the full rehabilitation of edentulous patients continues to be a challenge. Consensus has remained fickle for decades due to the significant difficulties still arising, both from a therapeutic point of view for patients and from a technical point of view for practitioners and dental technicians. The digital revolution has not spared this area of dentistry, and implantology is, of course, one of the disciplines that is benefiting hugely from technological and computing advances. 

I will not be the last editorial writer to remind readers of the memory of Per-Ingvar Brånemark: the primary goal of his scientific and humanist approach to modern implantology was the treatment of completely edentulous patients, and his first patient was treated almost 60 years ago, shortly after the discovery of osseointegration, another revolution that extends beyond simple oral medicine. This leads us to ask: what would have been the accomplishments of Prof. Brånemark if he had had at his disposal all the current digital tools, and what benefits would he have brought to his patients? Indeed, we can observe that this technology not only allows us to push the limits of the precision of our work but also puts itself at the service of biology, current knowledge of which requires greater predictability using planning. Finally, it improves the comfort of our patients, with less invasive, less painful and quicker procedures. 

Of all these changes, one in particular has caught my attention. The quest for accuracy in taking implantology impressions is a true obsession, and many solutions have been proposed in the pages of DDS MAG and at global conferences held by our esteemed organisation. Photogrammetry is one such proposed solution. Used in the aeronautical industry to study aeroplane wing deformation, and in topography by land surveyors, it allows the exact positions of the implants to be measured with respect to one another and allows them to be positioned in a 3D space using photographs of optical targets placed on scanbodies taken by an extra-oral appliance that includes several cameras. In a few seconds, we can thus obtain a reliable, reproducible impression, used to design the most passive possible multi-unit restorations, for materials that can be demanding and mechanically have a low tolerance. Only the future will tell us whether intra-oral scanners will provide such performances to all practitioners, but in the meantime, one observes a very special interest in photogrammetry on the part of numerous industrial companies, especially those who have already developed this technology for other purposes such as dynamic navigation. 

All these advances are truly exciting since they show that there is still some way to go. The Digital Dentistry Society, which is recognised internationally for its educational programmes and its clinical and fundamental research initiatives, is a key present-day scientific organisation trying to meet these challenges.  

Therefore, please pencil the following dates in your diary. We cannot wait to meet you, our active members, and present to you our projects and results during the upcoming DDS International State of Art Meeting on October 18 and 19, 2024, in Florence, Italy.