implants international magazine of oral implantology

meetings I presentationsonoffer,morethan3,000dentalprofes- sionals from 50 countries participated in the annual event. Gothenburg’s premier venues, such as the SwedishExhibitionandCongressCentre,theGöteborg Opera and the Scandinavium, formed the background to this outstanding international event. Well-known dental professionals and scientists discussed the fu- ture of osseointegration, among other topics. “We have an outstanding scientific programme andlookforwardtoanexcitingcongresswithclients and speakers from all over the world,” said Lars Hen- rikson, Senior Vice-President of Marketing and Busi- ness Development at Astra Tech. “Gothenburg is not only the hometown of Astra Tech, it was here where it all begun with Per-Ingvar Brånemark’s discovery. Through his ground-break- ing research, he discovered that titanium was able to integrate with human bone, he coined the term ‘os- seointegration’ and his research was the birth of modernimplantdentistry.Itisthereforeespeciallyex- citing to welcome our international attendees to Gothenburg,” Henrikson continued. The comprehensive scientific programme, based onthetheme“Creatingthefuturebygoingbacktothe roots”, was aimed at enabling knowledge exchange between international researchers, clinicians and the dentalteam.Morethan150speakersfromalloverthe world presented their latest research results, and membersofthescientificcommittee’ssteeringgroup included world-renowned scientists Jan Lindhe from Sweden, Tomas Albrektsson from Sweden and Christoph Hämmerle from Switzerland. During the congress, Astra Tech and WaterAid, an independent organisation that enables the world’s poorest people to gain access to safe water and sani- tation, strove to collect SEK 500,000 (€56,000). Astra Tech announced to match each Swedish krona do- nated, making a total of SEK 1,000,000 (€112,000). “OnemillionSwedishkronorwillgive5,000people accesstoclean,safewaterandsanitationforlife.This initiative is in line with our values and our corporate responsibility commitment,” said Gunny Kron, Head ofGlobalMarketingatAstraTech.AstraTechhasbeen developing solutions to meet health-care needs based on its user and medical community’s input since 1948. Since 2011, Astra Tech has been part of DENTSPLY International Inc., a US dental company that manu- factures and distributes the ANKYLOS and XiVE im- plant systems through its German-based subsidiary DENTSPLY Friadent. DENTSPLY’s CEO, Bret Wise, who attended the meeting on Friday, said that these im- plants, together with its recently acquired Astra Tech OsseoSpeed implants, complement the company’s portfolio,astheyapplytodifferentindications. Astra TechDentalandDENTSPLYFriadentnowunitesintoa new Global business—DENTSPLY Implants. Wise also confirmed that OsseoSpeed implants will be distrib- utedandfurtherdevelopedinthefuture,theGerman online dental news portal ZWP online reported._ I 47implants2_2012