The 1st Congress in Tooth Transplantation 2016 in Sopot, Poland
2016 brought the launch of a new meeting, the 1st Congress in Tooth Transplanatation, organised and hosted by the fantastic duo Dr Ewa Czochsowka and Dr Pawal Plackwicz in their home country, Poland. DB were honoured to provide co-sponsorship for this inaugural meeting, which presented a unique opportunity to bring together clinicians and researchers from around the world who are passionate about tooth transplantation. Despite a history of nearly 50 years, tooth transplantation has failed to gain the popularity that might be expected given its versatility and success and few centres worldwide routinely perform the technique. The congress was born out of a desire to encourage sharing of ideas and experience, with the aim of inspiring greater clinical application and generating research strategy.
Dr Czochowska and Dr Pawal, alongside their prosthodontist colleague Magdalena Jaszczak-Malkowska and the team from Rotterdam, Dick Barendregt (surgeon), Manfred Leunisse (orthodontist) and Marcel Linssen (prosthodontist), formed the organising committee. The Warsaw and Rotterdam teams are great advocates for tooth transplantation and both perform a large number of procedures each year with excellent results. Their passion and hard work was evident in the number of eminent speakers included in the outstanding programme. The congress demonstrated worldwide appeal with attendance of over 200 delegates from across Europe, USA, Australia, Japan, Korea and Brazil.
The keynote speakers included Ole Schwartz, Bjorn Zacchrisson and Jans Andreasen who are considered by most to be the fathers of tooth transplantation. It was a true privilege for delegates to hear directly from these researchers and clinicians who established much of the theory surrounding tooth transplantation and developed many of the techniques that are still in use today. Further inspiration came from members of the organising committee, who demonstrated what is achievable with outstanding teamwork using examples from their own clinical work. Professor Michiko Yoshizawa from Niigata University in Japan highlighted the potential of transplanting mature teeth while Dr Jim Janakievski, who is leading tooth transplantation in the USA with exceptional results, discussed the scope for adjunctive bone grafting with tooth transplantation. The UK perspective was presented by Nadine Houghton (Consultant Orthodontist) and Hani Nazzal (Clinical Lecturer in Paediatric Dentistry) who are members of the Leeds Tooth Transplantation team. Leeds is one of the few UK centres that has been providing tooth transplantation regularly for a number of years and the lecture provided a valuable description of the technique within the NHS. The presentations from the invited speakers were complemented by a scientific and clinical programme of short oral presentations reporting the latest research findings and discussion of interesting cases.
No congress is complete without an enjoyable social programme and Sopot did not disappoint. The beautiful town provided a perfect setting for unwinding after a long day at the congress with the sunny weather encouraging delegates to get out and enjoy the sandy beach and delicious seafood on offer. Credit must go to the Sheraton Hotel who hosted the congress and the Welcome Get Together and ensured great food and service throughout. The congress was a great success and we are delighted to have been part of it. Keep your eyes open for information about the next one, which has been preliminarily pencilled in for 2019 in Rotterdam, and promises to be just as stimulating and inspiring.
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