With 320 participants, 32 internationally recognized speakers and 18 industry partners, the 1st Scientific Congress for Aligner Orthodontics on November 26th and 27th, 2010 in Cologne was a complete success. The organizer, the German Society for Aligner Orthodontics (DGAO), is delighted with the extraordinary response to its first congress.
For two days, specialist lectures on a wide variety of aspects of all existing aligner systems were held in the conference rooms of the renowned InterContinental Hotel in Cologne. The interested specialist audience was able to exchange ideas with internationally renowned experts in a pleasant atmosphere. The 1st Scientific Congress for Aligner Orthodontics was the largest manufacturer-independent event to date, which offered a forum specifically for aligner therapy.
The conference kicked off on Friday with a pre-conference on the subject of “accounting and legal issues”. Prof. Robert Fuhrmann from Halle pointed out, among other things, the difficulties resulting from the new insurance contract law in his opening lecture “Reimbursement, approval and cost-effectiveness of aligner orthodontics”. The forensic topics were supplemented by Mr. Dirk Franke and Mr. Marek Abram from the perspective of an insurer (DAEV/AXA), while Ms. Alexandra Petersen from pvs mefa reiss succinctly explained the professional handling of cost reimbursers in her presentation. The preliminary congress, which was of interest to the many practicing orthodontists, ended with the lecture by the lawyer Michal Zach, who particularly highlighted the legal aspects of aligner treatment. Prof. em. Rainer-Reginald Miethke (Doha, Qatar), President of the DGAO eV.
His insightful introductory lecture described the history of aligner development from the early beginnings in the post-war period through the market launch of the invisalign system in the USA and Europe at the turn of the millennium to today's indications for aligner therapy. The program impressed with diverse national and international contributions (Italy, Austria, Switzerland, USA and Korea) of aligner application from practice and universities. This is how the procedure and the clinical application of the Clear Aligner system by Dr. Tae Weon Kim (Korea) and in a refreshingly pragmatic way by Dr. Bruno Wilhelmy reports from his practice in Duisburg.
The conference president Dr. In her presentation, Julia Haubrich showed impressive results of class II treatment with the invisalign system, while Dr. Werner Schupp, also from Cologne, presented the indication for invisalign, particularly in the treatment of cranio-mandibular dysfunction. In the usual perfect performance, Dr. Boris Sonnenberg from Stuttgart. One of the most experienced users, Dr. Marko Tribò from Zurich (CH).
dr Thomas Drechsler from Wiesbaden, on the other hand, was able to show the interested audience in his detailed and at the same time entertaining presentation the advantages of treating children and adolescents with the new invisalign-teen product from Align Technology, which is specially tailored to the needs of young patients. An exciting outlook on the future innovations of the company Align Technology Inc. Mitra Derakhshan (USA) with a "sneak a peek" to next year's G3 evolution from invisalign. When it comes to further development in the field of modern orthodontics, Prof. Hinz (Herne) always has the floor, who showed impressively fast results with the ELASTO positioner, presented the Lamitec® process and at the same time pointed out new possibilities for metal-free retention milled zirconium dioxide retainers (ortho-circ®).
dr Bärbl Reistenhofer from Vienna (A) gave an insight into the new target group of your patients, consisting of a lifestyle, business, celebrity and artist clientele, who can now be successfully treated with the invisalign technology. From Italy, Dr. Andrea Bazzucchi emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation in order to be able to achieve aesthetically perfect treatment results with the help of invisalign therapy. In addition, other aligner systems such as the German product Alphalign® were discussed in the joint presentation by Dr. Uwe Peterseim and Dr. Jutta Hüsch presented in an interesting perspective. dr Roland Jonkmann explained how the Dentsply Raintree Essix® Essix A and Essix C appliances work according to the biomechanical principles of force + space + time, which were developed by one of the pioneers of aligner therapy, Dr. Jack Sheridan were once postulated.
The numerous scientific contributions from various universities in Germany and Italy opened up the working group Dr. Jochen Langer and Dr. Sebastian Zingler (TU Darmstadt/Uni Heidelberg) presenting and examining teeth after approximal enamel reduction. dr Elena Krieger (University of Mainz) presented a research paper on metric investigations into the accuracy of aligner treatments with prospects for further studies (Simeon Haag) to the auditorium. Which movements can be efficiently achieved with an aligner was shown by a scientifically precise evaluation by Dr. Christoph Borauel of the University of Bonn, even if he finally had to laconically state in the Rhenish dialect about the exact, actually effective forces: "ma weset net!". On the other hand, Dr. Tim Schott (University of Tübingen) explain in a very understandable way. In her well-founded examination together with Dr. Bert Braumann and Dr. Scientifically prove Jörg Schwarze. dr In her biomechanical lecture, Maria Paola Guarneri from the University of Ferrara (I) dealt with the possibilities of displaying force applications in the invisalign technique using fluorescent indicator pastes.
The multifaceted congress, which highlighted the various aligner systems on the market from a practical and scientific perspective, was rounded off by the awarding of honorary membership of the DGAO to Professor Guiseppe Siciliani of the University of Ferrara (I) for his special services to teaching and research in the field of aligners orthodontics. With the extremely entertaining and snappy contribution of Dr. Stephan Höfer on the fun and effects that patients and practice team can have with bleaching methods, together with the interesting final lecture by Dr. Jörg Schwarze on his summary of the opportunities and previous limitations of aligner treatment ended successfully on Saturday evening at the 1st Scientific Congress of the German Society for Aligner Orthodontics in Cologne.
In general, the good mood and the pleasant atmosphere in the InterContinental Hotel were praised by the participants. "Many thanks to all those responsible for a super congress!!!! I'm guaranteed to be there in 2012 and I'm already looking forward to it,” wrote one participant after the congress. There was also great praise from the industrial partners of the dental exhibition accompanying the congress. "We didn't expect such great interest!", for example exhibitors Komet and pvs mefa reiss said they were "extremely satisfied with the congress". Align Technology was also “positively surprised by the large number of participants”.
Due to this positive response, the next scientific congress will take place in Cologne again in two years' time. This time in Gürzenich Cologne. The date is November 23rd and 24th, 2012.
