Interview: “A-once-in-a-generation opportunity”

Dental Tribune ONLINE: The British Society of Periodontology (BSP) is one of the founding members of the EFP. Why has it taken almost 20 years for EuroPerio to come to the UK?
Francis Hughes: EuroPerio has always been awarded to a member society based on a competitive bidding process. In earlier years, the BSP bid twice to host the meeting in Glasgow and although Glasgow is a great place to hold a meeting I do not think it had quite the attraction that a London bid clearly has. We would have liked to have bid for EuroPerio7 in 2012, but the venues were just not available because of the Olympics. Having said that, everything has nicely fallen into place for 2015. The venue, the ExCeL London Exhibition and Convention Centre, has further developed its superb conference facilities, and particularly post-2012 London is clearly regarded as one of the great venues to host any international meeting.

The congress will be held at ExCeL London, which also hosts the BDIA Dental Showcase on a regular basis. Do you consider this to be an advantage for the show?
I do not think it really has a major benefit, except that previous visitors to the British Dental Industry Association meeting will have some idea of what a great venue ExCeL London is. People who have been to conferences there, however, will be extremely impressed with the layout and use of facilities that we have planned.

The last EuroPerio in Vienna saw an overall attendance of more than 7,000 professionals. Do you think the event in London can achieve that?
We certainly think we can and expect to go past the 8,000 mark, mainly because success breeds further success and the number of attendees at EuroPerio has markedly increased every time it has been held. Furthermore, most major international meetings report a “London effect” that helps to increase the number of attendees from overseas owing to the attractiveness of the city. Finally, our first concrete measure of interest in the meeting is the number of abstracts submitted and this is currently about 20 per cent up on Vienna with around 1,500 abstracts submitted.

EuroPerio 8 is first and foremost an international event. What share of visitors from the British Isles do you expect for the show?
We hope to attract around 25 per cent of all delegates from the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The BSP has a large membership base, and with the large number of practising dentists in the UK with an interest in periodontology and implantology we also expect many who are not members of the BSP to want to attend. In addition, we have a very large enthusiastic and committed hygienist population in the UK, who we are sure will want to come along in force.

You specifically mentioned that EuroPerio 8 is intended to appeal not just to specialists in the field but to all members of the dental team. How do you plan to achieve that?
The BSP is working in partnership with the British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy on the local organisation of the meeting, and we have their very strong support and commitment to this event. One of the main lecture programmes running throughout the meeting is targeted specifically at dental hygienists, other dental care practitioners and general dental practitioners, and we think this is a great way to update most topics in primary care periodontology. Thirdly, we think the size and scale of the event and the add-ons around it will make it a very attractive way to update all members of the team and to allow them to earn continuing professional development credits at the same time.

EuroPerio will offer a varied scientific programme with presentations by over 100 speakers from Britain and abroad. What are the key topics?
With such a large programme, I am tempted to say most topics. The specialist programmes will focus on advanced management of hard and soft tissue around dental implants and periodontal surgery, including regenerative and periodontal plastic surgical techniques.

More broadly, we have a programme with a strong academic leaning to update all of the latest science in the field, as well as our contemporary practical periodontics programme, concentrating on non-surgical management techniques, risk factors, antimicrobials, etc.

Research by Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry has recently indicated a looming global crisis with regard to severe periodontal disease. Will the congress also address this development?
Recognising the persisting prevalence of severe periodontal disease and its impact is a key message of a number of the sessions in the programme. I am particularly excited that we are running a session with public and patient involvement to hear—from patients—about their experiences of having severe periodontitis. This, we think, will be the first time this has been done at a periodontology conference, and will revolve around the premier of a video we have commissioned on this topic titled The Sound of Periodontitis.

A goal of the EFP is to promote the recognition of periodontology among regulators, licensing bodies and policymakers across Europe. A report by your colleagues from the University of Sheffield and Newcastle University, however, has indicated that Britain might have a lot of catching up to do in this regard. Do you agree and, if so, what are the main issues concerning periodontology that require recognition?
Bringing EuroPerio to the UK is a great opportunity to promote the importance of periodontology generally to general dentists and other dental professionals, to other health professionals and to the wider public. The key things to be recognised include not just the prevalence but also impacts of periodontal disease, the need for a strategy to address these problems, and the excellent treatment outcomes achieved when periodontal treatment is carried out appropriately. We have a well co-ordinated public relations and press campaign locally to help us achieve these aims, running up to and at the conference. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us locally, and I am confident we will be successful.

Thank you very much for the interview.