Preparations for the 9th Congress of the EAOM – September 18 – 20 2008, Salzburg, Austria
Report on the Salzburg Site inspection (April 19 – 22 2007)
Doz. Dr. Johann Beck-Mannagetta and the members of the Organizing Committee of the 9th Congress of the EAOM invited the EAOM Executive to Salzburg to inspect the proposed venues and develop the programme of the next EAOM Congress. Led by the President, Prof. Peter Reichart, this consisted of Dr. Tim Hodgson (EAOM Treasurer), Assist. Prof. Ivan Alajbeg (Secretary General) and Prof. Mats Jontell (Region 2 representative and Congress Scientific Committee Chairman).
Thursday April 19th
In the evening Doz. Dr. J. Beck-Mannagetta and colleagues Dr. A. Kaltenbrunner, Dr. J. Ebenberger, and the secretary Dr. C. Prisching met the Executive and initial consideration of the program was discussed.
Friday April 20th
Morning
The congress facilities at the WIFI were found to be both convenient to the suggested hotels and suitable for the EAOM Congress with parallel sessions. Ideas on how to utilize the facilities in the most appropriate way were discussed.
A press conference was arranged by the local organizers. Prof. Reichart gave an interview for the ÖRF (Austrian Radio and Television) about the EAOM and Oral Medicine (Fig. 1). This was followed by a joint press conference, in which Prof. Jontell, Assoc. Prof. Madrid, Dr. Hodgson, Prof. Reichart, Assist. Prof. Alajbeg and Doz. Dr. Beck-Mannagetta gave brief summaries of the subjects they will be covering at the Oral Medicine course the following day (Fig. 2). They also addressed questions from several newspaper, radio and TV journalists from Salzburg and Bavaria.
Afternoon
The executive visited co-sponsors of the Congress, Paracelsus Private Medical University. Prof. Sönnichsen presented Paracelsus University's history, departments, teaching programmes, funding, and future goals (Fig. 3).
Evening
The organizers and visitors were invited by the Chairman of the Austrian Society for Periodontology Dr. Mueller and Dr. Wadsak as guests to the Congress gala dinner at Society's annual convention in the St. Wolfgang in Salzkammergut.
Saturday April 21st
Morning
The executive and local organizers met to finalise the conference arrangements. Topics discussed included: 1) Reflections on the 9th Congress site inspection; 2) Congress framework; 3) Scientific programme of the 9th Congress of the EAOM.
Topics discussed among EAOM officers were 4) EAOM prizes rules revisited; 5) EAOM travel bursaries; 6) Presidential elections. Minutes of the meeting will be emailed to all EAOM Council members.
Afternoon
14:00 to 19:00 The visitors gave lectures at a continuing professional development course “Aktuelles aus der Oralen Medizin” organized by the Austrian Dental Society of Salzburg (ÖGZOK) (Fig. 4, Fig. 5).
The lectures included:
Prof. P. Reichart (Centre for Dental Medicine, Charité, Berlin): “Oral Medicine: important connection between dentistry and medicine”
Dr. T. Hodgson (Oral medicine and Special Care Dentistry, Eastman Dental Hospital, London): “Orofacial adverse effects to drug therapy”
Prof. M. Jontell (Clinic of Oral medicine, University of Göteborg): “Update on lichen planus and lichenoid reactions of the oral mucosa”
Assist. Prof. I Alajbeg (Dept. of Oral Medicine, University of Zagreb): “Burning mouth syndrome – still a painful mystery”.
Five regional experts from the fields of oral medicine, dermatology, hematology and basic medical sciences gave lectures on the following topics:
Prof. M. Shakibaei (Institute of Anatomy, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich): “Interaction between cells and biomaterials in vitro”
Assoc. Prof. Carlos Madrid (Oral Medicine and Surgery and Dental Care, University of Lausanne): “Medical contraindications to dental implant placement”
Prof. P. Thomas (Dermatology and Allergology Clinic, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich): “Allergies to dental implants”
Prof. A. Weltermann (Clinical Dept. for Hematology, Medical University of Vienna): “What to do with a patient under anti-trombotic therapy?”
Doz. Dr. J. Beck-Mannagetta (Univ. Clinic for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, PMU Salzburg): “Dental aspects of cancer patient management”.
It was very successful course that attracted more than 60 participants, despite it being sunny Saturday afternoon, and numerous other professional events taking place in Salzburg and surroundings at the same time. Lectures had elicited interesting and lively discussions both by dentists and dermatologists.
20:00 – 23:00
Both Lecturers and course participants joined the Organizing Committee for a dinner in “Stiftskeller St. Peter”, an exquisite historic restaurant in Salzburg Old town, preceded by music from a string quartet and harp. As this is the venue of the 9th Congress gala dinner, the premises of the establishment (dating from yr. 803) were also viewed. “Barocksaal” has capacity of around 280, and can be connected by smaller halls to 370.
Conclusion
This was very successful visit, all Congress premises were seen and details of the Congress framework were accepted. The course in which visitors participated generated interest from local dentists and was well attended. The local organizing Committee members presented a very motivated, able and well organized group. They invested a lot of personal effort and positive energy into this visit. There is no doubt that they will develop the ideas of previous conferences and produce an attractive EAOM Congress.
The process of a site inspection was introduced by the organizers of the 8th Congress. In the process the EAOM Executives are invited to visit the venue and to discuss programme details with organizers. In order to raise funds for travel and accommodation, Local Organizing Committee organizes one day continuing professional development course in Oral Medicine at which EAOM Executives give lectures. The Oral Medicine CPD course is also important to introduce Oral Medicine and the EAOM to local dentists. It also represents great opportunity to publicize the ideas of Oral Medicine and the EAOM within local healthcare and scientific communities.
This is now accepted as a mandatory part of the EAOM Congress organizing process, and will continue to be utilized for future EAOM meetings.
April 25 2007
Peter Reichart, EAOM President
Ivan Alajbeg, EAOM Secretary General
2007-04-27 13:44:10
