10 Key Takeaways from Friday Sessions at AO Annual Meeting

The 2016 Academy of Osseointegration (AO) Annual Meeting offered four days of sessions addressing issues clinicians face every day in their practice and information they can use on their first day back in the office post-meeting.
We asked AO attendees what key takeaways they learned at Friday’s sessions and here’s what they said:
#1: Pink porcelain produces some beautiful restorations.

“I was pretty amazed at the things people can do with prosthetics. The fact that [the prosthetic] was fixed, and mold work and pink and white porcelain were done on top to create some beautiful cases … is blowing my mind with how realistic it looks!”
-Dr. Alyssa Edwards, General Practitioner, League City, Texas
#2: The materials you use as a substrate for temporary dentures can make a big difference in its clinical effectiveness.
“I learned about [Ti-PMMA] used as a substrate for temporary dentures, which is pretty awesome because normal acrylic fractures and that doesn’t. It’s a new material for my lab to use if I ever make a prosthesis like that.”
-Dr. Megan Clarke, General Practitioner, La Mesa, Calif.
#3: Certain types of lasers effectively treat peri-implantitis.

“The treatment of peri-implantitis is a topic we will be discussing for a long time. Now, there is a new approach to try to decontaminate the surface that seems very promising with a type of laser that you can clean the implant surface and then get new bone formation where there was disease. It’s still not there, but it seems promising.”
-Dr. Arthur Novaes, University of San Paulo, Brazil
#4: When to choose surgery and when to choose prosthetics to correct inherited problems.

“There was a good deal of information on whether you make surgical or prosthetic corrections as far as some of the difficulties, failures, or complications we sometimes inherit. I thought it was a beautiful presentation.”
-Dr. Paul Binon, Prosthodontist, Roseville, Calif.
#5: The AO holds their speakers to a level that is intellectually stimulating and clinically useful.

“I spend probably 500 hours a year at various meetings, and I see a lot of things presented that aren’t backed scientifically, and, unfortunately, I see people following something a KOL says that is not scientifically based and it misguides people. It’s nice to see an Academy hold its speakers above that level.”
-Dr. Todd Schoenbaum, General Practitioner Los Angeles, Calif.
#6: To get published, playing by the rules is the best thing you can do.”

“It’s important to know the preferred style of the journal to which you are submitting your study—and follow them.”
-Dr. Steven Eckert, Prosthodontist Edina, Minn.
#7: Distraction Osteogenesis is a cool way to regenerate bone.

“I learned about the distraction osteogenesis which I hadn’t really learned a lot about before. I thought that was cool.”
-Meghan Toland, General Practitioner, La Mesa, Calif.
#8: When choosing the between regenerative treatment or prosthetic in the esthetic zone, go with what makes the patient happy.

“I love that in the esthetic zone you can always use pink porcelain and gain a good result. Ultimately the success comes from how happy your patient is. Sometimes we try to do those 10,000 regenerative procedures for ourselves, but the patient doesn’t always want that.”
-Dr. Ashwini Bhave, Prosthodontist, Detroit, Mich.
#9: Guided full arch immediate implant reconstruction is a much better technique than the traditional method.

“I was already familiar with the system, but it was a nice review of the side-by-side comparison of how much faster, easier, and all-around better it is than the old approach.”
-Dr. Robert Jungman, General Dentist, Escondido, Calif.
#10: It’s important to challenge your old way of thinking.

“I’ve learned that a lot of the specialists are doing everything at once; tissue grafting, bone grafting, and they are getting great results. Before I would be more conservative and just do a bone graft and then connective tissues at another visit. Now I may be more inclined to try that out in the future.”
-Dr. Natasha Kapoor, Periodontist from Md.