Belgian perio society prepares to celebrate its 40th anniversary and starts work on Perio Master Clinic 2023

There are busy times ahead for the Belgian Society of Periodontology as it prepares to celebrate its 40^th anniversary with a major conference in November and work gets under way on preparing Perio Master Clinic 2023, due to take place in Antwerp in March 2023.

Society president Peter Garmyn will chair Perio Master Clinic 2023, after the society’s bid to host the event was accepted at last October’s EFP general assembly.

The theme of the event is “the perio-ortho synergy” and topics covered will include:

• Orthodontic treatment in periodontally compromised patients.
• Regenerative orthodontics.
• Muco-gingival surgery in orthodontically treated patients.
• Implantology for treatment of dental agenesis and facial growth.
• Provisional implants in young patients.
• The ortho-perio approach for smile aesthetics and complex rehabilitations.
• Accelerated orthodontics and the use of mini-screws.

“We are very excited about the topic, and I think the perio-ortho synergy is something that is sometimes overlooked,” said Dr Garmyn.

The programme is now being developed in detail and a list of potential speakers is being drawn up by the organising committee on which Dr Garmyn is joined by scientific chair Virginie Monnet-Corti (professor of periodontology at the University of Aix-Marseille and EFP delegate of the French Society of Periodontology) and EuroPerio9 chair Michèle Reners. Also on the committee are the society’s past president Katrien Vermylen and current scientific-committee president Bruno de Carvalho, together with teachers at the University of Liège (France Lambert), the Catholic University of Leuven (Wim Teughels), the Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels (Selena Toma), and the University of Ghent (Véronique Christiaens).

40^th anniversary

Plans are well developed for the 40^th anniversary conference, under the title “Periodontology: the past, present, and future”, scheduled for November 19 and 20 at the Flanders Meeting and Convention Centre Antwerp, the same venue that will later be used for Perio Master Clinic 2023.

Confirmed speakers include William Giannobile, Dennis Tarnow, Virignie Monet-Corti, Darko Božić, and Tali Chackartchi. Daniel van Steenberghe (one of the society’s founders) and Michel Brecx (who was the EFP’s first treasurer and the federation’s president in 2002-03) will give a presentation on the history of the society’s foundation, the start of the EFP and the further development of the society during its early years.

A call for abstracts has recently been made for smaller presentations, so-called “PerioPods”, and a total of six topics will be chosen. “Small interactive groups – that’s the idea of the PerioPods”, said Peter Garmyn, the society’s president. “We will have six rooms and the six selected speakers will give their presentations four times – so participants will be able to choose four of the six topics.”

Events postponed

Covid-19 restrictions have meant that the society was forced to postpone two key events it had planned for autumn 2020.

A joint conference with the Belgian Society for Oral Implants (BVOI) planned for December has been put back to April 28, while a workshop and hands-on session on mucogingival surgery with dental surgeon Benjamin Cortasse scheduled for November has been postponed until March 12.

However, given the current Covid-19 situation in Belgium, the society expects to be forced to postpone these events again. In the case of the joint conference with the BVOI, it may opt to create a virtual event instead.

“With Benjamin Cortasse it’s not difficult to postpone because it’s just one speaker and we can easily find a new date – and we really want to do it physically because it’s very clinical and we want to do a hands-on,” explained Dr Garmyn. “But for the joint meeting with the BVOI we had foreseen eight speakers, so it will be difficult to find new dates with all the speakers. So, we are thinking that maybe we can organise it online as a webinar.”