Endodontics "Gangnam Style"

Ann yeong haseyo!!!!!

It was my first visit to Seoul. The Asia Pacific Endodontic Confederation was held on the 23th and 24th March, 2013. Took a five-day tour around South Korea before the conference. Although it was spring, the temperature was generally less than 5 degrees Celsius and we had snow at Mt. Sorak and the east coast.

The conference was held at the COEX located at Gangnam itself. I would recommend Hotel The Designer because it is walking distance to COEX and this boutique hotel has a very unique concept and rooms are clean and cozy. I love the heated toilet seat.

The conference was well organized, with lectures by some prominent people in endodontics. I have heard some of these presentations before but no harm in refreshing my memory. These are some wise words and take home messages from the presenters:

Dr James Gutmann, our grandfather of endodontics, during his lecture on The Impact of New Endodontic Technology on Predictable Outcomes, mentioned:
 "When confronted with a new technology, whether its a cellular phone or high definition TV or the internet, we should ask ourselves the question 'What is the problem/challenge to which this technology is the solution?'"
 "Has the technology achieved its intended purpose/s?"
 "In this age of new technology, some things work and others do not!!"
 "To continue emphasis on research and development and tissue engineering"
 "Do not resign ourselves to the wholesale extraction of teeth seen a century ago in favor of the perception that implants are better!" (I especially like this one)

Dr Syngcuk Kim, my teacher at Penn, during his lecture, Modern clinical dilemma: Endo vs implant, highlighted:
 "The purpose of endodontics is to save teeth"
 "Preservation of function and esthetics of a patient's dentition is our obligation"
 "Implants are inferior to natural dentition in terms of function and esthetics on a long term basis"
 "Implants should be replacing missing teeth, not teeth"

Dr Martin Trope, my favourite endodontic lecturer, during his presentation on Controlling intra-canal infection with mechanical instrumentation, pointed out that
 "With the wide variety of file systems in the market and the new one file system, our aim in root canal preparation is to make it better and not quicker. Ideally, a new file system should clean and shape canal better and quicker, but the main focus is to prepared these canal better, not quicker "
Dr Trope's words always make perfect sense to me...