Quintessence Berlin 2009

When I saw this symposium advertised, I was very keen to attend. Quintessence Publishing, who produce many of the prestigious professional journals and also publish superb dental textbooks from the world’s leading clinicians, were celebrating their 60th birthday with this world class event. 160 of the world’s leading clinicians lecturing on all aspects of leading edge dentistry presented to dentists from all over the world for 2 days.

Although 3500 dentists attended, I was surprised to find myself among only about 10 from the UK. Several of these were fellow members of the British Academy of Aesthetic Dentistry or were fellow clinical coaches for Astra Tech Implants, as were 2 of the 3 UK lecturers presenting, so we had interesting dental discussions over lunch and dinner. This is always an important feature for me when attending postgraduate courses and often as valuable as the course content. I was fortunate to catch up with Prof Ian Chapple (University of Birmingham Dental School) at Berlin Airport departure.

Focussing heavily on Implantology and Periodontology (gum treatment), I managed to attend 20 international presentations. Unfortunately, I needed to return home on the last day and arrived at Birmingham 11:30 pm, having had no time to see Berlin. Ah well! Perhaps next time.