Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to the XVII^th Congress of the Czech Orthodontic Society that will be held in Prague on September 22–24, 2016.

The congress will take place in all the halls of the Neo-renaissance National House of Vinohrady, dominating Náměstí Míru square in Prague. The congress atmosphere will be imbued with the spirit of legacy of Alfons Mucha. This unconventional Art Nouveau artist in his works always emphasized the beauty of facial symmetry and facial profile aesthetics. For more than a century we have been fascinated by clear lines and beauty of proportions of Mucha´s refined style. The orthodontists will surely find interesting that all his girls´ portraits show straight profiles, with a balanced face height and perfect proportions.

The key topic of the first two days lectures is functional orthodontics. The congress course entitled “Early Therapy and Redirection of Eruption with Lip Bumpers and Bite Plateau” will be led by Prof. Marcel Korn, an adept and erudite expert with many years of experience and a game-changing approach to the deep-rooted principles of orthodontic therapy, whom many of us met in the past during his visits to the Czech Republic. Functional therapy in adults will be the topic of the lecture given by Prof. Korn also on Day 2 of the congress, when he is one of the keynote speakers together with Dr. Franchi, Dr. Garino or Prof. Lisson. We believe these experts will provide us with a full picture of the role of functional orthodontics in the 21st century, and thus answer the persistent question of whether this treatment is still relevant today.

The Honorary Membership in the Czech Orthodontic Society in 2016 will be awarded to Prof. Williams, who will share with his fifty years of experience with orthodontic therapy during the Bedřich Neumann Honorary Lecture.

Orthodontics and orthodontic surgery difficulties are other main topics. The key-note lectures given by the excellent speakers Dr. René Foltán and Dr. Meikel Vesper will lead us through the orthodontic surgery difficulties and they will confront some of these cases as well. Dr. Ivo Marek and Dr. Fredrik Bergstrand are going to mention possible undesirable difficulties during the orthodontic treatment and introduce their possible solutions. That goes without saying, there are other interesting lectures on agenda as well. The lecture in honour of Bedřich Neumann will this time be given by MUDr. Marie Štefková, CSc., It gives me great pleasure that she will be rewarded the Honorary membership of the Czech Orthodontic Society in Hradec Králové precisely, due to her family background.

Another topic of the congress are temporomandibular joint disorders. Invited have been Prof. Sabbagh and Dr. Svoboda, who in their presentations will focus on the links between the functional temporomandibular disorders and orthodontic therapy.

The Day 3 of the congress will begin with an analysis of sexual relationships in the doctor´s office presented by the associate professor Radim Uzel and will continue with a presentation on the Digital Smile Design given by Aki Lindén. Subsequently, lectures on dental aesthetics will be delivered by Dr. Streblova, Dr. Krugová, Dr. Filipi and other experts from the Czech Academy of Dental Aesthetics. The agenda will also include a panel discussion on inter-disciplinary case studies, involving experts with diverse specialisations. The congress will be concluded by a recap of requirements and a summary of practical suggestions, necessary for making a quality photo documentation of the patient, made by Dr. Tomeček.

As a special accompanying event the “Museum of Orthodontics” will be hosted by the National House premises – an exhibition of interesting exhibits from the history of orthodontics. It will present for example the Angle´s vestibular arch wires from the pre-war period or the Irisa aesthetic brackets, the patent owner of which is Prof. Kamínek, and many more treasures of Czech and world orthodontics.

The President´s Reception will take place in the historical premises of Autoklub CR in the spirit of Mucha´s Slav Epic, which is why the party theme will be “National costumes and Uniforms“. If you have a national costume in your closet, inherited from your parents or grandparents, this is a unique opportunity to show it. If for one single evening you wish to try what it would be like to have a different profession, do it. Or simply come and enjoy the evening with your colleagues.

The orthodontic assistants section on Day 1 will also feature lectures on functional orthodontics as well as a seminar summarising the individual stages of orthodontic therapy. On Friday a whole day workshop on dental hygiene led by MDDr. Floryková is scheduled for orthodontic assistants. An equally interesting agenda, including a hands-on training on lingual wire arches led by MUDr. Kotas, will be prepared for dental technicians. On Thursday night our colleagues are invited to a party in the DSC club with delicious refreshments and good music.

We hope that you will fully enjoy the congress which will offer you a plethora of practical information and unrivalled experiences.

See you in Prague in September!

MUDr. Wanda Urbanová, Ph.D.

President of the Congress