Knowledge under pressure​

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After a first edition held entirely online during the pandemic, the symposium returned to Lugano in 2022 with a distinctive premise: to bring the Italian- and German-speaking worlds of dentistry together within a single international forum. Organised in collaboration with SSO Ticino, it was led by Prof. em. Dr Dr h.c. Christoph Hämmerle, Prof. Dr Irena Sailer and Prof. Dr med. dent. Giovanni E. Salvi, with multilingualism at the heart of the programme.

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Working closely with PD Dr med. dent. Goran I. Benic, co-founder of IRED, I shaped the symposium’s communications from the outset and saw them through to delivery. I conceived and edited the website and print materials, working with the graphic designer and web developers on their production. I also created and managed content for social media, handled media relations and wrote for the specialist dental press, including the Swiss Dental Journal SSO. As the event drew closer, the work took on an organisational and linguistic dimension as well, from managing registrations to arranging simultaneous interpreting in Italian, German and English.

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Working with complex scientific content across three languages called for precision in terminology, but also a keen sense of tone and cultural context. Translation was never simply a matter of carrying a finished text from one language into another. It meant creating versions that could stand on their own: faithful to the subject, precise in meaning and entirely at home in each language.

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The collaboration later expanded into audiovisual work. At the Zentrum für Zahnmedizin (ZZM) at the University of Zurich, I helped set up a production studio and was involved in more unexpected projects too, including humorous sketches featuring prominent figures in dentistry. Scientific authority met humour and self-deprecation, revealing a side of dentistry rarely seen in institutional communications.

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