COMMUNIQUE

 

Communique

 

 

WG Evans

 

 

The South African Dental Association has been part of the World Federation for many years. It is customary that we have a representative attend the World FDI Conference and our Association has maintained close ties with the parent body. At this time of the year when South Africa honours Women, recalling the historic 1956 march to the Union Buildings, it is apposite to find that the FDI Conference is to have a special section of the 2016 programme dedicated to "Women In Dentistry". The Welcome letter by the President and the programme outline are reprinted below, with acknowledgements to the FDI, and the Association is happy to include these announcements in this month's Communique.

The FDI annual world Dental congress is unique in the opportunities it provides for learning and debate with dental colleagues from around the world.

The FDI Annual World Dental Congress is, in fact, two interconnected but distinct events: on the one hand, there is an international congress with a first-rate scientific programme delivered by top international, regional and national speakers. FDI is proud to bring together in one place some of the recognized 'heavyweights' of the international dental community, all of them specialists in key areas of modern dentistry. We are also very proud of some of the new sessions, first introduced in 2012. They include 'meet the expert' sessions, a true innovation, where participants have the opportunity of interacting with major figures in international dentistry. A recent innovation has been the World Oral Health Forum, usually in two separate sessions, which focuses on areas on public policy and oral health. The aim is to widen the debate, with speakers from other health or policy sectors.

On the other hand, the FDI congress is the once-yearly get-together of the World Dental Parliament, a decades-long part of FDI. It is a mixture of formal and informal sessions: central is the General Assembly, our federation's supreme legislative and governing body, where the project leaders from among FDI membership report on progress over the past twelve months in key areas where FDI and its partners are incrementally moving towards FDI's ultimate goal of 'Leading the World to Optimal Oral Health'. This is supplemented by the three Open Forums, where policy debate takes place in as less formal atmosphere.

Poland is an excellent choice because, with a resilient economy, demand for dental services is growing rapidly, with growth in the private dental sector estimated between 20 and 30% per year. So it makes sense to hold an international event there at this time.

Geographically, Poland is at a cross roads and we believe ideally placed to attract participants from throughout Europe. We also believe that it has the potential to attract participants from around the world. In addition, we know that we have a top quality local team so we really expect a large turn-out for the FDI Annual World Dental Congress in Poznan and count on it being the landmark international event in dentistry in 2016.

 

 

Dr Patrick Hescot FDI President

 

WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP IN GLOBAL HEALTH

1. Global Health through oral Health: issues & challenges (Dr Lois Cohen)

• To understand global health problems as these intersect with oral health/diseases

• To focus on roles for the oral health workforce in the context of these problems.

• To consider gender concerns in relationship to the global health issues and potential solutions.

Differential definitions of global health will be presented with their similarities and differences regarding target populations, the services needed, underlying assumptions regarding social equity, scope of skills needed to address the extant problems, mix of interventions and health care delivery models. Contextual settings in which infectious diseases and the non-communicable diseases interact and the infrastructure that varies across the globe present unique opportunities for new workforce strategies to deal with prevention, diagnosis and care. How gender plays a role in health and disease in many cultural settings is also becoming important for development assistance programs as they continue to grasp how people live, work and relate to each other at all levels. Delivering services, hoping to help, in multidisciplinary collaborative teams presents a challenge for oral health professionals but one in which women's leadership is uniquely suited.

2. women Leading change (Dr Jeanne Craig Sinkford)

• To learn global strategies from four International Women's Leadership Conferences: France, Sweden, Canada, and Brazil.

• To identify critical factors in leadership training for the advancement of women.

• To understand an emerging paradigm for women's health across a lifespan that includes interprofessional education and team-based care.

Gender in the leadership pipeline is an imperative for global health. The value of gender focused leadership training will be presented using a diagnostic prescriptive model for mid-level career development. Mentoring, career laddering, and interventions will be discussed. The concept of a new paradigm for women's health will be presented for its potential use in curriculum changes and interprofessional education.

 

ANESTHESIA AND SEDATION IN THE DENTAL OFFICE

1. What if something goes wrong?

(Dr Zeljka Martinovic)

• Fobic patients - Quality of life

• The frequency of the emergencies in dental office

• Patient selection - how to identify risk patient

• Protocols and procedures in specific situations

Sedation can be method of choice for the treatment of phobic patients and for the long lasting dental procedures. Good selection of patient is very important as well as good knowledge of the procedures and pharmacology of sedative agents. Emergencies in dental offices are more often than expected. Dental office team must be prepared to recognize and trained to deal with this. The ideal sedative agent would be the one with rapid onset, easy titration, high clearance and good safety profile. The development of new modes of administration would improve the quality of sedation.

2. Sedation in dental office: pro et contra

(Dr Daniela Bandic Pavlovic)

• Different types of sedation

• The right type of sedation for the right patient

• Minimizing the exposure of the dental office team

Different types of sedation enable dentist to resolve all fobic patients. Whether we use inhalation, intravenous or oral sedation depends on patients characteristics (comorbidities) and preference of the anesthesiologist. Comparison of different technique, pro and contra effects explains how to choose the right type of sedation for the right patient. Last but not least, we will disscuss exposure of dental office team to inhalation sedative (nitrous oxide).

3. How to minimize anesthesia to the patients: mini- invasive surgery (Dr Maria Gabriella Grusovin)

To learn the up-to-date mini invasive surgical approach in periodontology and implantology.

Nowadays many alternatives for surgery are proposed and both patients and clinicians are looking for the most predictable, simplest and less painful treatment option, which could lessen the use of anesthesia. The presentation will focus on the different aspects of surgical clinical choices such as flapless surgery as opposed to flap elevation, short implants as an alternative to bone augmentation, post extractive implants versus delayed one, describing advantages and complications both from a clinical and a scientific point of view. Clinical use of anaesthesia technique will be described.

The Congress Organisers.

A comprehensive and intriguing programme.

To all our women members, the very best wishes of the Association, and sincere appreciation for all your contributions and commitments.