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Time Traveling

Meeting of the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE)


"To establish a model of electronic curriculum in dentistry from a global perspective, in order to make it possible to send and obtain information from anywhere in the planet through modern technology" - this was the main discussion subject of the Congress of the Association for Dental Education in Europe, which took place last September in Reims, France. The official theme of the event was Information Technology applied to Dentistry. The event gathered more than 200 participants from all over the world.

According to lecturers, this model would send information to regions that do not have the necessary human resources.

The congress was also the set to organize the decrees of the International Federation of Dental Education Associations (IFDEA) that presently groups ADEE from Europe, AADS (American Association of Dental Schools) from North America, and OFEDO/UDUAL, from Latin-America. Besides that, a covenant was established between the Associations Federation and WHO for the participation and collaboration in the activities of the World Health Day (WHD) and of the Year of Oral Health (YOH), which will be celebrated this year. The next meeting of ADEE will be in September, in the city of Malmöe, Sweden, covering the theme Education through problem-studying in dental training.

North-South Project, San Jose, Costa Rica

Prevention was the theme of the III Workshop of the North-South Project, which is coordinated by the Puerto Rico University with financial support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. The event took place last September in San Jose, Costa Rica. Representatives of AADS, IADR and OFEDO/UDUAL were present, besides experts in the subject from the three Americas. During the meeting it was discussed the different preventive systems at primary, secondary and tertiary levels in the Americas, methodologies of epidemiological studies covering the themes: Cancer, AIDS, periodontal disease and caries.

OFEDO/UDUAL elected Roberto Vianna

Brazilian schools will now have more opportunity to exchange and participate in the Latin-American Organization of Dental Schools/Union of Latin-American Universities - OFEDO/UDUAL - with the election of the new president, professor of the Dental School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Dr. Roberto Vianna. Vianna, who was elected in the biannual conference of OFEDO/UDUAL last year in Buenos Aires, Argentina, stressed in his speech the incentive given by this organization to the exchange among teachers, students and researchers of the faculties and schools of dentistry of Latin-America.

"I take over the presidency with the aim to bring Brazilian schools closer to this important organization, and also to carry on the projects in course, relevant to the group of institutions affiliated in all Latin-America.", said Dr. Roberto Vianna.

Whom should Universities attend to?

Professionals point out that universities have increasingly been neglecting its prime principles - teaching, research and service rendering. They think that the predominantly biologic oriented references guiding the course of dental research and the scarce closeness to health services are the main aggravating factors. "It is important that teachers and teaching levels change, turning to a training of health professionals more adequate to the reality of the country", says Professor Paulo Capel during the panel Human Resources in Dentistry, by the University of Baurú, São Paulo, last June.

According to participants of this panel, in spite of the scientific advances examined recently, countersigning a new understanding of caries, the quality of attention in oral health necessarily passes through a modernization of the state through a sanitary reform, with service decentralization and through an epidemiological approach and actions of a collective nature.

Dr. Swedenberger do Nascimento Barbosa, from the Interstate Dental Federation (FIO), denounced an association among some health sectors and the disease industry, which benefits from the profit, with no concern to the promotion of the health of the population. "It hinders very much the existence of an ideal model to solve the problems of the country, especially in the health sector", he explained.

The debating board consisted of representatives of the School of Public Health/ São Paulo State University, CADAIS - Health Council of the Estate of São Paulo, School of Dentistry/Baurú/São Paulo.

OFEDO/UDUAL

Antonio Mena Garcia, Dominican Republic

Conclusions reached at the VII Congress of OFEDO/UDUAL in Buenos Aires last year, reinforced the aim to find solutions to problems in dental practice. Based on three essential themes: The present situation of dental practice, Sanitary response, and Exchange strategies and experiences , the discussion has shown that health is a social, political process, "a right and a need of the civil society" and, therefore, related to all decisions and actions conducted by the actors involved. In this sense, only a collective work - including not only the government but also the society, organized as a whole through educational institutions, health services and professional associations - will contribute to find definite solutions to problems to oral health related problems.

In this context, discussants suggested changes in dental practice in order to, by acting through social agents, propose work lines and action strategies that make it possible to fight the present ideological, political, financial barriers. At this point the work groups suggested that OFEDO/UDUAL, the Coordination of Dental Services in Latin-America (COSAL) and the Latin-American Dental Federation (FOLA) keep on the commitment, through collective action, to direct dental practice within a more ethical, universal, conceptual mark, to lengthen social welfare.

Furthermore, it must be carried on the incentive work to citizenship practice by communities to effectively obtain this social achievements.

It was concluded that the conservative conception of a changeless world must be abandoned, understanding that change and permanent action are the adequate ways to reach development and social welfare.

Participants ask for new approaches

The VII Conference wasn't made only of debates. Participants asked for changes in the next congress. According to them, the meeting must have not only a wider convocation but also some changes must be made in the structure of the lectures. To the congress members, preparatory meetings should be held at universities and schools in order to enlarge proposals referring to the themes covered, thus enabling a larger representation of the institutions.

For the next meeting it was suggested the final report from the discussion groups be distributed among the audience to provide a better evaluation of works and more participation.

IFDEA

Mariano Sanz, ADEE General Secretary, Spain

During the meeting that took place in Reims, France, in October, 1993, it was founded one more international organism with the responsibility to promote development and advances in dental education. It was named International Federation of Dental Education Associations - IFDEA. By grouping the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE), the American Association of Dental Schools (AADS) and the Organization of Dental Schools of the Latin American Universities Union (OFEDO-UDUAL), IFDEA will be the representative, independent, universal voice of dental education. The federation will work as a free forum to the free exchange of ideas and researches in the field of dental education according to international perspectives. The federation will be represented by a council consisting of two members from each of the participating associations, and will be renewed every three years, with annual meetings.

Participants

IFDEA members have to be professionals belonging to national or international organizations interested in dental education and research. National organizations will only be allowed if there are no regional or international organization. It won't be allowed the participation of independent organizations or institutions. New participants will be accepted through the majority of votes from the effective members.

Intercountry Center of Oral Health

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Thailand develops oral health care systems through the improvement of basic programs of prevention and control of oral diseases, education, training and exchange courses with countries neighbor to Chiang Mai, where the project headquarters is located. Through the Center of Research, Demonstration and Training in Oral Health - the Intercountry Center of Oral Health (ICOH) - develops its work from three main aspects: research, training and practice. The center was created 10 years ago, in an initiative of the government of Thailand, Searo, New Delhi and WHO's Oral Health Unit.

Research works are based, mainly, on the fluoride level in the water, oral health status of communities, care methods and treatment alternatives.

In the training section, the Center always organize courses, training programs, workshops and meetings. It has achieved the training of 20 masters in International Public Health, through the exchange with the John J. Sparkman Center to the International Education in Public Health, of the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

The practical objective is to obtain possible, acceptable, realistic, economically feasible models of primary health care. Herewith, diverse destitute communities are assisted through the transmission of the Community Care Model for Oral Health. Through this project, inhabitants are oriented in the basic concepts of oral health, with simple, available methods. The Community Care Model tests the feasibility of diverse methods elaborated in other developing countries. The result is that the Thai have gained with alternative, low cost treatments.


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