implants - international magazine of oral implantology

I interview _ EAO _In mid october, thousands of dental profes- sionalswillbegatheringinthecapitalofGreecefor the annual congress of the European Association of Osseointegration (EAO). Dental Tribune Group Editor Daniel Zimmermann spoke with Scientific ChairmanProf.FriedrichW.NeukamfromtheUni- versity of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Erlangen, Ger- many, about the event and what is on the cards for the field of dental implantology. _Prof Neukam, how are preparations for the EAOCongressinAthenscomingon? Prof Friedrich Neukam: Preparations for the 20th Annual Scientific Congress of the European Association for Osseointegra- tion (EAO) have been completed and, as has been the case in pre- viousyears,wecanlookforward to an outstanding scientific programme in Athens in Octo- ber. The four-day conference will focus primarily on transfer- ringthelatestscientificfindings into dental practice. The central themeofthisyear’sEAOeventis “Treatment Planning in Implant Dentistry”,atopicthatanumber of renowned international ex- perts will be presenting on. _According to the latest fig- uresfromtheEAO,arecordnumberofabstractshas been submitted for this year’s conference. How do youexplainthishugeinterest? Prof Friedrich Neukam: Indeed, our latest fig- uresshowthatmorethan500abstractsonthesur- gical and prosthetic aspects of long-term results following implantations and augmentative proce- dures have been submitted for the congress. This continuous rise in submissions could be due to the fact that the EAO conference has become the sci- entific and clinical annual event for many of our colleaguesinthedentalandimplantcommunityin Europe. In addition, more participants from other parts of the world, notably Asia and the Middle East, have attended our congress in the last few years.Weexpectthesamelevelofparticipationfor the conference in Athens. _Based on these submissions, is it possible to predictwherethespecialtyisheading? Prof Friedrich Neukam: Upcoming develop- ments in the field will definitely be influenced by a significantly higher degree of precision in imaging technologies that are the basis for computer-sim- ulated implantations and ‘flapless surgery’. Of course, these rather complex procedures will not be neces- sary for simple implantations, but with regard to augmenta- tiveproceduresorcomplexin- dividual solutions, dentists will be increasingly applying these techniques in the fu- ture. _Last year’s congress was all about clinical controver- sies in dental implantology. What topics will be the focus thistime? Prof Friedrich Neukam: Besides treatment planning in implant dentistry, our main topic, the prevention andmanagementofcomplicationsandriskfactors will be discussed. Furthermore, speakers are ex- pected to shed light on other important aspects such as loading, treatment protocols and the pre- dictability of clinical results. _Doyouthinkthatdentistshavemuchcatching uptodowithregardtotreatmentplanning? Prof Friedrich Neukam: There are standard planning procedures prior to treatments such as “Paradigms are beginning to shift” An Interview with Prof Friedrich Neukam 44 I implants3_2011