Leading European and North America experts in the field of periodontology meet next week to discussing the systemic links between oral health and overall health.
This topic will be analysed, evaluated, and debated intensely at a key academic gathering in Spain.
From November 11 to 14, the Parador hotel in La Granja, Segovia in central Spain plays host to a gathering of the world’s leading figures in periodontology, bringing together the most important international scientific societies in this field, the European Federation of Periodontology (EFP) and the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP).
The workshop meeting is co-ordinated by Spanish academic Mariano Sanz, Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at the Complutense University of Madrid and sponsor of the SEPA (Spanish Society of Periodontology) Foundation.
The co-ordinators for Europe are doctors Iain Chapple (UK) and Maurizio Tonetti (Italy). The co-chairs of the event from the US are Drs Robert Genco, Thomas E Van-Dyke, and Kenneth Kornman.
The aim of this meeting is to carry out a series of reviews based on available evidence and establish global scientific consensuses leading to recommendations and solid and clear declarations on the relationship existing between cases of periodontitis and diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or pregnancy complications.
The documents resulting from such consensuses will be published in a special edition of the Journal of Clinical Periodontology (EFP) and the Journal of Periodontology (AAP), as well as being widely distributed at European and US scientific gatherings.
Experts participating (chosen by the AAP and EFP on grounds of merit and specialist knowledge in the subjects under discussion) will be organised into three working groups.
- Periodontitis and cardiovascular disease
- Periodontitis and diabetes
- Periodontitis and pregnancy.
Each working group will deal with four discussion subjects. Each one will explore in depth epidemiological associations, the pathogenic mechanisms relating these systemic illnesses with periodontitis, and the scientific evidence from treatments aimed at preventing and improving the adverse relation of periodontal diseases with cardiovascular risks, diabetic decompensation, or possible complications during pregnancy.
SEPA Madrid 2012 will take place at Madrid’s Municipal Conference Centre from November 15 to 17 and combines both the 46th Annual SEPA (Spanish Society of Periodontology) Conference and the 2nd SEPA Dental Hygiene Conference.
More than 1,000 dentists and hygienists are expected to attend.
The scientific programme at SEPA Madrid 2012, which covers the burning issues affecting the future of periodontology, will bring world-renowned periodontist Jan Lindhe to Madrid.
The subject of systemic illnesses will be discussed at the event, along with key knowledge in tissue engineering as applied to regeneration and mucogingival surgery, and improvements in diagnosis and basic periodontal therapy.
Meanwhile, the second SEPA Dental Hygiene Conference will aim to boost high level training for dental hygienists, dealing with subjects such as new periodontal treatment approaches, the role of dental hygienists in periodontal surgery, the challenge of peri-implant disease, or the management of ‘special’ patients.
