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International Dentistry
INTERNATIONAL DENTISTRY
Great Britain
■ Metrication and Decimalization:
The British Dental Journal had the following to say about this most im portant change: “From March 3, 1969, it was un lawful for prescribing and dispens ing of drugs to be done otherwise than by use of the metric system. In preparation for this change, the cur rent editions of the British Pharma copoeia, British Pharmaceutical Co dex, and British National Formulary
— all published recently—have elim inated all reference to the imperial and apothecaries’ systems in relation to medicine and drugs. “For a number of years, many manufacturers of pharmaceutical preparations have marketed their products in metric quantities and this has provided—for those professions which prescribe or dispense drugs— some preliminary experience of the system. “No doubt a burden of extra work will fall on pharmacists, at first, to check and to convert some prescrip tions made by those unaccustomed
to the metric system. All dentists in contract to provide Part IV services under the National Health Service will receive shortly detailed guidance in the form of a circular from execu tive councils. “This change is being made at a time when the United Kingdom is changing to decimal and metric sys tems. The five new penny and ten new penny pieces are already famili ar, having been in circulation since April 23, 1968; the issue of the 50 new penny piece is planned for Oc tober, 1969; and the changeover to the complete new decimal coinage will take place in February, 1971. “Side by side with the change to a decimal currency, there proceeds the increasing use in Great Britain of the metric system in science, in industry, and for the purpose of daily life for which the expression of sizes and quantities is required. “At the present time, when the metric system is being used increas ingly in Great Britain and the cus tomary, time-honored native units are being replaced, it is of advantage that there is available a fully devel oped international system of metric units.
“In 1875, the Conference General des Poids et Mesures was set up in Paris, and this body has—since then — controlled the system. In 1960, it finally approved the Systeme Inter national d’Unites (SI) which derives all the quantities needed in all tech nologies from only six basic and ar bitrarily defined units. “Nearly 30 countries have now de cided to make SI their only legally accepted system. As each country joins them, another step is taken toward the achievement of a com mon language of quantitative mea surement for scientists of all kinds, for engineers and technologists, and for the general public. “The science and art of dentistry are becoming more and more inter national in the spread and under standing of their knowledge as well as through the ties and relationships between dental institutions and ser vices. This process is bound to in crease and widen.” ■ National Health Services: A daily newspaper published a report that Richard Crossman, secretary for social services, was advised that a conference of delegates from local INTERNATIONAL DENTISTRY ■ 1295
dental committees throughout Great Britain— called by the British Den tal Association to discuss the impli cation of the Green Paper recently published by the government— had passed a resolution calling on den tists not to renew their Health Ser vice contracts with the new health boards to be set up to run local ser vices, as proposed in the Green Paper. Dentists claim that the govern ment’s proposed “shakeup” of all medical services as outlined in the Green Paper is the first step toward ordering patients which dentist to attend. It could jeopardize the public’s freedom to choose private or Na tional Health Service treatment, and result in dentists themselves being directed to practice in certain areas. m An Informed Profession: The Brit ish Dental Journal, in advising the members of the dental profession in Great Britain of the importance of keeping well informed, has these comments: There is probably greater need at this time than any other since the es tablishment of the dental profession in Britain for every member to be well informed as to those develop ments currently proposed or fore cast which will affect the status, or ganization, and administration of the profession. The past 12 months have seen con clusion of studies initiated by the BDA and the publication of their re sults as papers which have been dis cussed by the Representative Board and circulated by publication in the British Dental Journal or one of its supplements. Government documents which have appeared during the past 12 months have included a number which, while not directly or wholly concerned with dentistry, may well have a profound effect on the orga nization of the profession and the livelihood of the dentist. Those which have received the most attention as being the most likely to have farreaching effects have been the Re port of the Royal Commission on Medical Education and the Green Paper on the Administrative Struc 1296 ■ JADA, Vol. 78, June 1969
A group of 23 US Arm y Dental Corps o ffice rs stationed in Europe—all sp e cia lists in prosthodontics—recently attended a four-day postgraduate course in advanced prosthod o n tics in London conducted by Kenneth P. Liddelow, chairm an of the departm ent of dental prosthetics, The Dental School, K in g ’s College H ospital, London. Pictured are (from left) Col Perry W. Bascom, 9th Hospital Center; Col Arnold W. K irch o ff, US Army, Europe, shown presenting a C e rtifica te of Appreciation to Doctor Liddelow; Col Louis Emory, co n su lta n t in prosthodontics, US Army, Europe; and Lt Col W illiam A. Jennings, pro je ct officer.
