SwissPerio Education Week 2018
Today, it is exactly two weeks since we attended the marvellous opening of the SwissPerio Education Week, marked by Jan Lindhe’s introduction and Santiago Calatrava’s journey through art and science. We are now left with a pleasant feeling of nostalgia and satisfaction. We shared days of intense work and study but also of friendship and companionship.
What motivated Dr Rino Burkhardt to come up with this educational project? SwissPerio originates from the perception that undergraduate education or postgraduate training are not enough to obtain true clinical expertise. There still are performance gaps, and surgeons who complete courses outside the formal training, usually just to fill their backpack with additional factual knowledge. SwissPerio promotes the improvement of standards in periodontal and implant practice not only through the development of domain knowledge but also through factors such as skills, attitude and behaviour.
In this way, SwissPerio Education Week fulfilled our expectations in every single aspect. Our main objective was not aimed at presenting some “fancy” surgical techniques or formulae that would easily attract any specialist. Our speakers, among other luminaries like Professors Niklaus P. Lang, Jan Lindhe and Sandro Cortellini presented the tools of Periodontology from A to Z: from the anatomy of the periodontal tissues to diagnosis, diagnostics and non-surgical therapy – an unpopular but very important topic – to surgery. And all this, from a genuine and innovative perspective.
Finally, the best experience we had during these days was, without a doubt, the positive feedback we received from the participants, to discover their infinite interest and passion for learning day after day. It was marvellous to observe how individuals from so many distinct countries – Georgia, Bulgaria, Germany, Chile, England… – came together to develop and boost their best facets as professionals, with the clear, common aim to improve their daily clinical practice. For all this, SwissPerio feels proud for everything that was shared during this past week and we are heartily grateful towards the participants and their companions, colleagues and friends, too, for having made it possible that one of SwissPerio’s educational ideals should be attained with such success.
