This year I was lucky to be invited to attend the annual International Academy of Advanced Facial Aesthetics yearly conference. This consists of a 2 day conference with parallel sessions of interest to those involved with facial rejuvenation and dentistry. The brainchild of the charismatic Professor Bob Khanna, the conference aims to bring together all the clinicians from dental, medical and nursing backgrounds to learn the latest concepts and techniques from world leading specialists.
The IAAFA conference first began in2007 and has gone from strength to strength each year, the culmination of the event is a glamorous IAAFA charity ball at the RadissonBlu hotel. All proceeds from this goto the adopted charity, which has been the Make-a-wish Foundation. This year approximately £15,700 was raised for the charity. The IAAFA ball is one legendary party and is on the calendar of all the dental party animals every year, this party animal included. The organising and planning which goes into creating such a fantastic event is a testament to the hard work of Prof Khanna and the other members of the IAAFA council.
What I noticed this year, is that there were parallel sessions, with a welcome increase in the number of dental lectures. I enjoyed a fantastic talk on the 6 month smile system by Dr Anoop Maini and experienced a masterclass in cosmetic dentistry by Dr James Russell and Ron Lynock I also gained an insight into the world of facial aesthetics and moving away from away our usual area of the head and neck, learnt a bit about lasers and liposuction by Dr Ravi Jain. Paul Tipton was on hand to discus occlusal vertical dimension and its role in facial aesthetics, whilst some in-sight into the business side of things was given by Chris Barrow in his own unique way.
As busy dentists, we are bombarded by courses and conferences which are a ‘must-see’ and are ‘revolutionary.’ With time being ever-precious and the fee’s for these courses going up and up (usually quoted without VAT added, my personal bugbear!) dentists need to be a bit more selective. I can safely say that I actually LEARNT alot from attending the 2 days at IAAFA, and made alot of new friends and contacts in the industry. The Charity Ball is the icing on the cake, a fantastic time is had by all those involved whilst raising money for a worthy cause. I will definitely be back next year.
