In September, the Continental European division of the International Association for Dental Research (CED-IADR), together with the association’s Scandinavian division (NOF), welcomed more than 500 participants from 47 countries all over the world to the 2021 hybrid CED-IADR/NOF Oral Health Research Congress in Brussels, Belgium. The event, held over two and a half days, offered a broad scientific programme consisting of state-of-the-art symposia, keynote lectures and presentations by researchers from Europe and beyond.

On the first day, GC Europe hosted a symposium focusing on the challenges of an ageing population with respect to cervical lesions. The symposium, chaired by Prof. Avijit Banerjee (King’s College London, UK), was opened by Prof. Jo Frencken (Radboud University, Netherlands) with consensus recommendations for the primary and secondary prevention of root caries lesions and their operative management.

Being a founding father of atraumatic restorative treatment (ART), he emphasised its ease of application and effectiveness of its use in modern caries management. According to Prof. Frencken, ART with high-viscosity glass ionomer cement has been proved to be a successful approach to managing root surface caries.

The next speaker was Prof. Falk Schwendicke (Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany), who pointed out the importance of cost assessment of treatment. The prevalence of non-carious cervical lesions increases with age. The first focus should always be on prevention and non-restorative treatment. However, when the treatment fails or symptoms arise, restorative treatment is unavoidable. In his clinical study on EQUIA Forte for Class V restorations, he demonstrated not only the good performance and advantages of glass hybrid restoratives but also their cost-effectiveness, being 20% less costly than composite over the three-year follow-up period.

The series of lectures was closed by Dr Gerry McKenna (Queen’s University Belfast, UK), who provided a broad overview on ways to optimise treatment for older adults. In addition to preventive care and preservation of natural teeth, he recommended that tooth replacement follows a functionally oriented approach. At the end of the day, Prof. Banerjee moderated a Q&A session during which the participants could resume the discussion on this trending topic.

Having attracted over 100 participants online and on-site, the symposium was considered to be a great success.

For further information contact GC UK on 01908 218999, email info.uk@gc.dental or visit www.gceurope.com