European
Federation of
Periodontology

Click for video. New insights, emerging technologies, and a complete overview of periodontal regeneration - this is the attraction of a EuroPerio8 session in the category of Critical Factors in Periodontal Regeneration, taking place between 10:30 and 12:00 on Friday, June 5 at the EuroPerio8 venue, the ExCeL conference centre.

The session - Innovative and emerging technologies for periodontal regeneration -  will feature two other international experts on the subject: Australia's Mark Bartold, and US specialist, Michael McGuire.

Swiss periodontologist Sculean promises new information on intrabony and furcation defects, among other highly valuable updates.

For a brief but very inviting outline of the wealth of speakers presenting at EuroPerio8 in this area and in implant dentistry, watch this video.

A hands-on course, an informative scientific programme of lectures, and a general assembly were the key elements of the annual meeting of SPPI (the Portuguese Society of Periodontology and Implantology) held on February 20 and 21 in Porto.

The annual meeting started on the afternoon of Friday 20 with a hands-on course by Giulio Rasperini on bone regeneration. The following morning, Susana Noronha delivered a lecture on complications in implant treatment, and Pedro Nicolau spoke about prosthetic guided gingiva.

After the poster presentation, which took place during the coffee break, Giulio Rasperini gave the first of two presentations on surgical techniques and the selection of optimum procedures, focusing on periodontal plastic surgery. His second presentation, after lunch, explored periodontal regeneration.

David González then spoke about surgical technique and predictable treatment protocol in relation to tridimensional bone regeneration. After the scientific meeting had concluded, the annual meeting ended with the SPPI general assembly.

To download the event's scientific programme, click here. To contact the SPPI organizers or    to get more information click here. (the Portuguese Society of Periodontology and Implantology) held on February 20 and 21 in Porto.

The annual meeting started on the afternoon of Friday 20 with a hands-on course by Giulio Rasperini on bone regeneration. The following morning, Susana Noronha delivered a lecture on complications in implant treatment, and Pedro Nicolau spoke about prosthetic guided gingiva.

After the poster presentation, which took place during the coffee break, Giulio Rasperini gave the first of two presentations on surgical techniques and the selection of optimum procedures, focusing on periodontal plastic surgery. His second presentation, after lunch, explored periodontal regeneration.

David González then spoke about surgical technique and predictable treatment protocol in relation to tridimensional bone regeneration. After the scientific meeting had concluded, the annual meeting ended with the SPPI general assembly.

To download the event's scientific programme, click here. To contact the SPPI organizers or to get more information click here.

The 49th annual meeting of SEPA (the Spanish Society of Periodontology and Osseointegration) opened on Thursday, February 26 in Barcelona in north-eastern Spain focusing on “team vision”.

Returning to the Catalan capital for the first time in 10 years, the conference highlighted the role of team work in delivering greater prevention, better treatment and better heath to patients.

According to SEPA there are two aspects to this team vision: encouraging a multidisciplinary approach to oral-health problems, and bringing periodontology closer to all dental-health professionals.

Indeed, SEPA wants to increase awareness of the general public concerning the frequency of gum diseases and their impact on both oral and general health. “Oral diseases in general – and periodontal diseases in particular, including gingivitis and periodontitis – are among the most prevalent in human beings,” said SEPA president Dr. David Herrera.

More than 2,600 delegates registered to SEPA BCN’15 – as the event has been branded – turned it into one of the biggest scientific gatherings in the field of periodontology and oral hygiene. In terms of size, SEPA BCN’15 just followed EuroPerio and American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) congresses.

Topics in the scientific programme included bone regeneration, periodontal and mucogingival approaches, peri-implantitis, aesthetics and soft tissues around implants, tooth preparations and posts, corticoctomy, digital dentistry, and the value of saving teeth.

“After 10 years, SEPA is back to Barcelona”, said Dr. José Nart, chairman of the organising committee, who promised delegates “amazing days for the participants of the 49th SEPA annual conference in our beloved city.”

Dr. Nart added: “We have cutting edge knowledge in periodontology, and its current association with implants and orthodontics – thanks to our outstanding invited speakers.”

In parallel with the main SEPA conference, the fifth SEPA Dental Hygiene Conference took place in Barcelona, on February 27 and 28, at the same venue, the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, in Barcelona’s emblematic Avinguda de la Diagonal.

Highlights of this event included sessions on the prevention and treatment of peri-implantitis, mucocutaneous diseases, oral cancer, and children management.

Carolina Mor, chairperson of the SEPA BCN’15 organising committee, said: “We are excited to present a programme which we can all identify with. It will be an in-depth two-day scientific meeting, covering all that’s new in the industry.”

If your patients have reported with either of these extremely rare neutrophil-related diseases, then UK researchers want you to help with an EU-wide study.

As part of a European consortium invited to submit a stage-2 proposal to the EU's Horizon2000 programme, leading UK periodontal researchers want help with this survey about your possible treatment of Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome  (PLS) and severe congenital neutropenia (SCN, or Kostmann syndrome) cases. This preliminary step will allow researchers to evaluate whether your clinical data and biological samples can aid this research.

The survey takes just five minutes to complete. If you have treated PLS and/or SCN patients, you will be contacted for more details. The survey is online until March 1.

The organisers of the research, who are involved in some of the most frontline studies into the host response to periondontal disease, need to gauge feasibility for the study. If it achieves funding, they will provide "adequate remuneration for the provision of data and samples and invite you for co-authorship of any subsequent research publications."

