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The latest news from the EFP as well as details of its forthcoming events and those of its affiliated national societies of periodontology.

Upcoming events from EFP's member societies

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Perio Workshop

Learn about Perio Workshop, the EFP’s annual scientific meeting that brings the best periodontal scientists together to reach a new consensus on strategic periodontal issues.

Perio Workshop 2013

IX European Workshop on Periodontology

Periodontal plastic surgery and soft-tissue regeneration
_{10-13 November 2013}

November 10-13, 2013 saw the EFP return to central Spain for its tenth international Workshop, this year a highly successful gathering of over 60 of the world’s leading dental surgeons, researchers, clinicians, and biologists reviewing the state of science in Periodontal Plastic Surgery and Soft Tissue Regeneration.

The event was co-organised with Osteology Foundation, a research organisation which guides scientific thinking towards application in both product and practice. Sponsorship for the Workshop was provided by the company, Geistlich Pharma.

Cloistered amongst the solid, stone buildings of a stately Spanish mountain village – La Granja de San Ildefonso near Segovia is often called “the Versailles of Spain” – this large body of experts worked in three groups, analysing papers and assessing the best ways to link current scientific evidence to clinical practice.

Four days of intense study and debate were aimed at honing knowledge and creating recommendations in aesthetic dentistry through focus on wound healing, regeneration, clinical efficacy, and surgical techniques. Studies reviewed by scientists covered, among other topics, procedures in treating local and multiple gingival recessions, mucosal augmentation around implants, flap design and grafting techniques in plastic surgery of the mouth, soft tissue replacement grafts, and scaffolds, cells, and biologicals in tissue regeneration.

Professor Mariano Sanz, co-chair of the Organising Committee and chair of the working group on Surgical techniques, highlighted the importance of the event: “The techniques used to treat soft tissues around teeth and implants are highly relevant in clinical practice today. We feel it is important to review the efficacy of these procedures and evaluate their scientific bases.”

Christoph Hammerle, President of the Swiss-based Osteology Foundation, which works to bring universities and industry together with a focus on oral and maxillofacial tissue regeneration, said “it made a lot of sense to team up” with the EFP for this event.

“Soft tissue aspects of the oral cavity are key aspects of patient wellbeing today. Our working group is focussing on the pre-clinical parts of this, the biological background and the understanding of what is happening during wound healing and when we interfere with normal wound healing in order to improve treatment outcomes. We are trying to understand the biological processes and to improve the treatments we are newly developing,” said Prof. Hammerle.

A special supplement in the April 2014 issue of the Journal of Clinical Periodontology (JCP) contains all the consensus reports from the three working groups at this 10th Workshop. Editor-in-chief of the JCP, Maurizio Tonetti is also chair of the Workshop’s working group on Clinical Efficacy and a member of the Workshop organising committee.

“In the last few years, there has been a big change in the problems clinicians face whenever they try to solve problems related to gingival recession. The scope of this workshop is to look at the evidence, put it together in a new way, and help us do a better job with the clinical decision-making process,” said Professor Tonetti.

For over 20 years, the European Federation of Periodontology (EFP) has organised these now annual Workshops, and they represent the pinnacle of research activity in periodontal science. This 10th Workshop was another milestone meeting, and it also boasted representation from the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP).

Participants

Organising committee

Co-chair (EFP)	Mariano Sanz
Co-chair (Osteology Foundation)	Christoph Hammerle
JCP Editor (EFP)	Maurizio Tonetti

Objectives

In particular, the workshop will attempt to deal with these specific items:

To describe the biology of periodontal and peri-implant soft tissues and the regenerative technologies used in soft tissue regeneration
To evaluate the evidence on the efficacy of the plastic surgical procedures aimed for root coverage and for soft augmentation procedures
To review the different surgical designs and grafting techniques utilized in periodontal and peri-implant plastic surgery.

Participants will be organized in 3 working groups. Each group will have a chairman, a co-chairman and rapporteurs responsible for the preparation of the working documents which will be available to the rest of the participants in due time. All groups will base their discussions on the working documents and available scientific evidence during the three-day workshop, finalizing with the production of consensus reports. Working documents and the consensus papers will be published as a supplement edition of Journal of Clinical Periodontology and will be distributed widely in Europe and Internationally.

Working groups

Group 1:

Biology of soft tissue wound healing and regeneration

Chair : Christoph Hammerle
Co-chair : Friedrich Neukam

Reviews:

Biology of soft tissue wound healing in the oral cavity
Soft tissue regeneration in the oral cavity. Scaffolds, cells and biologicals

Group 2:

Surgical Techniques and Biomaterials

Chair : Mariano Sanz
Co-chair : Massimo Simion

Reviews:

Fundamental principles in periodontal plastic surgery and mucosal augmentation
Flap approaches in plastic periodontal and implant surgery: critical elements in design and execution
The addition of soft tissue replacement grafts in plastic periodontal and implant surgery: critical elements in design and execution

Group 3:

Evidence Based Therapeutic Procedures

Chair : Maurizio Tonetti
Co-chair : Søren Jepsen

Reviews:

Efficacy of periodontal plastic procedures in the treatment of localized gingival recessions
Efficacy of periodontal plastic procedures in the treatment of multiple gingival recessions
Efficacy of plastic procedures for mucosal augmentation around dental implants or edentulous ridges

Conclusions

Journal of Clinical Periodontogy

Edition with the proceedings - open to all

Osteology Foundation - The BOX

The Osteology Foundation's website contains translations of the proceedings into German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish arranged by EFP member societies.

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