The Department of Periodontology and Dental Implantology was established by a decision of the Academic Council of MU-Varna on 15.04.2013. The founder and first head of the department is Prof. Dr. Stefan Peev, MD.
The establishment of this department also marks the beginning of academic dental implantology in Bulgaria, as this is officially the first department of dental implantology in the country. When it was established, the two disciplines were studied in it - "Periodontology and Diseases of the Oral Mucosal" and "Dental Implantology". Since 2016, training in the discipline "Dental Imaging" has also been transferred to the Department of Periodontology and Dental Implantology. In May 2018, after the election of Prof. Stefan Peev as Dean of the Faculty of Dental Medicine, Assoc. Prof. Borislav Chaushev became the head of the department. In 2019. The first simulation training in the country in the discipline "Periodontology and Diseases of the Oral Mucosal" was also introduced to the department. In June 2022, by decision of the Academic Council of MU-Varna, for the first time in the country, the discipline "Dental Implantology" was introduced as a mandatory course for dental students from BEO and AEO at MU-Varna.
The first dissertation in the Faculty of Dental Medicine for the award of the scientific degree "Doctor of Sciences" was defended in 2015 by Prof. Dr. Stefan Peev. In 2018, Assoc. Prof. Asya Krasteva-Panova also defended a dissertation for the award of the scientific degree "Doctor of Sciences" at the Department.
The dissertations for the acquisition of the educational and scientific degree "Doctor" in the department were defended by Dr. Teodora Targova (2015), Dr. Elitsa Sabeva (2016), Dr. Maria Miteva (2017) and Dr. Irena Georgieva (2018), Dr. Desislava Stoyanova (2022), Dr. Ivaylo Hristov (2022), Dr. Tsvetalina Gerova (2023), Dr. Sabina Keremedchieva (2024) and Dr. Konstantin Kostadinov (2024).
In 2019, the following were opened in the structure of the Department:
• "Laboratory of Histomorphometry of Hard Sections and Materialography" - the laboratory conducts research on specimens after their inclusion in special hard polymer media. This allows for histological and histomorphometric studies of non-decalcified bone tissue, as well as tissues with implanted medical devices or containing foreign bodies, the hardness of which is significantly different from that of the surrounding tissues. It also allows for the study of teeth and dental prosthetic structures, as well as biomaterials.
• "Laboratory of Tissue Lyophilization", which in 2025 was renamed "Laboratory for Biomaterials and Personalized Implants" - it conducts research on the creation of new ceramic biomaterials and the optimization of already known biomaterials, as well as the production of personalized implants from them.
The first academic positions in the country in the specialty "Dental Implantology" - "Professor" were held in the Department of Periodontology and Dental Implantology by Dr. Stefan Peev in 2016. and "Associate Professor" by Dr. Elitsa Sabeva - in 2020. In 2020, the academic position of "Associate Professor" in the Department of "Periodontology and Dental Implantology" was also held by Dr. Maria Miteva in the specialty "Periodontology and Diseases of the Oral Mucosa“.
In 2024. For the first time in the country, a doctoral program in "Dental Implantology" was accredited at the Department of "Periodontology and Dental Implantology".
