The 100th FDI World Dental Congress

Key Points

• Reports on the 100th FDI World Dental Congress in Hong Kong.

• Introduces the FDI Vision 2020 project.

• Explains the background to the Global Caries Initiative website.

Abstract

The 100th FDI World Dental Congress was held in Hong Kong from 29 August to 1 September 2012. This article gives a report on the congress, which saw the first FDI World Oral Health Recognition Award being given to Professor Zhu Chen, the Minister of Health in China. During the congress, both the FDI Vision 2020 project and the Global Caries Initiative website were launched.

Introduction

Founded in 1900 and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the FDI World Dental Federation is one of the world's oldest health professional associations. The FDI's membership includes approximately 200 national member associations and specialist groups from more than 130 countries, representing over one million dentists worldwide.

The 100th FDI Annual World Dental Congress was held from 29 August to 1 September 2012 in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre next to the famous Hong Kong harbour. Well over 100 speakers of international reputation were involved in the scientific programme, covering all areas of dental medicine. In terms of abstract submission, exhibition space and overseas attendance, the 100th Congress has broken all recent records. The author combined business with pleasure and made a poster presentation at the congress whilst on holiday in Hong Kong (Figs 1 and 2).

Figure 1

Author pictured at entrance of FDI exhibition

Figure 2

Author presented a poster on homeless people

Welcome ceremony

The welcome ceremony held in the evening of 29 August 2012 at the Grand Hall, featured an eye-catching traditional performance of a 100-foot long dragon dancing among a sea of lions and flags (Fig. 3). The ceremony was well attended by officials from the Chinese and Hong Kong SAR governments, the Hong Kong Dental Association and the University of Hong Kong.

Figure 3

Dragon dance at the welcome ceremony

At the ceremony, Professor Zhu Chen, China's Minister of Health, was awarded the FDI World Oral Health Recognition Award. Professor Chen, who was the first person ever to have received this award, was selected for his contributions to the development of dentistry in China, as well as his leadership in dental education.

Dr Orlando Monteiro da Silva, President of FDI World Dental Federation, said in the welcome message, that the challenges Professor Chen has had to overcome in China were a good example of the challenges the FDI was confronted with in its goal to improve oral health globally.

Vision 2020

Through the 'Vision 2020' document,¹ introduced at the FDI World Dental Parliament on the previous day, Dr Monteiro da Silva pointed out that the FDI was not only able to provide a roadmap for the future of dental medicine, but also an inspiration to the dental profession, preparing it for new and exciting partnerships in leading the world to optimal oral health.

'Vision 2020 demonstrates the FDI's agility and determination to address issues such as the huge disparities in access to oral care between countries and within countries, between urban and rural areas'; he commented.

The Vision 2020 document is available for download from the FDI's website. It focuses on significantly improving access to oral health care worldwide by 2020 by expanding the role of oral healthcare professionals and developing a responsive model for future dental education.

Official launch of Vision 2020

The official launch of Vision 2020 took place on 30 August 2012, giving more details of the project to the media. Five elements of Vision 2020 were presented:

• 1 Meet the increasing need and demand for oral healthcare – by 2020, inequities with regard to access to oral healthcare will be substantially reduced and the global need and demand for oral healthcare more largely met

• 2 Expand the role of existing oral healthcare professionals – by 2020, oral health will be fully recognised and accepted as a crucial part of overall health and well-being

• 3 Shape a responsive educational model – by 2020, newly mint graduates will benefit from responsive, dynamic and modular curricula, with a focus on extensive critical thinking and analytical skills as well as public health and inter-professional education

• 4 Mitigate the impacts of socio-economic dynamics – by 2020, collaboration and partnerships between the private and public sectors will have led to the inclusion of oral health in all policies and the focus will shift to models viewing promotion, prevention and treatment as equally important

• 5 Foster fundamental and translational research and technology – by 2020, major improvements in oral health will have been achieved and inequalities will have been reduced through research-led strategies for more effective disease prevention, with the integration of oral health into healthcare in general.

Members of the Vision 2020 task force present at the launch included: FDI President, Dr Orlando Monteiro da Silva; Task Force chair Professor Michael Click, USA and the Dean of the Beijing University School of Stomatology, Professor Tao Xu.

'Our mandate was to identify the main challenges to expanding access to oral healthcare at a time when it is more urgent than ever,' Professor Xu told members of the press. 'This report represents a call to action to ensure that oral health priorities receive sufficient attention and resources to combat the spread of oral disease.'

According to Dr Monteiro da Silva, oral diseases, including tooth decay, periodontal disease and oral cancer, affect large parts of populations worldwide. 'We must act now if we hope to deal with the crisis by 2020,' he said.

Global Caries Initiative website

During the 100th Congress, the website for the Global Caries Initiative (GCI) was also launched. One major function of the website is to communicate the aims and achievements of GCI. Through a secure platform on the GCI website (http://www.global-caries-initiative.org), partners of the initiative can debate and discuss specific ways to move the project forward.

GCI was founded by FDI in 2009 to integrate the global health promotion dimension of its mission, aiming to facilitate a paradigm shift towards preventive caries management. GCI has played an innovative and visionary role in dental medicine, as well as offering opportunities to better integrate dental medicine into public health policy.

One of GCI's first achievements was the development of a comprehensive framework for caries classification and management. The FDI Caries Matrix² is a key step in integrating current science and establishing political consensus for such a framework.

GCI is not a move from a surgical and restorative model of care to a preventive one. It intends to generate greater awareness about the implications of neglected oral health and, with its focus on prevention, raise oral health to a higher level of international and national development policy.

The next FDI World Dental Congress will take place in Istanbul, Turkey from the 28-31 August 2013. More information can be found via the conference website: http://www.fdi2013istanbul.org/