The 1st Nordic-Baltic Oral Medicine Meeting ever was held in Malmö, Sweden, from August 16 – 18, 2007. The Swedish Society of Oral Medicine (SOMS) was the initiator of this wonderful meeting. The President, Ulf Mattson, supported by his board and in particular by Tony Axéll had organised and arranged this meeting to include the Baltic States, other Scandinavian countries and Iceland. Representatives of these countries as well as many others from the region including Russia were present. A total of about 150 participants gathered in Malmö for this meeting. Representatives of the board of the EAOM, the treasurer (Tim Hodgson) and myself had the pleasure and honour to also attend. The conference was held at St. Gertrud, a historical building with modern facilities suitable for international conferences. The scientific program was excellent including lectures on Periodontitis and General Disease (P. Holmstrup, Copenhagen), Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (N. Lewkowicz, Poland), HPV Infections (S. Syrjänen, Finland), Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome (R. Manthorpe, Sweden), The Cancer Patient – is Oral Cancer and Precancer Different from other Malignancies? (I. van der Waal, Amsterdam), The Pain Patient – Controlling Pain in the Future (J. Zakrzewska, London), Biomarkers: Risk and Risk Factors (M. Glick, USA), Malignant Blood Diseases and the Oral Cavity (O. Bergmann, Copenhagen), Coagulation Disorders (J. Blomgren, Sweden).

Of particular interest were sessions devoted to the state of oral medicine in North-Eastern Europe. Information on SOMS and its activities were given and also lectures on Oral Medicine education were presented (P. Barkvoll, Norway). SOMNET was presented by M. Jontell (Gothenburg). The President of EAOM (P.A.R.) gave information on EAOM and its activities. All presentations were discussed under the title of Development of Oral Medicine in the Nordic-Baltic Area. In a final plenum discussion it was decided that a second Nordic-Baltic Oral Medicine Meeting should be held in two years time in Oslo, Norway.

The discussion on the status of oral medicine was extremely fruitful and it was suggested that similar regional meetings in Southern Europe and Central Europe should be planned for the future.

The meeting was characterised by outstanding scientific presentations but in addition, a lot of time was devoted to discussion. This was considered extremely important for everyone attending in order to appreciate the status of Oral Medicine in the different countries of the Baltic area and Scandinavia.

The gala dinner was exeptional and so was hospitality of the Swedish Society of Oral Medicine and its wonderful members.

I am looking forward to similar meetings in other regions of the EAOM!

Peter A. Reichart
President of EAOM