IDS 2019

•••3••• Interview “Urgent need to address oral health” DIEMESSE in discussion with Dr Kathryn Kell, President of the FDI World Dental Federation Dr Kathryn Kell, the FDI World Dental FederationǱs performance at the trade show IDS-Internation- al Dental Show is quite important: you have a stand in Hall 11 as well as in the Passage between Hall 10 and 11. What are your priorities this year? The IDS – International Dental Show is a great opportunity for FDI to meet in person with our corporate partners who help sup- port our projects and campaigns so that we can fulfil our vision of leading the world to optimal oral health, network with dentists from around the world as well as promote our activities widely. We’re particularly excited about our 2019 World Oral Health Day (WOHD) campaign, under the theme of “Say Ahh: Act on Mouth Health”, we want to motivate people to take charge of their oral health and practice good oral hygiene habits as well as man- age risk factors so that good oral health and general health can be secured. IDS is a great way for us to engage with oral health profes- sionals, who see patients every day, and make them aware of the tools we have developed to aid them in their patient care as well as encourage them to celebrate WOHD in their clinics and practices. IDS is also an opportunity for us to raise awareness of the FDI World Dental Congress, which will be held this year in San Fran- cisco, USA, from 5 to 9 Septem- ber. This is FDI’s annual flagship event and a key date for the oral health community. The Congress features top-notch courses and dynamic workshops in all fields of dentistry and oral health as well as hun- dreds of booths displaying the latest oral health prod- ucts and services. It’s the ideal platform for member NDAs, industries and other stakeholders to meet and collaborate. FDI is going to build up a da- tabase on oral health with- in its Vision 2020 project. What’s the status quo of the global oral health situation? There is an urgent need world- wide to address oral health. Oral diseases are the most com- mon noncommunicable diseases (NCDs); oral diseases affect half of the world’s population (3.58 billion people). Despite the high social and economic burden of oral disease, oral health is still not considered a priority issue by gov- ernments and has remained a low priority on the global health and development agenda. As part of our Vision 2020 advo- cacy work, we’ve developed a strategy to increase oral health literacy and achieve political com- mitment and action on oral health in all countries. The three pillars of FDI’s advocacy strategy are to ensure oral health is recognized and accepted as a core element of general health; to integrate oral health into prevention and treatment of other noncommuni- cable diseases (NCDs); and to mo- bilize members to build national capacity to effectively influence and shape oral health priorities. In order to monitor progress in oral health in a consistent way glob- ally, FDI launched a new definition in 2016 and is now in the process of finalizing a set of indicators that can help in the surveillance and monitoring of oral diseases. Can you give us a rough global out- look about the challenges dental and oral health are facing, both in advanced economies – Western Europe and North America – and in developing economies? All major NCDs, including most oral diseases, share the same social determinants. The social determinants of health are the circumstances into which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These circumstances, which largely determine the behaviours people adopt and the choices they make, are in turn shaped by a wid- er set of forces: economics, social policies, education, politics and many more. The unequal distribution of all these determining factors accounts for the persisting and growing global differ- ences in health status and disease burden. We need to develop a broader integrative strat- egy that considers the common risk factors and the root determi- nants of health to create fair and equitable approaches to promot- ing better oral health and general health. Dental caries is probably the most common oral disease representing a significant economic burden on health systems worldwide. What hinders us to completely overcome tooth decay? Indeed, dental caries are the most widespread chronic disease worldwide and constitutes a ma- jor global public health challenge. It is estimated that 2.4 billion peo- ple suffer from caries of perma- nent teeth and 486 million chil- dren suffer from caries of primary teeth. Despite the widespread na- ture of dental caries, reliable, standardized global data are lim- ited. This is largely because oral health data are not integrated in national disease surveillance, par- ticularly in low-and middle-income countries. This lack of up-to-date epidemiologic information con- strains the development of ap- propriate approaches to reduce the disease burden. In addition, sugar is a major risk factor for dental caries and there must be effective policies in place to en- sure exposure to food and drinks high in added sugars is limited and healthy diets are promoted. IDS is showcasing a series of new dental materials like ceramics for the restoration of teeth, but also 3-D printing technology that us- es plastic to manufacture dental models. Hence, are we going to see the future of dentistry and oral medicine in Cologne? Digital dentistry, including CAD/ CAM is a priority for us at FDI. It’s certainly a hot topic that we’ve taken an interest in as an organi- zation for some time. CAD/CAM processes concern all branches of dentistry involving custom-made medical devices, including restor- ative dentistry, prosthetic den- tistry, dental implant procedures, and orthodontics, all of which having seen new or improved therapeutic solutions emerging from the use of CAD/CAM tech- nologies. We support a strong collabora- tion between manufacturers, academics and all stakeholders in continuous education, to better inform and educate dentists on innovative therapeutic solutions, their indications and contra-in- dications. We also support the implementation of initial forma- tion and continuous professional development on CAD/CAM den- tistry, for dentists and laboratory technicians, at the national, re- gional and international level. The IDS – International Dental Show is regarded as the perfor- mance show of the industry. What are you particularly curious about this year here in Cologne? IDS is a fantastic opportunity for us to connect with our partners and supporters in the dental in- dustry. They are the ones who help FDI deliver on its mission, and it is a privilege for me to meet them face to face during this event. Oral health is a global challenge – both for institutions (govern- ments, international organisa- tions) as well as for dentists and orthodontists. Through its ini- tiatives, FDI World Dental Fed- eration is addressing both sides. “IDS is a great way for us to en- gage with oral health profes- sionals and make them aware of the tools we have developed to aid them in their patient care,” FDI President Dr Kath- ryn Kell says. She discusses with DIE MESSE the status of oral health and tells us what to do in order to improve the situation. Dr Kathryn Kell, President of the FDI World Dental Federation Photo: FDI FDI World Dental Congress 2018 in Buenos Aires Photo: FDI