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James, Vaughan, Roger Harman (translator) and the GK Conference committee. |
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Funny things you see outside high class tea rooms. |
The German conference (GK) was held in September this year due a prestigious German Orthodontic Conference anniversary being held in Berlin in November the usual time for GK. The numbers attending this years conference was lower than usual.
The conference was held in the Hotel Der Achtermann a converted castle within walking distance of the railway station and at the beginning of the pedestrianised town centre. The Old Town of Goslar was entered on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List in 1992. This was a truly unique town with narrow streets and magnificent buildings with fountains and art work tucked in corners and squares
On Friday after the days lecture programme in the late afternoon the usual walk took place with a guided tour of Goslar centre and concluding in a local restaurant with a buffet of local fayre and washed down with beer brewed on the premises.
The lecture programme was educational but the highlight was the lecture on growth from birth to adulthood. The lecturer illustrated the growth patterns and the changes that took place over the years which even included research from Glasgow University. James Grant and Vaughan Jones presented their lecture on retainers with Roger Harman translating as all the lecturers are presented in German of if in another language translated into German. A few new innovative orthodontic appliances with a functional type presented by Dr Saunders which created a great deal of discussion at the end of the presentation. Unfortunately unless you have fluent German it is difficult to follow these debates. The removable appliance presented by Hedi to retract the buccal segments had an interesting design where the anteriors were used as anchorage. Another presenter highlighted the problems laboratories have with the standard of work sent into them so it is not only in the UK we have these problems it also occurs in Europe.
On the social side the annual dinner was buffet style with a fantastic selection of local food which was followed by a local Magician family - husband, wife and two sons. Fire eating, cutting the lady in half, and also a few delegates from the audience pulled onto the stage for a hilarious hour. Afterwards a live band played into the small hours. Again a very educational and social event which is well worth a visit.
Next years Annual GK conference will be held in Leipzig from 23rd to 25th October 2009
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