dental instruments than he could illustrate in his book and his illustrations were numerous including files for caries removal, saws and axes for crown resection, forceps for crown resection, forceps for extracting bone fragments and root tips, forceps for loosening teeth, varieties of forceps for extracting teeth, scrapers for calculus removal, cautery instruments, elevators and lancets. Unfortunately, the Islamic religion forbade human dissection and no real progress was made by the Muslims in the science of anatomy.