The atmosphere was buzzing at ExCel today. Talks from the world experts were in full swing, the exhibition was jam-packed and everyone was having a great time meeting old and new friends.

Every session today offered an interesting insight into a particular aspect of Periodontology and I will be sharing detailed notes soon. For now, I thought I’d highlight 5 key points that may be of practical benefit to our daily practice:

1. Preventive advice for dentine hypersensitivity: Ensure the patient is not brushing more than twice a day, reduce the frequency of acid exposure, avoid acidic intake at night, no swishing or frothing, use a straw and avoid toothbrushing after an acidic challenge. – N West
2. Oral health professionals should routinely provide brief intervention to all smokers using the Ask, Advice and Refer approach (as a basic minimum). This brief intervention has been shown to significantly increase smoking cessation rates. – C Ramseier
3. There is a bi-directional relationship with diabetes and periodontitis. By treating periodontitis in diabetic patients we can improve diabetic control. Even diabetic patients without periodontitis should have an annual periodontal examinations as part of their on-going care. – P. Heasman
4. Basic surgical principles: Be familiar with basic knowledge in anatomy and vascularity, operate minimally invasively and preserve papillae to enhance wound stability and always utilise microsurgical instruments as well as magnification. – R Burkhardt
5. The sub-epithelial connective tissue graft is considered the gold standard for soft tissue augmentation procedures. However, uncertainties exist in the true effect of different grafts and more work is required to better understand this gold standard. – O Zuhr

Looking forward to Day 3.
Over and out, Reena 😉

Periodontology