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Global Perspectives for the IADR and Dental Research

Guys, Kings & St Thomas’ Dental Institute, Kings College London, Oral Medicine & Pathology, Floor 28, Guys Tower, Guys Hospital, England SE1 9RT; stephen.challacombe{at}kcl.ac.uk

KEY WORDS: IADR • mission • strategic plan • research • vision

I am honored, grateful to you, and privileged to be elected as the 82nd President of the IADR. I would like to briefly share with you some thoughts on the IADR and where I hope that it is going over the next years.

MISSIONS

The IADR was founded with the aim of creating an international organization to further the interests of dental research by combining the talents of clinical and basic research workers. This idea, developed by William Gies and a group of interested individuals, has grown into the present world-wide association of over 12,000 members, and is testimony not only to the importance of that concept, but also to the success of the IADR.

The concept is even more valid today than it was then. Science has become much more complicated and reliant on expertise in technology. If this expertise is to be harnessed in the interests of clinical science, collaboration and teamwork are paramount. I am convinced that the interests and success of dental research are best served by such a teamwork approach, combining the talents of scientists and clinical academics, working on basic and clinically applied research questions. Clinicians and basic scientists need to work closely to utilize new technologies for oral and dental health improvement. It is sobering to reflect that, in spite of all the new technologies, we still do not clearly understand the inherent mechanisms of the initiation and progression of periodontal disease or of dental caries. Neither do we fully understand the molecular events governing craniofacial development, or the events leading to the transformation of normal mucosa to malignant disease.

CHANGES IN STRUCTURE: STRATEGIC PLAN

Let me remind you of our first mission: to advance research and increase knowledge for the improvement of oral health worldwide. Over the last two years, the IADR Board has been looking at every aspect of our organization, and Board member Susan Reisine and I have made several suggestions to be incorporated into a new Strategic Plan, designed to help us meet this and the other missions of the IADR.

I hope that all members share my belief that the IADR Strategic Plan is a vision document building on past successes. The IADR can be proud of its achievements, but it is important for the organization to continue to make use of its combined prodigious talents in the interests of international dental research. The creation of new Sections and Divisions in China, Africa, and South America is very encouraging, and I see a major role for the IADR in continuing to promote and support dental research in many other countries. The creation of IADR Federations should also help in collaboration between and among Divisions and Sections. The potential for harnessing information technology to enhance oral and dental research globally is very exciting. The main changes designed to help us attain this ideal are: (a) the increase from three to five Board members, designated as Regional Board Members, with more defined responsibilities; (b) enfranchising all Scientific Groups with the same voting rights on Council as Divisions enjoy; (c) requiring that Divisions and Groups be comprised of a minimum of 50 active members; and (d) making membership in Scientific Groups free for students.

WHY DO RESEARCH? DOES OUR RESEARCH MATTER?

All of our research matters, but it is important not to lose sight of the reasons that we perform research. I think that one must do research because we believe that, however small the piece of work we do, it will, in the end, contribute to knowledge that benefits mankind. In other words, our research has a purpose. It matters.

It is worth recalling that dental scientists have frequently made observations that have had a major impact on medical science as a whole. In my own fields, I think of the work of Gibbons and Williams at Forsyth on the specificity of bacterial adherence to epithelial cells which has led to the whole area of cellular microbiology, the work of Mestecky and colleagues in Birmingham, Alabama, who first showed, in humans, the concept of the common mucosal immune system and that the mouth was part of it, and the work of Lehner and his colleagues at Guys Hospital in London who have brought the concept of immunity to oral diseases to general immunology.

VISIONS FOR THE IADR

It is important for the IADR to be seen as the source of evidence that allows Governments to make informed decisions on their strategies for the delivery of oral healthcare. The IADR will need to maintain close ties with global partners such as WHO and FDI and form links wherever possible with national research councils, government bodies, and industrial groups, which have done much to support our progress.

My personal mission, therefore, is to promote the above concepts for the benefit of the IADR, and to ensure that the IADR remains an organization of vision and integrity in which the oral and dental research community can take pride.

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