No. It isn't the International Olympic Committee. London has already had that opportunity. In September, London will host the International Orthodontic Congress for a third time and will be the only city in the world yet to do so. The event dates back nearly 90 years and was the first international meeting of a dental specialty but so far it has only been held in four countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. James Green examines the history of the congress and gives a glimpse of what we can expect from the eighth International Orthodontic Congress.

Born in the USA

The idea of an International Orthodontic Congress (IOC) was the brainchild of William C. Fisher, the then president of the American Society of Orthodontists (ASO, which later became the American Association of Orthodontists). The first International Orthodontic Congress, in 1926, was held in New York City and this coincided with the 25th anniversary of the founding of the ASO in 1901. This was the first global meeting of a dental specialty and those attending were members of fifteen orthodontic societies: five from Europe and ten from the USA.1

London calling

The second IOC was the first to be held in London and was held in 1931 under the presidency of John Henry Badcock. Badcock was a past president of the British Dental Association as well as a founding member and inaugural president of the British Society for the Study of Orthodontics.2 These first two meetings were widely seen as successful and a third IOC was planned to be held in Montreal, Canada in 1938 but the economic conditions of the time together with Fisher's death led to this event being cancelled.1 The outbreak of the Second World War meant that the third IOC was not held until August 1973, once again in London. This meeting was hosted jointly by the European Orthodontic Society (EOS) and the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) at the Royal Festival Hall3 held in conjunction with the 49th EOS Congress and presided over by William Tulley, the then president of the EOS.4,5

Back in the USA

The event dates back nearly 90 years and was the first international meeting of a dental specialty

It was more than twenty years before the next IOC and the event now returned to the other side of the Atlantic. The 1995 AAO annual meeting was designated as the fourth IOC under the presidency of William DeKock. DeKock invited the world's orthodontic societies to come together with the AAO in San Francisco to establish the World Federation of Orthodontists (WFO). He also wrote the first draft for WFO byelaws, basing them on those of existing national orthodontic societies.6 The AAO then met with 68 national and regional orthodontic organisations to sign the WFO charter at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, California, on 15th May 1995 – the same venue where the United Nations charter had been signed almost fifty years earlier on 26th June 1945, following a two-month, post war conference. Following the formation of the WFO the IOC has been held every five years and 2000 saw the fifth IOC also held in the States. This time the host city was Chicago, Illinois and was held in conjunction with the 100th AAO meeting.1

We're on our way to France

Until this point the IOC had been very much an Anglo-American affair. This changed in 2005 when the sixth IOC was held in Paris, chaired by Olivier Mauchamp and co-hosted by Syndicate des Specialistes Francais en Orthopedie Dento-Faciale (SSFODF) and Societe Francaise d'Orthopedie Dento-Faciale (SFODF).1

Other side of the world

With the seventh event in 2010, the IOC was held beyond the US and Europe for the first time. The meeting was co-hosted by the Australian Society of Orthodontists and the Asian Pacific Orthodontic Society at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. Innovations included electronic poster presentations that could be downloaded to flash drives by delegates.7

There's no place like London

At the 2007 American Orthodontic Conference in Seattle, Washington, it was announced that London would be staging the IOC for a third time, the only city so far to do so. The British Orthodontic Society had successfully seen off competition from Canada, Mexico and Spain in its bid to host the eighth IOC.8 This event will take place from 27-30 September 2015 and promises to provide the ideal forum for orthodontists from around the world to improve their knowledge and clinical skills and to enhance the science and art of orthodontics.9 Programmes aimed specifically at different orthodontic team members will run in parallel and a World Village Day is also planned which will include seven parallel, full-day programmes. The congress will take place at ExCeL, while social events will take place at venues including Madame Tussauds, the Natural History Museum and Old Billingsgate Market.

Turning Japanese

Following London 2015, 2020 will see the congress held in Asia for the first time – in 2012 the WFO executive committee announced that the Japanese Orthodontic Society (JOS) had been selected to co-host the 9th IOC in 2020. The event will be held at Japan's largest convention complex, the Pacifico Yokohama Convention Complex, in the port city of Yokohama from 4-7 October 2020.10

For the full programme and further information, visit the IOC website at: http://wfo2015london.org.