Reflecting on the RCSEd Dental Triennial Conference 2026
The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) welcomed delegates to its inaugural Dental Triennial conference, celebrating both the future of dentistry and a significant transition in College leadership. The two-day event recognised Professor Grant McIntyre’s three-year tenure as Dental Dean and Vice-President (Dental), while welcoming Professor Richard Cure as his successor. Held in the College’s Quincentenary Building, the conference brought together national and international speakers to explore how digital intelligence is changing dental education and clinical care.
The diversity of delegates was a particular strength. Undergraduate students, Dental Core Trainees, Specialty Registrars, postgraduate students, general dental practitioners, specialists, consultants and retired colleagues exchanged experiences across professional and generational boundaries. Conversations during breaks and lunches were as valuable as the formal sessions, demonstrating the College’s role as a welcoming professional home for the dental community.
Under the theme “Digital Intelligence in Dentistry: From Innovation to Clinical Impact”, the programme offered 11 hours of continuing professional development. Its defining message was balanced: technology can improve efficiency, precision and patient experience, but adoption must be guided by evidence, sound clinical judgement and demonstrable benefit rather than novelty alone.
Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Opening the scientific programme, Professor Phil Newton considered the implications of generative artificial intelligence for education and assessment. With learners already using AI to access and process information, he challenged educators to reconsider how competence is demonstrated. Meaningful face-to-face assessment, higher-order synthesis, critical analysis and professional reasoning may become increasingly important as conventional written tasks become easier to generate with AI.
Professor James Field explored training in a virtual world, including AI-generated patient encounters that allow learners to rehearse challenging clinical interactions. Haptic technology and virtual reality can support the development of manual dexterity and confidence before students progress to conventional phantom-head training. Interactive three-dimensional simulations and AI-supported learning platforms, including Immersify Education, are creating new opportunities to engage learners and support the development of clinical knowledge and skills. Rather than displacing practical education, these tools can enrich a carefully structured learning pathway.
Professor Tuam Pham demystified AI and its possible applications in dentistry and oral healthcare. While diagnostic and analytical systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated, responsibility for interpreting outputs and making clinical decisions remains with clinicians. The message resonated throughout the conference: AI should be a collaborator, not a substitute for professional expertise.
Further demonstrations of immersive treatment planning, three-dimensional simulation and AI-supported platforms were presented by Prof Adam Nulty who illustrated how digital surgical plans can be overlaid on digital images of anatomical structures, while AI-assisted segmentation and analysis could accelerate aspects of imaging and diagnosis. Such advances nevertheless require careful validation and appropriate governance.
Digital Enhancement of Prosthodontic Principles
Dr Ioannis Papadopoulos presentation offered a thoughtful counterpoint to the idea that every conventional procedure should be replaced by a digital equivalent. He used clinical cases to demonstrate the advantages of selecting analogue or digital tools according to the requirements of each treatment stage. Conventional articulators and facebow concepts can coexist with digital aesthetic planning, while three-dimensional printed mock-ups allow patients to assess appearance, occlusion and phonetics before irreversible preparation. There was an acknowledgement that specialised AI applications offered a glimpse of future possibilities, without diminishing the value of clinical scrutiny.
An equally compelling presentation by Dr Charlotte Stillwell revisited removable partial dentures as contemporary, adaptable treatment options. Long-term success depends on sound biological and biomechanical design, including hygienic frameworks, thoughtful distribution of support, preservation of periodontal health and appropriate maintenance.
Importantly, restorations should be designed with future changes in mind, allowing modification if abutment teeth are subsequently lost. Speakers also cautioned that digital proficiency must not come at the expense of traditional technical understanding. Conventional impressions, particularly where border moulding and peripheral extension are crucial, continue to have an important role. The presentations also raised the importance of maintaining technical education in the laboratory: sophisticated design software cannot independently determine how a framework will distribute load or how a prosthesis will behave biologically over many years. Preserving these foundations is vital for the next generation of dental technicians and clinicians. The most successful workflows are those that preserve established principles while using new tools selectively.
CAD/CAM Manufacturing and Bonding: Promise and Responsibility
Prof Mutlu Ozcan's presented two lectures demonstrating how digital design is reshaping dental laboratories and adhesive bonding protocols. Printing technologies now encompass polymers, metals and ceramics, creating opportunities for customised restorations, frameworks and surgical applications. She presented clear evidence that a printed object is only as reliable as its material selection, production parameters and post-processing handling. She also provided a comprehensive overview of current evidence supporting the adhesion of CAD/CAM materials and advised caution where the evidence was lacking.
Future developments in personalised bone grafts, advanced biomaterials and four-dimensional printing are exciting, but material science and quality assurance remain fundamental to safe translation into practice.
