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Worldental Daily Advanced issue

Opinion Advance Issue O fallthereasonsthatFDIHong Kong 2012 is special, three spring most immediately to mind, one sentimental, one political and one visionary. The sentimental reason is that this is the 100th anniversary of the Annual World Dental Congress, a landmarkeventcelebratingscientific research and education in dental medicine. I do urge you to visit the FDI stand, where one exhibit traces the milestones of FDI since its found- ing in 1900. In many ways, the exhibit also reflects well over a century of the history of dentistry and of interna- tional cooperation and understand- ing among the world’s oral health community. The Congress is political in the sense that the latest orientation of in oral health policy is also on display with the launch of the much-anti- cipated FDI Global Caries Initiative (GCI) website, which brings together individuals and groups from around the world to exchange, communicate and share knowledge on caries man- agement and the development of a new preventive paradigm. The GCI prevention paradigm dovetails with FDI’s most recent con- certed effort in public and oral health in the field of noncommunicable dis- eases(NCDs).FDIhaslongadvocated that oral health should be integrated into a common risk factor strategy with other NCDs, in particular cardio- vascularandrespiratorydisease,dia- betes and cancer. This principle is now, thanks in part to FDI, enshrined in public policy in the United Nations Political Declaration on NCDs, which callsforanapproachbasedoncontrol and prevention. The Congress is visionary be- cause two days before, the World Dental Parliament, meeting here in Hong Kong, saw the launch of and debate on FDI’s Vision 2020, a roadmap for the coming decade in dental medicine. This document, de- veloped by a specially-created con- stituted task team in collaboration with our members, is, as its preface proclaims, inspirational and aspira- tional. The opening sentences contain principles with which all delegates attending this FDI congress no doubt agree: “Oral health is an essential component of good health, and good oral health is a fundamental human right. The role of the dental profes- sion is to help the population and decision-makers to achieve health through good oral health.” Vision 2020 contains a strategic approach to five key identified areas: meeting the increasing need and de- mand for oral health care; expanding the role of oral health-care profes- sionals; shapinge a responsive edu- cational model; mitigatinge the im- pacts of socio-economic dynamics; and fostering fundamental research and translational technology. It is a blueprint for adapting and changing the dental profession to a world in constant evolution. On this opening day of the FDI Hong Kong 2012, I would like to bid you all welcome and express the hope that you will have a prof- itable, informative and an enjoyable stay during the ... congress of the century! FDIHongKong2012:sentimental,political,visionary ByOrlandoMonteirodaSilva,FDIPresident P hase II of Live.Learn.Laugh. continues to go from strength to strength.We kick started the year with a global workshop in Istan- bul in February, which brought part- nership participants together to share experiences, achievements and, in some cases, challenges. These face- to-faceencountersarecentraltoLLL’s continuedrelevanceandsuccess. Phase II of our partnership has potential for significant impact, both through its conceptual design and im- plementation of projects locally. Our message:“brushtwicedailywithaflu- oridetoothpaste”ispowerfulinitssim- plicity—acalltoactionbasedonsound science and professional support. All evidence shows that this is the best waytoimproveoralhealthglobally. This single focus enables FDI and Unilever to provide targeted sup- port to all local teams and brings benefits of scale across the part- nership, for greater impact. Through offering a menu of implementa- tion options, focusing on patients, schoolchildren,prenatalandinfants, our national dental association and Unileverpartnersineachcountrycan choose the option that is right for them.This flexibility makes the most of valuable local expertise to ensure project relevance, accepting that adaptation can be essential for real, sustainablebenefitwithinlocalcom- munities. The four implementation options are designed to promote increased awareness of the importance of oral health in target populations, and to educate them in good preventive oral health behaviours. As with many other behaviour change interven- tions, we focus particularly on chil- dren, for whom we hope that learning healthy habits will provide benefits over a lifetime. All projects are evalu- ated through data collection, some withaclinicalcomponent.Overall,we anticipate tangible impact in terms ofsurveillance,community-levelcare and follow-up. From our perspective as global partners, LLL remains a model part- nership within the overall FDI vision of leading the world to optimal oral health, and contributes to Unilever’s aim of helping one billion people improve their health and well-being, as part of its Sustainable Living Plan. Ourcommitmenttoworkingtogether, combining our skills and resources and applying them towards a shared goal, is the first example of a truly global health partnership in the field of oral health and dentistry. Oral health is an integral part of general health and well-being; im- proving oral health means improving people’slives:itmeanslesspainfrom decaying teeth, and fewer school- or work-days lost through oral disease- related absences. Unilever Oral Care and FDI are proud to be partners in Live.Learn.Laugh. Look out for up- dates from LLLin Asia throughWorld- dental Daily at the congress. Dr Monica Carlile is Global Profes- sionalMarketingManageratUnilever Oral Care. Dr Virginie Horn is Edu- cation and Development Manager at FDI. Both are working together to managetheLLLpartnershiponbehalf of the global partners. Moving forward with Live.Learn.Laugh. ByDrsMonicaCarlile&VirginieHorn IOrlandoMonteirodaSilva IDrMonicaCarlile IDrVirginieHorn 04 www.fdiworldental.org