Consensus conference on therapeutic communication and hypnosis

Brandenburg an der Havel, 4 September 2025

Experts from around the globe came to the Brandenburg/Havel campus of the Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane (MHB) for the first international consensus meeting on 27 and 28 August and defined clear criteria for future research in the field of hypnosis and therapeutic communication in dental medicine.

Dental hypnosis has been established in many areas of dental medicine for decades, for example to allay children’s fear of treatment. The German Society for Dental Hypnosis DGZH has existed for thirty years. But despite the wide-spread use of dental hypnosis in daily practice, its scientific evidence base is frequently under discussion, says Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schmalz, MHB professor of conservative dentistry and periodontology. Together with Prof. Dr. Thomas Wolf (University of Bern) he chaired the international team of organizers for a first expert consensus and a meeting of specialists from practice and science.

Participants and lecturers from over ten nations – among them France, Uruguay, Italy and US – attended 20 presentations either on site or online. Speakers represented a variety of disciplines in addition to dentistry, such as psychiatry, psychology and anesthesiology. The wide range, so Prof. Schmalz, illustrates the considerable potential of the multidisciplinary field.

In-depth debates served to sum up the presentations. In conclusion, the meeting established clear criteria for future research activities in dental medicine. Participants rated the definition of overarching outcomes to ensure comparability between studies and the development of a methodological “gold standard” mainly as positive and decisive for the future of research in dental medicine. The plan is to work on explicit definitions and publish pertinent findings.

This first internation consensus conference constitutes a milestone for advances in the field as the first joint event for researchers and practitioners. Organizers and participants gave a very positive verdict and declared themselves highly motivated to integrate the discipline into dental medicine on a lasting basis.