Digital Orthodontics and Complex Surgical Care
The second day placed particular emphasis on applying digital innovation to complex surgical care.
The presentation on orthodontics by Dr John Scholey, highlighted the advantages of combining cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), digital planning and indirect bonding. Three-dimensional imaging can clarify the position of impacted teeth and their relationship to adjacent structures, while digitally planned bracket placement may reduce chairside adjustments and improve workflow efficiency. These techniques also have the potential to reduce unnecessary patient visits.
The limitations of automated cephalometric tracing and large language models were equally instructive. AI systems may perform well on straightforward tasks yet struggle with complex skeletal relationships, anchorage decisions and the individual circumstances that shape specialist treatment planning. Digital accuracy and clinical wisdom are not interchangeable.
The following presentation by Prof Shakeel Shahdad also explored how carefully targeted surgical exposure and removal of anatomical obstacles identified on CBCT may help manage selected impacted teeth that have failed to move as expected. These examples illustrated the value of digital information when it is interpreted in the context of individual anatomy and a coherent multidisciplinary treatment plan.
In implant dentistry, prosthetically driven planning and guided surgery were presented as important advances in translating restorative objectives into surgical execution. CBCT-based planning can help clinicians consider implant positioning, available bone and the long-term health of peri-implant tissues. Digitally designed surgical guides offer valuable assistance, but residual positional errors and the need for intraoperative judgement must not be overlooked. Similarly, three-dimensional planning can help identify obstacles and minimise risks when managing complex dental anomalies and impacted teeth.
Digital Planning and Reconstruction in Maxillofacial Surgery
Virtual surgical planning integrating CBCT, intraoral scanning and three-dimensional facial imaging to support detailed preoperative assessment was presented by Miss Saadia Farooq. She explained how surgeons can plan osteotomies, reconstruction and fixation before entering theatre, while patient-specific implants manufactured through milling or three-dimensional printing may reduce the need for manual adjustment during surgery.
These advances can improve predictability and streamline procedures, although financial costs, training requirements and manufacturing lead times remain practical barriers. The discussion made clear that successful digital transformation requires investment in people and systems as well as equipment.
Prof Chris Butterworth and Ms Taran Malhotra's presentation on maxillo-facial rehabilitation for people with head and neck cancer reinforced the importance of close coordination between surgical, restorative and technical teams, with a shared understanding of the planned final result. Digital data fusion can make that dialogue more precise, but it cannot replace careful case selection, consent or contingency planning. The innovative “Zip-Flap” approach, combining zygomatic implant anchorage with reconstructive techniques and early prosthetic rehabilitation, illustrated the possibility of restoring function and appearance much sooner for selected patients. Coordinated surgical and prosthodontic planning may allow patients to receive a prosthesis at surgery or shortly afterwards, potentially before adjuvant radiotherapy. Beyond technical achievement, the real significance lies in restoring oral function, confidence, dignity and quality of life at a profoundly challenging time.
Interprofessional Learning and Communities of Practice
Professor Richard Cure’s King James IV Professorship Lecture provided an important perspective on the human dimensions of innovation. Focusing on interprofessional education in specialist orthodontic practice, he explored how clinicians, dental / orthodontic therapists and nurses learn with, from and about one another within a genuine community of practice.
The presentation challenged professional protectionism and emphasised empowerment, mutual respect and the willingness to reconsider established roles. When team members are supported to develop and contribute, collaborative learning can strengthen workforce satisfaction, retention and patient care. This was a fitting reminder that innovation is not confined to technology: new ways of working and learning can be equally transformative.
Celebrating Achievements and Acknowledgements
Across two stimulating days, the conference showcased extraordinary possibilities, from immersive learning and AI-supported diagnosis to personalised surgery and earlier rehabilitation. Yet its most enduring lesson was that digital progress should be measured by what it enables clinicians and teams to do better for patients.
The four free paper presentations were informative and inspiring with Dr Mohamed Elsaadni receiving the Oral Presentation Prize for research comparing the accuracy of intraoral scanning with conventional workflows in Kennedy Class III situations. The inaugural Poster Prize was awarded to Ayla Mahmoud for work examining the influence of implant depth on digital treatment planning. Both awards reflected the College’s commitment to encouraging inquiry and excellence across career stages.
The success of the event was made possible by the generous support of our sponsors: Agilio, Clark Dental, Dental Defence Union, International Digital Dental Academy/Scanladder, Immersify, Komet, Saremco, Solventum, Straumann and Wesleyan.
Sincere thanks are also due to the speakers, delegates, organising committee and College staff whose contributions created such a memorable occasion.
Sincere thanks are also due to the speakers, delegates, organising committee and College staff whose contributions created such a memorable occasion.
Written by Lochana Nanayakkara, Conference Convenor
