IADR 2010, July 14-17, Barcelona

Pictures from the IADR 2010, Barcelona

With temperatures well above 30°C, the conference centre, Centre Convencions International, located right by the sea made a very pleasant setting. An estimated number of almost 6,000 specialists attending this IADR Congress made it the largest to date. IADR’s membership numbers are likely to show similarly positive growth. Certainly, this abundance of events makes it very difficult to keep an overview of all the subjects discussed, far less following them all at least to some extent. The conference programme has grown to a considerable number of pages in the meantime, altogether there were slightly less than 5,000 scientific contributions. The conference programme included contributions to research in the field of dentistry in its widest sense. Aside from lectures and symposia on scientific subjects such as implantology, epidemiology, restorative and preventive dentistry, ever more attention is being paid to early indications such as xerostomia, erosion or halitosis, and immunology. Just as every year, many of the scientists who have travelled so far made good use of the conference particularly to expand their scientific network and exchange information about other scientific projects in an informal atmosphere. It is worthy of note that the symposium also marked the centennial of the Forsyth Institute, one of the world’s leading microbiological and molecular-genetic institutes. It is concerned with making progress in the field of interactions between humans and bacteria, and reported on the current level of research. The IADR is always the place for discussing new active ingredients, procedures and products. And amongst many others, the active ingredient arginine in the treatment of pain-sensitive teeth aroused great interest this year. Its fast action represents considerable progress not just for the practitioner. Furthermore, research is now focused on trials on the biocompatibility and tolerability of restorative materials. As a result, an unusually large number of contributions on polymer-based materials were presented at the congress. IADR 2011 will take place in San Diego (USA).

Scientific highlights on the 88th IADR General Session

Superlatives are very much the order of day now and therefore it was no surprise that this year‘s 88th IADR General Session, the world’s largest scientific event in dentistry, once again exceeded all previous records. In the end, almost 7,000 participants came together in mid-July in Barcelona’s new conference centre built right by the sea. The high summer temperatures may well have caused many of the conference visitors to cast a wistful glance towards the nearby beach from the well air-conditioned rooms.

When one considers the large number of lectures and poster presentations and, above all, the great interest shown more closely, then this record number of participants can be seen as an extremely positive sign for the enormous interest in the scientific part of our specialism. At the same time, it is also a reliable gauge of the many different research activities in dentistry. The sheer scale of the programme and abstracts could fill several mail order catalogues. Such a tightly packed programme with an abundance and choice of subjects makes a pleasant contrast with the majority of conferences. Although such diversity has its drawbacks: with so many meetings taking place simultaneously the visitor was often spoilt for choice and had to make a difficult selection.

Current trends in research can be established from the number of contributions on individual subject areas. It is self-evident that spectacular results cannot be produced on an assembly line. We can take it as yet another positive sign when not just the spectacular results are looked at, but suitable respect is also paid to basic research. And it is precisely because of this research and the exchange of information about it that this conference enjoys such great esteem in the international scientific world: this event provides excellent networking opportunities like no other. Every interval is used for individual conversations and much of the information exchanged here could well bring a decisive advantage to one project or another.

The large number of highly respected prizes which were awarded on the occasion of this conference provides impressive evidence of research results. These scientific competitions serve not least to motivate and foster the next academic generation. And this seems to be having an effect: it is not often that one sees so many young speakers at the lecture stand. Students even had their own podium.

Long-term studies on dental materials have almost become a traditional strong point. It is no surprise that many contributions were likewise concerned with the most varied aspects of implantology. This is where one finds long-term studies, otherwise so distressingly absent. Oral medicine’s strong presence was a surprise as it does not always enjoy the status which it truly deserves in everyday dentistry. Classical disciplines such as caries research, pain and periodontology were also given a lot of attention. Three speakers were specially honoured not least because of their life’s work: Francisco Fernandez-Aviles from Madrid on the subject of “Stem cells in cardiovascular therapy”; Thomas Lehner from King’s College, London with “The contribution of oral immunology to our understanding of dental and oral diseases”; and Harald zur Hausen from the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg, who also received recognition for his work on “The infectious causes of human cancers”.

Dentists, for whom such demanding topics are simply the icing on the cake, who have not yet given up with scientific thinking in everyday practice and who have high expectations of a congress found answers to many questions at this 88th IADR Congress. Questions posed not just by scientists but which also play a role in the daily running of a practice. Sometimes it was just about a detail, such as, for example, the scientific proof of whether the administration of vitamin B has a detectable effect in paraesthesias in the area around the mandibular nerve.
Unfortunately, events which do justice to these issues are few and far between. The annual IADR Congress is thus one of the rare annual events in dentistry which can truly claim to be focused on research and development in the specialist field. And it is precisely this message, reinforced by countless statements, which is so appreciated by the participants.