As Latin America is the focus of the Academy of Osseointegration's (AO’s) annual meeting this year, we look forward to dentists from our neighbors to the south sharing their insights and experience of implant dentistry while offering new perspectives in clinical procedures and new ways to care for patients.
Many speakers will join us from various areas throughout Latin America at the March 15–18 conference in Orlando, Florida, a convenient locale in the United States for them to visit.
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While dentists in the United States will learn of Latin American procedures, the occasion also will give the Latin American dentists an opportunity to acquire additional surgical knowledge to ensure quality dental health care for their patients.
Speakers who are from Latin American countries are identified throughout the meeting program with an icon reading “LA,” and complimentary simultaneous Spanish and Portuguese translation services will be provided in the two main general session rooms.
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We will be looking at various perspectives of implant dentistry. I, for one, am excited about all of the Latin American presentations that will show clinicians how to treat peri-implantitis, the infection in tissues surrounding implants. Many clinicians have worked extensively to find a cure for peri-implantitis and also to carry out various surgical interventions for proper treatment.
In some ways, peri-implantitis has been perplexing. This year, Drs. Michael Norton and Joseph Fiorellini joined me in publishing the first classification for peri-implantitis based on etiologies. While an understanding of peri-implantitis has evolved over the years, its classification has been limited to descriptions of the disease progression or involving soft and/or hard tissues. None has been based on etiology.
It will be a pleasure to discuss this and other issues with my colleagues from Latin America. In the year and months leading to the conference, we have focused on inviting dental students and residents from universities and master clinicians throughout Latin America not only to enjoy but also participate fully in our 2017 sessions.
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Collaboration among our multispecialists throughout the world does not only portend the future of modern dentistry but also shows it will become the gold standard to provide the best quality care for our patients.
Register for AO’s 2017 Annual Meeting today at www.osseo.org. Follow AO on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for the most recent news, and please use #AOOrlando when posting about the meeting.