First EuroPerio Series session highlighted present and promise of bone-regeneration techniques

The first of seven EuroPerio Series online educational sessions took place on 13 September, when a trio of expert clinicians highlighted current techniques in bone regeneration and looked at promising technologies for the future.

“This session covered a very pertinent clinical problem we face frequently in the clinic: the presence of severely resorbed alveolar ridges that are not amenable for implant placement unless vertical bone augmentation interventions are carried out,” explained session chair Mariano Sanz (Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, and co-chair of the EFP Workshop Committee).

One key issue highlighted by this first EuroPerio Series session was the predictability of the various surgical techniques and regenerative technologies used in vertical bone augmentation. Can they be performed predictability in standard clinical practice, or do they require the expert hands of highly experienced clinicians?

The online session, Bone regeneration – the present faces the future: a conversation between the present and the future, featured presentations from three leading clinicians.

First, Istvan Urban ­demonstrated what can be achieved today in terms of excellent clinical results using well-researched technologies and explained the importance of the surgical techniques. Dr Urban has a private practice in Budapest, Hungary, and teaches in the USA at Loma Linda University and the University of Michigan.

Then the focus turned to future technologies which may help improve the predictability and accessibility of this kind of intervention.

Cecilie Gjerde, a researcher at the University of Bergen in Norway who specialises in stem cells and tissue regeneration, showed how predictable results can be achieved using autologous mesenchymal cells and synthetic bone replacement grafts.

And then Sašo Ivanovski ­– Dean of the School of Dentistry at the University of Queensland in Australia, professor of periodontology and director of the university’s Centre for Orofacial Regeneration, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (COR3) – demonstrated how the use of customised scaffolds doped with biological cues may improve the outcomes of bone regeneration.