FDI plans global caries conference

Rio de Janeiro—The FDI World Dental Federation will launch its Global Caries Initiative July 15-17 at the Rio Caries Conference.

Dentists and stakeholders worldwide are welcome to attend the conference, designed to gather international experts to explore solutions to meet the challenges posed by dental caries in Latin America and help the region’s communities improve their quality of life.

“This is not just another conference on caries,” said Dr. David Alexander, FDI executive director. “It will be a cooperative effort by the international dental organizations that represent practice, research and education together with national dental associations throughout the region to develop a call to action with explicit responsibilities and timelines.”

The FDI, the International Association of Dental Research and the International Federation of Dental Educators and Associations will use an evidence-based approach to work with Latin American dental associations, the Pan American Health Organization, government representatives and other stakeholders to address the profession’s response to the ongoing challenge of dental caries, added Dr. Alexander.

“Through the conference, we’ll establish an action plan and call for progress reports for the next five years and more to make sure stakeholders are working toward the goals the conference will set.”

FDI plans to hold similar conferences in the future to address the global public health challenge of caries region by region.

“Dental caries is front and center strictly dentistry’s issue,” he added. “Caries is totally preventable and it is not just an issue of ‘holes in teeth’. Children affected by caries are not developing into the adults they should be because the disease compromises their health and education. Caries doesn’t just affect oral health—it affects quality of life in many communities.”

The FDI’s Global Caries Initiative will focus on seven areas that will be addressed to develop a new paradigm for managing dental caries:

• reducing prevalence of dental caries globally, which despite significant efforts in many communities, remains a major burden due to its contribution to total morbidity and impact on health systems;
• the gap between current scientific knowledge of dental caries and caries management in clinical dental practice;
• prevention as the foundation for oral health policy, which supports an evidence-based whole-population approach with implementation at a community level;
• advocacy for health promotion and the use of fluorides;
• health workforce education issues and their influence on the delivery of, and access to, primary dental care services;
• issues that might influence the current management of dental caries, particularly the assessment of risk factors associated with caries at the individual level;
• the use and availability of restorative materials, those which support the concept of ‘minimum intervention’, and those which may influence the carious process.

The FDI will be working closely with the ADA and its membership through the global caries initiative. ADA members and staff are helping provide global leadership for the initiative, added Dr. Alexander.

“The fact of the matter is that oral health issues know no national or regional boundaries, nor are diseases limited by them,” said Dr. Daniel M. Meyer, ADA Senior Vice-President, Science/Professional Affairs. Dr. Meyer will be a presenter at the conference.

“The conditions and issues affecting oral health in our communities are not unique to the United States. We have much to share, contribute and learn from our international colleagues,” added Dr. Meyer. “The ADA has played a major role and has made considerable progress in attacking dental caries through prevention, early detection, disease management, chemotherapeutics and state-of-the-art restorative techniques, though far more remains to be done. As our understanding of the relationship of oral conditions and health continues to increase, it is becoming more obvious how we can contribute to improving health not only in the U.S., but globally as well.

“The ADA is currently involved with developing a more clinically relevant dental classification system for national and international use along with scientifically-based clinical risk assessment tools to help respond to access to care issues and individual patient needs in a meaningful way,” Dr. Meyer said.

“FDI is ready to work closely with the ADA and our other member organizations on an issue that affects dentists and citizens worldwide,” said Dr. Alexander.

The conference will be conducted in English and Portuguese. For more information on the Global Caries Initiative and the Rio Caries Conference, or to register for the conference, visit the FDI Web site: www.fdiworldental.org.

For information on other ADA international initiatives, contact the Division of Global Affairs, Ext. 2726 or international@ada.org.