Community Dental Health

cover art

Cover Date:
June 2011
Print ISSN:
0265 539X
Vol:
28
Issue:
2

Editorial - The European Association of Dental Public Health: Coming of Age

The European Association of Dental Public Health sees the 16th annual congress of this learned society in the wonderful city of Rome, on the 22 ~ 24th September 2011; I recommend you book early as the number and quality of abstracts received so far, exceeds all expectations (www.eadph2011.it). Coming of age or the “age of majority” is the legal threshold of adulthood. In Scotland this is at age 16, but typically it is 18 and it is the moment when a child stops being a minor and assumes control over their actions, and decisions. However, here the metaphor breaks down, as the precocious EADPH has always been independent. The law in a given jurisdiction may never actually use the term “age of majority” and the term refers to a collection of laws bestowing the status of adulthood. In practical terms, there are specific actions they are permitted to take, which they could not do before. These may include entering into a binding contract (possibly incurring debt), buying and/or consuming alcoholic drinks or tobacco, driving motor vehicles on public roads, and marrying without obtaining the consent of others. The ages at which these various rights or powers may be exercised vary between different European countries. They also seem to be those lifestyle choices so regularly blamed for poor health and also oral health. The age of majority applies to consent to dental examinations for dental surveys and as we celebrate 16 years of the EADPH, we now need time to think about coordinating dental surveys across Europe for those age groups recommended by World Health Organisation. When the European Association of Dental Public Health was founded in 1996 the original aims were (and remain): • • • • • • to promote oral health and oral health strategies within Europe; to be an advocate on oral health issues; to be supportive of oral health initiatives within countries; to raise the profile of oral health by developing links with the EU Commission; to work towards the development and recognition of the speciality of dental public health within Europe; to work constructively with industry by providing a network and expertise in the evaluation of products and to harmonise advice on products impacting on oral health across Europe. The inaugural meeting of EADPH was a joint meeting held in Dundee in 1996. And next year in 2012 the 17th annual congress will be a joint meeting running over 3 days in London. Special interest groups, which started at the 13th congress in Heidelberg, will again be meeting. They aim to: • • • • • Bring together people with an interest in the topic concerned Review and discuss the “current state of the art” in the topic or a part of the topic Identify work that needs to be done to improve the “current state of the art” Produce a position paper that sets out the “current state of the art” and future work that needs to be carried out to improve it Plan how to develop collaborations to improve some of the identified deficiencies.

The six special interest groups and their chairs are: - Caries Epidemiology and Prevention - Nigel Pitts - Gerodontology - Jacques Vanobbergen & Luc Devisschere - Health Services Research - Rebecca Harris - Periodontal Epidemiology - Roos Leroy & Ken Eaton - Prevention of Oral Cancer - Stefano Petti - Tooth Surface Loss/Erosion - Carolina Ganss When registering for the congress you select three special interest groups to attend and hopefully contribute. This is an excellent way to start international collaborations across Europe. Register for the annual congress before 15th June 2011 and a reduced member rate applies. I look forward to seeing you there. This conference has been held in venues across Europe over the years. Previously these were: 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th Dundee, Scotland Cittadella, Italy Santander, Spain Strasbourg, France Cork, Ireland Marburg, Germany Athens, Greece Juvaskula, Finland 9th Porto, Portugal 10th Liverpool, England 11th Prague, Czech Republic 12th Ghent, Belgium 13th Heidelberg, Germany 14th Tromsø, Norway 15th Constanta, Romania.

Thanks to Professor Nigel Pitts for his help with this editorial.

Correspondence to: Consultant in Dental Public Health, NHS Health Scotland, Thistle House, 2nd Floor, 91 Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH12 5HE, UK. Email: colwyn.jones@nhs.net

Article Price
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Page Start
122
Page End
122
Authors
Colwyn Jones

Articles from this issue

  • Title
  • Pg. Start
  • Pg. End

  1. Editorial - The European Association of Dental Public Health: Coming of Age
  2. 122
  3. 122

  1. Pricing and competition in the private dental market in Finland
  2. 123
  3. 127

  1. Geographical accessibility to dental care in the Japanese elderly
  2. 128
  3. 135

  1. Socioeconomic inequality in self-reported oral health status: The experience of Thailand after implementation of the Universal Coverage policy
  2. 136
  3. 142

  1. Oral health status and inequalities among ambulant older adults living in central Chile
  2. 143
  3. 148

  1. Relationship between dental anxiety, general anxiety level and depression in patients attending a university hospital dental clinic in Turkey.
  2. 149
  3. 153

  1. Mesial migration and loss of first molars among young adolescents in Kuwait
  2. 154
  3. 159

  1. CDH June11 2584-Liu pp160-164.pdf
  2. 160
  3. 164

  1. Relationship between bone fragility of the mandibular inferior cortex and tooth loss related to periodontal disease in older people
  2. 165
  3. 169

  1. The Relationship between Self-Reported Oral Health, Self-Regulation, Proactive Coping, Procrastination and Proactive Attitude
  2. 170
  3. 173

  1. Is there a correlation between dental caries and body mass index-for-age among adolescents in Iran?
  2. 174
  3. 177

  1. Nigerian dentists’ knowledge of the current guidelines for preventing infective endocarditis
  2. 178
  3. 181

  1. A new index to measure tooth wear – methodolgy and practical advice
  2. 182
  3. 187

  1. Review of report of workshop on “Effective Use of Fluoride in Asia”
  2. 188
  3. 188