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The initiative also advocates for the inclusion of oral health in all policies, a matter first raised in a WHO report published in 2010. “One of the motivating forces behind Vision 2020 and the subjects it highlights is the FDI’s engagement in the field of noncommunicable diseases—or chronic diseases as they are more frequently known,” Monteiro da Silva said. “The FDI succeeded within the United Nations and WHO in imposing the view that oral diseases share risk factors with chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases; they would therefore benefit from similar prevention and control activities.”
In the next step, his organisation intends to demonstrate that the profession can quickly adapt itself to this requirement, according to Monteiro da Silva. Discussions on the way forward will take place in the morning on Friday, 30 August, during the World Oral Health Forum.
The future of dental materials for direct restoration in a post-Minamata Convention world will also be in focus at a symposium organised by FDI partner the International Association for Dental Research. It follows a treaty on the phase-down of dental amalgam agreed upon by more than 140 governments in Geneva earlier this year, which is expected to be signed in Minamata, the city in Japan where the first major mercury poisoning incident occurred, this autumn and to come into full effect by 2020. Measures will include the support of developing nations in developing alternatives to processes that utilise mercury and reducing emissions through new technologies, among other things.
“Dental mercury came within the remit of the United Nations Environment Programme debates, and the issue in the final analysis became whether dental amalgam should be phased out completely, in the interests of the environment; or whether, in the interests of human health, its use should be phased down over a period of time,” Monteiro da Silva commented. “The phase-down approach will give researchers the time to devise and test new materials. It will also give dental medicine the time to adapt and evolve towards a preventive rather than a restorative model.”
In Istanbul, the FDI will be launching the 2014 World Oral Health Day campaign, with visuals and messages intended to promote the public oral health event, which will take place on 20 March 2014 worldwide. Also on the agenda will be progress in the Live.Learn.Laugh. partnership with dental consumables manufacturer Unilever, which currently runs oral health education projects in 27 countries, including primary schools in Turkey. New this year is the FDI’s Strategy for Africa, a collaboration between the organisation and a number of national dental associations in Africa in order to improve effectiveness in the implementation of oral health measures on the continent, which is plagued by dental disease.
This year’s congress in Istanbul has been organised in partnership with the Turkish Dental Association. In the next four days, more than 160 experts from Turkey and around the world will be presenting on public oral health issues, as well as new developments in clinical methods and applications. In addition, an industry exhibition will be showcasing what the international and local industry currently has to offer. Along with the latest dental instruments and materials, advanced technologies, like dental imaging and CAD/CAM systems, will be on display. Over 250 companies have registered for the industry showcase.
Also on the exhibition floor, the Dental Tribune Study Club will be holding its fourth clinical symposium, which is supported by dental manufacturers Shofu, Kerr and COLTENE, among others, and features clinical experts, who will be discussing new concepts and technologies in dentistry. All presentations will be recorded live for viewing online after the show on the DT Study Club e-learning platform.
Today will see the launch of the medical clothing line of German fashion label CROIXTURE, which starts at 11:00. at Booths B032/B066. Access to the fashion show and symposium is free of charge for visitors of the congress.
According to the latest figures from the FDI, more than 12,000 dental professionals from Turkey and around the globe are expected to attend the congress over the course of the next three days. It will officially be opened during an opening ceremony today at the Istanbul Congress Center starting at 18:30.
It is the first time that the event is taking place in Istanbul. The Turkish Dental Association won the bid after the congress that was to take place in South Korea in 2013 was cancelled. The organisation has been a member of the FDI World Dental Federation since 1989 and currently represents about 22,000 Turkish dentists.
