57th Annual Meeting of the Korean Association of Orthodontists (KAO) 2019
Written by Dong-Hwa, Chung DDS, PhD
Director of International Affairs, KAO
Director of International Affairs, KAO
The 57th Annual Meeting of the Korean Association of Orthodontists (2019) and the 52nd Academic Conference were held at COEX in Seoul from 2nd to 4th of October 2019. The conference, with the theme of '60 Years and Beyond: Innovation & Creativity ', is the largest ever conference for KAO, with a total of 3236 attendee, including 417 foreign registrants from 45 countries. The conference kicked off with pre-congress lectures on topics such as considerations for extraction of molar tooth and bio rapid orthodontic treatment.
The 57th Annual Meeting of the Korean Association of Orthodontists (2019) and the 52nd Academic Conference were held at COEX in Seoul from 2nd to 4th of October 2019. The conference, with the theme of '60 Years and Beyond: Innovation & Creativity ', is the largest ever conference for KAO, with a total of 3236 attendee, including 417 foreign registrants from 45 countries. The conference kicked off with pre-congress lectures on topics such as considerations for extraction of molar tooth and bio rapid orthodontic treatment.
At the opening ceremony, Chairman Cho Jae-hyeong was honored with the 3rd Kwanghwang Academic Award. In addition, Dr. Ki-hyuk Seong and Lee Sang-Yeol, who actively participated in the scholarship program and free calibration project of KAO foundation, were honored by the Minister of Health and Welfare.
The conference saw a range of lecturers from local and international platforms. Amongst them were Professor Tung Nguyen's 'Dentofacial orthopedics in the 21st century', Prof. Jeong Lim Lim's 'Biocreative orthdontics' and Professor Brent Larson's 'Digital orthodontics: promises and possibilities. On the second day, a symposium was held with the theme of 'Next generation of orthodontic diagnostics'. Professor Cha Jung-yeol, Lee Chun-bong, Professor Lee Kyung-min and Lee Kye-hyung discussed the considerations of digital transformation in coping with obstructive sleep apnea, using the Individual Composite Tooth Model (CTM) and adjusting occlusion.
A lavish gala dinner was held during the conference and KAO celebrated their 60-year history of the society in line with the conference. “I think that it was an academic event that showed the strength of the orthodontic society that has grown globally. In honor of the 60th anniversary of the foundation and the 10th anniversary of the KAO foundation, I would like to express my gratitude to all the members who made their mark this far. ” said Chairman Kook Yoon Ah. Academic Chairman Kim Kyung-ho also expressed this; “Korean orthodontics is at an international standard and foreign dentists are coming to learn our specialty. Reflecting this, we tried to provide many learning opportunities through major speakers at home and abroad. We will continue to create opportunities to promote and further develop our orthodontics through the continued globalization of our academic conferences.’
It is indeed an event that left a meaningful mark and we congratulate the KAO on such a successful conference.