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implants - international magazine of oral implantology

I meetings _One topic, but many facets—the Osteology Symposium “Soft Tissue Special” on 24 March in Bonn encompassed a broad range of subjects from biological fundamentals to clinical practice. ItwasthefirsttimeforanOsteologySymposium tobedealingsolelywithoneissue.“Softtissueman- agement has become more and more important in the recent years, not only for periodontists” ex- plained Prof Søren Jepsen, Bonn, who chaired the conference together with Prof Wilfried Wagner, Mainz.Withconferencesontheoraltissueregener- ation having been dominated by techniques for guided bone regeneration for a long time, now the softtissuemanagementistakingthespotlight.Prof Wagner explained the awakening interest: “There are some attractive new biomaterials that could re- place autologous soft tissue grafts for indications such as recession coverage, vestibuloplasty or gain of keratinized tissue. So, with the ‘Osteology Soft Tissue Special’ we wanted to provide a comprehen- sive overview on where we stand today on the soft tissue management and where we are heading.” Main questions during the lectures were: Which grafts lead to good results in which indications? What are the opportunities and limitations of bio- materials as compared to free gingival grafts and connective tissue grafts, respectively? _Differences between gingival and peri-implant mucosa 350 attendees joined the one-day symposium whichtookplaceintheformerFederalGermanBun- destag in Bonn. The programme began with a lec- ture from the world-famous periodontist Prof Jan Lindhe. He described the key differences between the normal gingiva and the peri-implant mucosa. One important difference is the loss of collagen fi- bres in the mucosa due to tooth extraction and the ensuing resorption of bundle bone: In the peri-im- plant mucosa, the quantity of blood vessels and fi- broblasts is lower, whereas the amount of collagen is higher. Thus, in many respects, the peri-implant mucosa resembles scar tissue. _Biomaterials versus autologous grafts Clinicalapplicationsfollowedthebiologicalfun- damentals. Firstly, Dr Markus Schlee, Forchheim, and Prof Anton Sculean, Bern, presented new data on the recession coverage. While Dr Schlee focused onsingle-recessioncoveragewiththecoronallyad- vanced flap (modified Zucchelli technique), Prof Sculean demonstrated an advanced technique for coverage of multiple recessions, the modified tun- nel technique. Both speakers had conducted their National Osteology Symposium in Bonn Fully focussed on soft tissue Author_Verena Vermeulen, Osteology Foundation 42 I implants3_2012