Event
MHB Dental Medicine steps up exchange with resident dentists

Brandenburg/Havel, 21 January 2025
The 1st MHB Dental Medicine Practice Talk in Brandenburg/Havel met with a big response of almost 50 participants. The organizers decided to make it a recurrent event. The MHB and Prof. Gerhard Schmalz, who heads the department of restorative dentistry and periodontology and also the new university outpatient clinic, hosted the event in Brandenburg/Havel on 17 January to present the MHB and the new Brandenburg Model Curriculum in Dental Medicine (BMZ). Current topics from conservative dentistry and periodontology were also addressed.
Prof. Schmalz opened the event with an introduction of the BMZ and the MHB outpatient clinic and presented plans of collaboration with dental practitioners in the region. The latter were invited to accept students for training in their dental surgeries as an important contribution to the practical training of future dentists. Twelve teaching practices have been recruited so far, but many more will be needed to provide work placements for an annual cohort of 48 dental students. Prof. Schmalz also described the planned role of the MHB department of dental medicine as an integral part of dental care provision in Brandenburg, in close cooperation with established dentists in the region, and the aim to ensure up-to-date and practice-based student education.

Dr. Deborah Kreher followed with a specialist speech on root caries. Bacteria attacking exposed roots cause root caries, with severe pain as a possible consequence and tooth loss in the worst case. Bad oral hygiene, dry mouth and high sugar intake increase the risk specifically in older patients. The focus was on the relevance of the topic for practice and the challenges involved in diagnostics and therapy.
Prof. Dirk Ziebolz addressed the topic of periimplantitis in the second lecture. This is the inflammatory process affecting tissue around a dental implant, often caused by insufficient oral hygiene, smoking, diabetes and lack of aftercare. Prof. Ziebolz underlined the need for a new understanding of the complaint in dental practice. He deduced implications for diagnostics, therapy and prevention from references to biology and presented the stepwise prevention approach pursued by the MHB department of restorative dentistry and periodontology.
In conclusion, Prof. Schmalz spoke about mucosal changes in connection with systemic diseases and gave suggestions for dental practice on how to identify various underlying diseases based on abnormalities of teeth and gums.
Subsequent lively discussions over coffee and cake offered ample opportunity for exchange between participants and with speakers. Prof. Schmalz expressed great satisfaction with the response of dentists from the region. He stressed the need for a network with local dentists with a view to student education and was looking forward to the collaboration with his fellow professionals.
The plan is to establish the meeting as a recurrent event, and the next meeting is scheduled for April. Exchange with resident dentists is to take place on a permanent basis, complemented by a platform for teaching surgeries cooperating with the MHB.