Careful planning for the 21st World Congress on Dental Traumatology in Lisbon has been underway since 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused two postponements. Everything looked promising for a face-to-face meeting in May 2022, but the emergence of the highly contagious Omicron variant and the global disruption it has caused has been significant.

The 2022 abstract deadline was extended to 16th January 2022, however, widespread concerns about travel resulted in registrations remaining less than one third of expected attendance.

The conference organising committee, representing ESE, IADT and PSE, has been meeting regularly and monitoring developments over recent months. It met again, along with our Professional Congress Organiser, on 20th January 2022 to consider multiple options within the context of financial and broad educational and reputational losses.

Having weighed each option carefully, it became clear that the only viable action at this stage was to cancel the congress outright. This reality comes as a huge blow to all of those who have worked so diligently during the last several years to deliver a truly world class event; to our prospective speakers who accommodated earlier cancellations and invested greatly in preparing their presentations; to our sponsors and exhibitors who enthusiastically supported us; to those who engaged in research and then submitted abstracts, and finally to those who registered as delegates.

We communicate our heart-felt disappointment and apologise to all of you as we experience the devastating consequences of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on our meeting.

In contrast, we reflect positively on a strong and purposeful collaboration among the ESE, IADT and PSE organizations and sincerely hope that we are able to work jointly again in the future.

Please be assured that we will arrange a refund of registration and sponsorship fees.

Please contact AIM Group International (Lisbon), our professional congress organiser, atwcdt2022@aimgroup.eu , who will facilitate making the appropriate arrangements.

Thank you for your interest and commitment to dental traumatology.

The field remains strong, important and a key component to healthcare worldwide.

Kind regards,

The Congress Organising Committee