The vital role of primary oral healthcare in preventing peri-implantitis will be in the spotlight by Europe's foremost researchers following their analysis of an "alarming" and increasing prevalence in peri-implant diseases.

This most up-to-date investigation of current knowledge on how to combat the inflammatory conditions that frequently affect tissues around dental implants was carried out at the EFP-organised XI European Workshop in Periodontology (EWP) on 'Effective Prevention of Periodontal and Peri-implant Diseases', which took place in Spain last November.

"Proper diagnosis and management of peri-implant mucositis, before it converts to peri-implantitis, has to become an essential part of oral health care in patients with implant-supported restorations," said Professor Soren Jepsen, chairman of no.3 of the four XI Workshop working groups, this group specifically focusing on 'Primary prevention of peri-implantitis – managing peri-implant mucositis'.

In advance of April's publication of the Workshop's conclusions in a special supplement of the periodontal scientific journal, the Journal of Clinical Periodontology, Prof. Jepsen stressed his surprise at the peri-implant disease rates presented in the key papers for systematic review by his group.

"The high rate of progression from peri-implant mucositis to peri-implantitis, that was seen if patients did not attend supportive professional care, really struck me," he declared.

"We now have even more robust numbers on the high and increasing prevalence of peri-implant diseases in various populations. These numbers, which come from many different countries, are alarming," said Prof. Jepsen.

"The finding that – based on the available studies - adjunctive measures such as antimicrobials were not found to improve the efficacy of professionally-administered plaque removal in reducing clinical inflammation came as a surprise," he continued.

The difficulties faced by periodontal science in finding solutions to peri-implantitis further emphasises the need for correct early identification and management of inflammation around implants, explained Prof. Jepsen, Director and Chairman of the Department of Periodontology, Operative and Preventive Dentistry at the University of Bonn, Germany.

"As there are at present – in contrast to periodontitis – no established and predictable concepts for the treatment of peri-implantitis, primary prevention is of key importance," he stressed.

Prof. Jepsen said both the Workshop and the working group he chaired "absolutely" met his expectations: "We had a great group of experts gathered – many of them with experience from previous workshops. The four review papers were excellent and a perfect basis for our discussions. Everybody in the group was very focused and contributed with her or his expertise."

The full working group 3 on 'Primary prevention of peri-implantitis – managing peri-implant mucositis', comprised Sören Jepsen as chairman; Frank Schwarz, Giovanni Salvi, Ioannis Polyzois, Cristiano Tomasi, and Jan Derks as reviewers; and Tord Berglundh, Korkud Demirel, Svetlana Farrell (Procter & Gamble), Mike Lynch (Johnson & Johnson), Robert Genco (AAP), Jean-Louis Giovannoli, Elena Figuero, Moshe Goldstein, France Lambert, Anne Merete Aass, Giovanni Serino, Alberto Ortiz-Vigón, and Nicola Zitzmann as participants.

The other groups were: working group 1 on 'Principles in prevention of periodontal diseases', chaired by Maurizio Tonetti; working group 2 on 'Primary prevention of periodontitis - managing gingivitis' chaired by Iain Chapple, while Mariano Sanz, overall chair of the XI Workshop, was chairman of working group 4 on 'Managing complications of gingival and periodontal diseases and professional mechanical plaque control'.

EFP Workshops

This XI EFP Workshop, which was sponsored by Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble, was held over four days last November in the Spanish mountain town of La Granja de San Ildefonso, a picturesque hamlet of stone-built historic buidings near Segovia. The village has hosted many of the now annual research summits in which European experts have often been joined, as this year, by distinguished colleagues from the American Academy of Periodontology. Indeed, working group 3, featured in this article, included the prestigious US researcher Robert Genco.

While researchers regularly extend their long intense sessions in order to complete their systematic review procedure, work is generally carried over to the following months, much of it in the hands of the working group chairmen, who carefully prepare the conclusions to meet deadlines for the publication of a special Workshop supplement in the April issue of the Journal of Clinical Periodontology.

EuroPerio8 registration costs a good deal less for EFP members, who can enjoy a 22% discount if they apply before the early enrolment deadline of Friday, March 6th at 11.59 a.m. CET.

A full conference pass will cost you just 495€ if you are an EFP member making an early booking, a 140€ saving against the non-member early-bird price of 635€.

Your EFP membership will also save you plenty on registration for the world's biggest event in periodontology whenever you book, although both members and non-members can take advantage of an early discount incentive.

Until March 2, 2015:

EFP Members 495€

Non-members 635€

Until May 13, 2015:

EFP Members 635€

Non-members 750€

After May 13, 2015:

EFP Members 750€

Non-members 865€

This means that from March 2 to May 13, members enjoy a 15% discount advantage over non-members, and in the remaining weeks between the final discount deadline of May 13 and the opening of EuroPerio8 on June 3, EFP members pay 13% less than non-members.

How do you become a member of the EFP and take advantage of not only EuroPerio discounts but access to cutting edge research information from major Workshops, the prestigious periodontal science publication the Journal of Clinical Periodontology, constantly updated learning and knowledge resources which include research digests and events such as Master Clinics, all-year-round online information, and much more?

The European Federation of Periodontology has no direct individual members. Its members are signed up to the 29 national societies of periodontology which make up the Federation. Contact your national society for membership info.