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Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition | 2/2017 NEWS 35 Interview: “Another outstanding event” By DTI With more exhibitors expected than ever before, the International Dental Show (IDS) in Cologne in Germany promises to be the essential event in this year’s dental calendar. In only a few weeks, the Koelnmesse fair- grounds will again welcome dental professionals from all around the world. Dental Tribune Online spoke with CEO Katharina Hamma about her expectations and what visitors can look forward to this year. According to your figures, 2015 was the most success- ful year in Koelnmesse his- tory with regard to revenue. What role did the last IDS have in this? Katharina Hamma: IDS current- ly ranks among our top ten events and therefore contributes signifi- cantly to our overall business results and attendance figures. The last IDS, held in 2015, exceeded all expectations. Will the next edition be able to surpass the already good results from that year, in your opinion? We definitely expect another out- standing event. With about 2,300 exhibitors from over 60 countries, the range of products will be larger and more diverse than ever. Ow- ing to the increasing demand from the industry, we are opening a level of Hall 5 for the very first time. This extends the total exhibition area to 160,000 m2. Furthermore, we expect more pro- fessional visitors this year. There is steady interest in the show, particu- larly from abroad. You mentioned that the exhi- bition area will be expanded again through the opening of a new hall. Can you say where the new exhibitors mainly come from? Our new exhibitors come from vari- ous fields of dentistry and their rang- es will expand the already large and diverse offering at the show. Further- more, IDS is becoming increasingly international with companies from North America, Asia and Europe ex- hibiting their latest products and so- lutions at the event for the first time. Over time, IDS has become a platform for the increasing importance and use of digital technologies in dentistry. Will this trend continue with the 2017 edition? Definitely. IDS is the real focal point of a tremendously connected in- dustry that from early on under- stood how to benefit from these technological advancements and the new opportunities that come with it. At the show, attendees are in the best hands, having tools like the new products database, IDS app and Matchmaking365 tool at their disposal. In this manner, we help ex- hibitors and visitors to prepare opti- mally for their visit and make their week in Cologne an all-out success. gramme can generate leads for infor- mation gathering and new business negotiations. In addition to digital dentist- ry, what other areas will be in focus at the show? Some of the areas that will be in the spotlight are periodontology, im- plantology and endodontics. Proph- ylaxis will also continue to be a topic of importance at IDS, in addition to many other areas of dentistry. introduced A number of new auxiliary show concepts, like Career Day and the Know-How Tours, were in 2015. How were they re- ceived and will they be con- tinued? Both formats were very well received by our visitors and will be continued in 2017. While IDS focuses primarily on the business and product presen- tations at booths, we strongly believe that an interesting auxiliary pro- What are the long-term pros- pects for IDS, and what con- cepts are being developed to extend the trade show offer- ing? Owing to the development and par- ticular success of IDS in recent years, we can look positively towards the future. In this dynamic industry, one has to keep pace with changes; there- fore, we will sit down with our co- organiser, the Association of the Ger- man Dental Industry, after the show to discuss the outcome of the event and explore how we can continue its success in the long term. Thank you very much for the inter- view. Researchers develop treatment for nerve pain affecting teeth and face By DTI ZURICH, Switzerland: Trigeminal neuralgia is characterised by sharp, lancinating pain in the tooth or facial area. The standard treatment for this chronic nerve pain can cause severe side-effects. Swiss researchers have now developed a novel substance that inhibits the pain effectively and is well tolerated by patients. The sharp pain shoots into the face or teeth and is agonising for suffer- ers. Known as trigeminal neuralgia, it is one of the worst chronic nerve pains. The bouts are triggered by touch, such as shaving, putting on make-up, showering, talking and toothbrushing, or even a gust of wind. The cause is usually irritation of the trigeminal nerve, the cranial nerve responsible for the sensory in- nervation of the facial area, parts of the scalp, and the oral cavity. New research could offer sufferers a glimmer of hope. Owing to a newly tested substance, the pain can be reduced to a tolerable level, as indi- cated by the promising results of an international study, now in the sec- ond phase, involving the Center of Dental Medicine at the University of Zurich (UZH). Pain signals reach the brain via the activation of sodium channels in the membranes of nerve cells. The Nav1.7 sodium channel is frequently ex- pressed in pain-conducting nerves, and higher pain intensity is linked to greater channel activity. Blocking this sodium channel, for example by a local anaesthetic, inhibits the pain. In trigeminal neuralgia, the nerve damage is presumed to be at the base of the skull. However, this region is difficult to reach by local in- jections and therefore requires drug treatment. The novel substance, BIIB074, which state-dependently. was tested in the study, inhibits Nav1.7 This means that the more active this so- dium channel is, the stronger the block by BIIB074. In contrast, cur- rently available medications block Nav1.7 irrespective of the nerve ac- tivity, which commonly results in severe side-effects. “Unlike conven- tional drugs, which often cause tired- ness and concentration problems, BIIB074 was not only effective but also very well tolerated,” explained Dr Dominik Ettlin, a dental special- ist from UZH. “We will now test the new substance in a lot more subjects during the next study phase, which will reveal whether the new hope for more effective pain relief is justi- fied,” he concluded. The study, titled “Safety and efficacy of a Nav1.7 selective sodium channel blocker in patients with trigeminal neuralgia: A double-blind, placebo- controlled, randomised withdrawal phase 2a trial”, was published ahead of print on 16 February in the Lancet Neurology journal. 345,000 dentists practise in the European Union By DTI LUXEMBOURG: Eurostat, the statis- tical office of the European Union (EU), has published an update on the number of dentists working in the EU. According to the data, around 345,000 dentists worked in the region in 2014 and almost 13,000 students graduated from EU dental schools. In relation to population numbers, Greece recorded the highest num- ber of dentists, with 126 per 100,000 inhabitants. Bulgaria and Cyprus fol- lowed with 98, and Estonia recorded 92 dentists per 100,000 inhabit- ants. The countries that registered fewer than 50 practising dentists per 100,000 inhabitants were Slovakia, Malta and Poland. Between 2009 and 2014, the number of practising dentists per 100,000 inhabitants remained almost un- changed in most of the EU member states. There were, however, seven member states that experienced a substantial increase in the number of practising dentists. The largest change was recorded in Lithuania, with an additional 21 dentists per 100,000 inhabitants (+30 per cent), followed by Romania (+29 per cent), Hungary (+28 per cent), Italy (+24 per cent), Spain (+23 per cent) and Bulgaria (+13 per cent). The opposite trend occurred in some countries, where the number of dentists per 100,000 inhabitants fell between 2009 and 2014, including Greece, Denmark and France. Statistics on the number of dentists graduating in the EU member states show that in 2014 the number of den- tistry graduates was close to 13,000. Among the EU member states, Ger- many had the highest number of dentistry graduates (2,300) in 2014. According to data from 2013, France, Romania, Spain, and the UK each produced more than 1,000 dentistry graduates. In many countries, dentistry remains one of the top professions. More than 300,000 men and women in the EU have chosen this career. (Image: moritz320/Pixabay)