Ukrainian dentist receives Callahan Memorial Award
Dr. Serhiy Radlinsky is the 2025 recipient of the Ohio Dental Association Callahan Memorial Award
Dr. Serhiy Radlinsky is a dentist in Ukraine who is working to bring dental care to people in need who have been affected by the war. In recognition of his efforts, he received the 2025 Ohio Dental Association Callahan Memorial Award on Friday, Sept. 26 at the Callahan Celebration of Excellence, held in conjunction with the 159th ODA Annual Session.
“Dr. Radlinsky has been very involved in the ICD (International College of Dentists) in the Ukraine,” said Dr. Joseph Mellion, chair of the Callahan Commission. “Dr. Joseph Kenneally, a past worldwide president of ICD and a commissioner on the Callahan Commission of the ODA, brought Dr. Radlinsky to our attention. Dr. Radlinsky has been very involved as an ICD regent since 2019 for Europe’s District 15 which includes nine countries. He continues to attempt to travel to these countries to continue his mission as Regent, in spite of the war in the Ukraine. In spite of only having 3 hours of electricity per day due to the war, he began and continues his mission of treating children in the Ukraine whose parent or parents have been lost in the current war or are defending their country in the Ukraine. He began the ‘Free Teeth’ program for children in the Ukraine with funds from the Callahan Commission through the ODA, and from his own contribution, and attempts to continue that program.”
Radlinsky said it was a complete surprise to be nominated and win the award, and he is sincerely grateful.
“The Callahan Memorial Award is a great honor for me, as a dentist from Ukraine, but I see this as recognition for all Ukrainian dentists in this difficult and fateful time for my people in confronting the war,” he said. “This is recognition for all Ukrainian dentists who provide medical care to civilians, especially children, and military personnel in war-torn cities and villages of Ukraine, who work despite constant danger, who pay taxes to support the people, the country and defend our freedom!”
Radlinsky received a diploma in dentistry in 1979 from Poltava Medical Stomatological Institute (now Poltava State Medical University) and completed post-graduate studies in pediatric dentistry in 1990. He also taught pediatric dentistry and prevention of oral diseases as well as direct restoration of teeth with composite in the postgraduate education department at the Poltava Medical Stomatological Institute until his retirement.
Radlinsky said there was a turning point in his career in the late 1980s when Dentsply International and Poltava Medical Stomatological Institute teamed up on international projects including the private dental clinic-studio and training center Apollonia, where Radlinsky serves as head doctor. Apollonia includes a dental clinic-studio, a training center for dentists, a hotel for patients and students, and the editorial office of the magazine “DentArt,” which is published by Radlinsky. Radlinsky also served as the head manager of the project “Prisma-Championship,” an international clinical competition in the art of tooth restoration.
The Apollonia clinic specializes in direct restoration of teeth with composites in order to completely restore the bite lost due to tooth wear and provides care to patients locally and from other regions and countries.
Dental care in Ukraine was almost entirely state owned during the Soviet era, and now in independent Ukraine it is mostly private, Radlinsky said. Dental care is often practiced at places of residence or in highly specialized clinics like the Apollonia. The state issues licenses for dental practice and accredits dental clinics, but does not limit treatment protocols if they have appropriate justification.
“Regarding the provision of dental care in the occupied or liberated, but destroyed territories of Ukraine, we must understand that dentistry is tied to patients, that it is patient-centered,” Radlinsky said. “In the conditions of war, a large number of people and families were forced to move both within the country and to other countries, to other continents. People are fleeing from the war, so dentistry must follow them!”
Radlinsky said that it is impossible to restore dental clinics under current conditions, so mobile dental clinics are common. Civilian volunteer dentists or dentists who were called up for military service provide assistance at the clinics and the dental community helps by providing personnel, equipment and materials.
The Callahan Memorial Award recipient receives a $5,000 gift via the ODA Foundation to be donated to a charity of their choice. Radlinsky used the funds and matched with his own $5,000 to create a humanitarian project, the Free Teeth Program.
The program is open to schoolchildren from families who were forced to move because of the war, children who lost their parents in the war, and children whose parents are defending the country.
“Due to the relocation of families from occupied and frontline territories of Ukraine, the loss of established communication with their dentist, and the permanent stress associated with air raids, the prevalence and intensity of dental diseases in children is expected to increase,” Radlinsky said. “We can’t fix the war situation, but we can reduce these impacts on dental health through oral hygiene education and timely prevention or elimination of dental caries using adhesive techniques.”
Children are taught about oral health, treated and supported by dentists at the Apollonia clinic.
“‘Free teeth’ means that the teeth are free from plaque, caries and gingivitis in free children in free Ukraine,” he said.
Radlinsky is a member and regent of District 15 of the European section of the International College of Dentists (ICD), active member of the International Academy for Adhesive Dentistry (IAAD), affiliated member of the European Academy of Esthetic Dentistry (EAED), and co-founder and first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Esthetic Dentistry.
The Callahan Memorial Award Commission was established in 1920 by the ODA to honor the work of John Ross Callahan, one of Ohio’s noted dental researchers and a leader in organized dentistry. Since its establishment, the award has continued to grow in prominence in the dental profession. Past Callahan Memorial Awardees include such luminaries as George Paffenbarger, Wendell Postle, Lindsey Pankey, P.I. Branemark, Arthur Dugoni, Gordon Christensen and Linda Niessen.
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Contact: David Owsiany, ODA Executive Director
Phone: 614-486-2700
Email: david@oda.org
Photos available upon request
