Skip to main content Deutsch

MedUni Vienna: symposium on "10 Years of the Chair for Prosthetics"

Prof.in Eva Piehslinger

(Vienna, 19 Jan. 2010) Within dentistry, oral medicine and maxillofacial surgery, the discipline of prosthetics deals with fixed and removable restorations of the teeth. Univ. Prof. DDr. Eva Piehslinger was appointed the first Professor of Prosthetics in Austria 10 years ago. At a symposium on the occasion of the anniversary, the discipline of prosthetics at the Bernhard Gottlieb Dental Clinic can look back at several successes and achievements.

Thanks to the relatively new chair it is possible to combine the three areas of patient care, teaching and research at the University Department of Dentistry.  One of the outstanding successes of recent years is the establishment of stable teams within the division which cover the most important sub-areas of prosthetics:

- Implant-prosthetic care: for patients with single tooth gaps and toothless jaws, for patients with tooth aplasia and patients after tumour resections and traumas.
- Development and use of CAD (Computer Aided Design) / CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) procedures to make all-ceramic computer-designed restorations
- Interdisciplinary therapy for patients with chewing disorders (jaw joint outpatient clinic).

Univ. Prof. DDr. Eva Piehslinger explains: "In the Division of Prosthetics we have set up the biggest outpatient clinic for disorders in Austria (around 600 new patients a year). The huge amount of stress in the so-called performance-oriented society has led to bruxism (grinding of teeth) becoming an importing issue and the number of patients is rising constantly."
The patients are provided with interdisciplinary treatment in cooperation with the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (physiotherapy), the Department of ENT (speech therapy/myofunctional therapy) and the Department of Psychiatry as part of the liaison psychiatry outpatient clinic in the division. Together with psychiatry, hypnosis treatment is also provided for anxiety patients.

Current research projects
Current research projects concern craniomandibular disorders and clinical trials as part of implant-prosthetic care. With bulimia patients focus will be on the dental problem and on psychotherapy at the same time.
Implant prosthesis issues deal with the clinical evaluation of different suprastructures on implants, their effects on the periodontium and occlusal and material technology aspects.
Research-based teaching will show its importance in the coming year in a new edition of the textbook on prosthetics. The plan is to focus on international exchange in the next few years, and this year a major symposium on disorders is going to be held in Vienna.

Symposium on 10 Years of Prosthetics in Vienna
Ten years ago Univ. Prof. DDr. Eva Piehslinger, at the time the youngest female professor appointed at a university, held her inaugural lecture in the Society of Doctors. This year’s anniversary symposium provides an overview of the achievements in recent years, and here it will be mainly employees of the division who are giving the lectures. The highlight will be the appearance of Prof. Rudolf Slavicek, the pioneer of prosthetics in Austria

What is prosthetics?
The fixed care options include inlays, onlays, crowns and bridges, and the removable ones include partial and complete prostheses.
Crowns, bridges and prostheses can also be fixed to implants.
Implant-prosthetic care is becoming an increasingly large part of all treatment.

Service:
Anniversary symposium 10 Years of the Chair for Prosthetics in Vienna, Friday 22 January, 10 am to 6 pm, Society of Doctors, Frankgasse 8, A 1010 Vienna

Register at: prothetik-zmk@meduniwien.ac.at
Free entry

Bernhard Gottlieb University Department of Dentistry
The Bernhard Gottlieb University Department of Dentistry has been a 100% subsidiary of the Medical University of Vienna since 1 July 2004. As a support organisation the Medical University provides the necessary flexible organisational structures for non-university hospital facilities in a university environment. It has 5 divisions and offers dental training to 80 students each year.