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today EAO Stockholm 24 September 2015

science & practice6 EAO Annual Scientific Congress 2015 · 24 September This year’s European Associa- tion for Osseointegration (EAO) meeting in Stockholm in Sweden will be heavily influenced by the recent passing of Prof. Per-Ingvar Brånemark in December 2014. Al- though a physician by training, Brånemark was the first person to introduceoralimplantsinSweden, as well as overseas. His efforts were initially received with great scepticism. Dentists did not at first believe in oral implants because devices used prior to the advent of Brånemark’s discovery of osseoin- tegration had been touted as hav- ing great success, but critical analyses had found imminent fail- ure. Brånemark treated his first pa- tient in 1965 and his continued im- plant activities led to perhaps the greatest academic struggle we have had in Sweden in modern times. Finally, in 1977, the Swedish National Board of Health and Wel- fare nominated three independent professors from Umeå University toinvestigatethematter.Theysub- mitted a report with positive find- ings on osseointegrated implants thatwaspresumablythefirstinde- pendent piece of academic writing ever published that supported the use of these devices. From 1977 onwards, we then started training dental specialists from Scandinavia in placing den- talimplants.Overtime,anincreas- ing number of private practition- ers in Sweden began working with them too. Some 20 years ago, Swe- den placed more implants per capita than did any other country, partly owing to government sup- port for implant treatment, peak- ing at about 125,000 implants placed annually in a population of approximately nine million inhab- itants. Nowadays, far fewer implants are placed in Sweden. Recent cal- culations point to an annual use of some 75,000, probably because many of our totally edentulous pa- tients have already been treated. The predominant scenario in Swe- den today is replacement of single teeth or treatment of partially edentulous cases, which means thatthenumberofpatientstreated has not decreased to the same ex- tent as the number of implants placed annually. I remember the first patient with dental implants I personally met, in 1968. He was an opera singer in his forties who was un- able to perform professionally ow- ing to poor retention of his den- tures. Aged 95, he recently re- turned for treatment to a nearby clinic,whereradiographsrevealed that only one of his implants had failed, but the rest have remained in good function after 47 years. Sweden has four dental schools, at the universities of Gothenburg, Stockholm, Umeå and Malmö. Un- dergraduate training in implants is providedatallfourschoolsandstu- dents are encouraged to place im- plants under supervision. The ma- jority,atleastatmyalmamater,still has a rather critical attitude to- wards implants, which can be at- tributed to some scholars here re- portingthedevelopmentofperi-im- plantitis in 50 per cent of patients. Students then take this knowledge with them when they join an im- plant clinic, where most practition- ersonlyseefivepercentorsoofpa- tients with peri-implantitis. Graduates leave university with a balanced view on the threats and promises of dental im- plants. For many years, postgradu- ate training in basic implantology inSwedenhasconcentratedonpri- vate practitioners who had not been allowed to work with im- plants earlier in their career. In ad- dition, we have ongoing specialty education in subjects such as den- tal surgery, prosthodontics and pe- riodontics. However, implant den- tistry is not a recognised specialty in Sweden. Training courses in the field are provided by several com- mercial companies, which repre- sent all of the major dental seg- ments today. From a research perspective, Swedishscientistscontinuetopub- lish numerous papers on oral im- plants in international journals. At leastoneofourdentalschoolsisre- garded as being in the very top league internationally owing to pi- oneering implant papers originat- ing from the school over the years. We also pride ourselves on main- tainingastronginternationalpres- ence. Many of our new PhDs conducting research on implant dentistry are from elsewhere in Europe and several are from over- seas. Basic science reports, as well as clinical application papers, are published annually. In addition, Swedish researchers have been partners in many innovations in the areas of implants, membranes and measuring devices. Few people know how the term “osseointegration” was initially in- troduced. Certainly, we believed from early on that implants were directlyboneanchored,butdidnot have a word for this phenomenon. In1976,Brånemarkconsultedalin- guist of the University of Gothen- burg in this regard. The linguist suggested the term “osseointegra- tion”todescribehowimplanttreat- ment works and later received an honorarium of £200. Based on histopathological re- search, we now regard osseointe- gration as a foreign body response. Jokingly, we may consider renam- ing the EAO the “European Associ- ationofForeignBodies”.Evenifthe EAO board proves negative to this suggestion,weexpectmanyguests from abroad to visit Stockholm in September. Although the EAO has had two annual gatherings in nearby Copenhagen in Denmark, its 2015 conference is the first meeting ever to be held in Sweden. As a representative of the Swedish members, I welcome all of the visi- tors to Stockholm in what we hope to be rainy weather, so that the lec- ture rooms will be filled every day. A Swedish perspective on osseointegration Remembering the work of Per-Ingvar Brånemark.By EAO presenter Prof.TomasAlbrektsson,Gothenburg/Malmö,Sweden AD ©William Perugini/Shutterstock.com Prof. Tomas Albrektsson is currently wor- king as a professor at the universities in Go- thenburg and Malmö in Sweden. This after- noon, he will be talking about the Per-Ingvar Brånemark concept as part of the 50 years of clinical osseointegration session at EAO 2015.

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