Welcome to the 74th Annual Meeting of the Western Society of Periodontology (WSP), and the 7th Annual Western Dental Hygiene Symposium (WDHS), to be held at the beautiful Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona on June 12-14, 2026. The theme of this year’s meeting is ‘Collaboration in Action – Creating Healthy, Beautiful Smiles.’

In modern dentistry, no clinician can stand alone. Long-term, esthetic, and functional success now depends on how well restorative dentists and periodontists plan and treat together, along with insight and support from the entire interdisciplinary team of specialists and hygienists.

WSP’s mission of bringing together periodontists, specialists, restorative dentists, and hygienists for genuine collaboration will be showcased once again in our annual session. With this vision in mind, we invite you to an immersive interdisciplinary conference featuring distinguished speakers of periodontists, prosthodontists, restorative dentists, orthodontists,
endodontists, orofacial pain specialists, and hygienists.

Over the course of the meeting, you will see Collaboration in Action with shared clinical protocols, refined techniques, and practical communication strategies aimed at creating healthy, beautiful smiles. Our program is built around real-world clinical challenges and the team-based solutions that address them. We have focused this year’s meeting on concise lectures around key clinical thematic topics as well as cross-cutting interdisciplinary topics, and have invited world-class speakers. This year’s speakers include Robert Da Silva (Brazil), Marcelo Silva, Bobby Birdi, Clark Chen, Homa Zadeh, Vahid Khoshkam, John Kim, Dan Holtzclaw, Marianna Evans, Suman Batina, Irene Marrón-Tarrazzi, Satish Kumar, George Romanos, Lauralee Nygaard, Antonia Teruel, Kian Kar, and Harjit Sehgal from multiple specialties in the field of dentistry. This conference will feature surgical and regenerative sessions focused on building stable foundations for restorative excellence, covering periodontal and guided bone regeneration, biomaterials and biologics, soft tissue augmentation, microscopic periodontal plastic surgery, and the AAP-AO Perio Implantitis consensus. Implant and prosthetically driven workflows will be highlighted through All-on-X digital planning to the final prosthesis, implant surface considerations, and complications from an interdisciplinary perspective. We will also explore key interdisciplinary intersections such as Perio-Endo synergy for preserving natural teeth, airway issues and craniofacial development, and TMD beyond clicking and clenching, while addressing the systemic and inflammatory context of care, including metabolic dysfunction and periodontal disease and inflammation control.

We will also host the Western Dental Hygiene Symposium, offering dental hygienists three days of unparalleled dental education. This year’s presenters include some of the best dental hygiene has to offer: Dr. Giles Horrocks, Dr. Melissa Shotell, Nancy Miller, Rafael Rondon, Kristen Ranaldo, Susan Wingrove, Lynn Atkinson, Lora Hooper, and Anne Rice. The topics of the speakers will showcase modern dental hygiene as a high-tech, prevention-driven, and medically integrated field within dentistry. They emphasize understanding the soft tissue seal around implants and the essentials of implant maintenance, home care, and disease treatment to protect long-term outcomes. In the hygiene chair, quick orthodontic evaluations and proper use of power instruments help support both periodontal and orthodontic health while avoiding unintended damage. New technologies such as dental endoscopy, desiccation therapy, lasers, and salivary diagnostics deepen our ability to see, treat, and monitor disease, reducing periodontal relapse and saving implants. At the same time, aligning care with AAP and ADA guidelines and carefully interpreting patients’ health histories allows clinicians to recognize systemic risk early. These themes converge on one core idea: when technology, communication, and clinical insight work together, hygienists can deliver truly comprehensive, personalized care.

A Tech Expo will provide opportunities for attendees to get hands-on experiences of various equipment and armamentariums. The WSP Hands-On workshop sessions we have scheduled will give those interested a chance to further refine their skills in full-arch rehabilitation and bone augmentation. We are inviting advanced specialty residents from postgraduate programs in periodontology to showcase their education and skills through case presentations. Together, the speakers will share practical, real-world strategies to help you plan and deliver comprehensive care with greater confidence and collaboration. Throughout the conference, you can expect clinically grounded lectures, case-based discussions, and honest conversations
about complications and decision-making. You will leave with:

• • Clearer frameworks for treatment planning
  • Updated, evidence-based perspectives.
  • Practical protocols your whole team, including hygienists, can implement on Monday.
  • Stronger pathways for communication between referring and treating clinicians.

This is more than a meeting. It is an opportunity to rethink how we work together so our patients benefit from the best each discipline has to offer.

We hope you will join us for ‘Collaboration in Action – Creating Healthy, Beautiful Smiles’ and help shape the future of integrated, team-based care.

We look forward to welcoming you to the beautiful Scottsdale! Scottsdale offers a sunny blend of luxury and desert adventure- think world-class golf, spas, art galleries, and award-winning restaurants framed by stunning Sonoran Desert scenery. Stroll Old Town’s shops and nightlife, hen catch a blazing sunset over Camelback or the McDowell Mountains to end the day in true Arizona style!

Sincerely,