ture of Medical and Related Services in England and Wales. In connection with each of these, the British Dental Association has published papers which provide a useful basis for discussion. When legislation and regulations are introduced to give effect to pro posed changes, it will not do for in dividuals to say that they did not know what was coming. It will be too late then to say that the new legisla tion is wrong, restrictive, or retro grade. There have been no advances in the organization and administration of the dental profession in the past few decades comparable to the enormous advances in the technics of dental practice and the scientific knowledge of means to prevent den tal disease. The community has accepted im proved dental care based on the tech nical advances in dentistry with a system of adjustment of the dentist’s remuneration so that it gets the prin cipal benefit and he gets practically
none. The government, when setting up the Royal Commission on Medi cal Education, found itself unable to include dental education in its terms of reference, although the two are so closely related. There have been other fields in which a reluctance to take any interest in the advancement of the organization of the profession has been noted. The profession should accept the responsibility to propose the kind of education required to produce den tists able to meet the needs of the community in the next few decades. It is for the united dental profession to show, after consideration of the information available, how best and how most economically it can be or ganized and administered to provide a dental service for a community to the full extent which technical and scientific progress has now made possible. ■ Research: W. H. Bowen, depart ment of dental surgeons, Royal Col lege of Surgeons of England, pre
sented a report in the February issue of the British Dental Journal which has created much comment in the daily press. It is titled “A Vaccine Against Dental Caries: A Pilot Ex periment in Monkeys.” The experiment is described as follows: Since the identification of specific cariogenic microorganisms, the de velopment of a vaccine capable of preventing the disease has been rec ognized as an attractive possibility. This report describes an experiment carried out on six monkeys, three of which were vaccinated with whole, live bacterial cells. The summary reads: “Three monkeys vaccinated with whole, live dextran-forming strepto cocci developed substantially fewer carious lesions than control unvac cinated animals. The results of this exploratory trial encourage the be lief that vaccination may provide a means of preventing dental caries.” G. H . L E A T H E R M A N , D M D , F S C , FD SRCS
■ London: An album of photographs, presented to S. C. Barnum— in ap preciation of his invention of the rub ber dam— by the founding members of The American Dental Society of Europe about 1877, are being sought. The album could provide valuable material for a history of the Society, which is being planned for its com ing centennial. Anyone having any information about the album is asked to contact Donald Derrick, Honorary Secre tary, The American Dental Society of Europe, 140, Park Lane, London W.l, England.
OSis located in Belo Horizonte, and its elected president is Renato Quintinos dos Santos. There are nine re gional GBOS groups throughout Brazil. ■ Inter-American Meeting o f Den tists: This meeting will be held in
Porto Alegre, at the School of Den tistry of the Catholic University, July 7-11. Many courses, to be given by out standing authorities, are scheduled at this convention. These include re movable prosthesis, by Reinaldo Todescan; caries prevention, Alfredo Reis Viegas; oral surgery, Mario Graziani; fixed prosthesis, Palmiro Fava; radiology, Arao Rumel; oral microbiology, Wilson Chagas de Araujo; periodontics, Rugerpe Pedreira; and traumatology, Doctor Grumberg. ■ Two Presidents Reelected: Alvaro Badra was reelected president of the Sao Paulo State Dental Associa tion—APCD. His new term covers two years, through 1970, and will include the important Sao Paulo Den tal Convention in 1970. Also retained for another two
years was Jairo Correa of the Sao Paulo Society of Orthodontics. ■ Moving to New Location: The
School of Dentistry, University of Sao Paulo, is gradually moving to the new campus at University City in Butanta. The departments of anat omy, histology, and dental materials were transferred first, and are being followed by the departments of pa thology, physiology, and operative dentistry. ■ Implant Dentistry: The first issue of the Brazilian Review o f Implant Dentistry has just been published. This journal is the official publica tion of the Brazilian Institute of Im plant Dentistry— IBI, the Brazilian section of the Societe Odontologique des Implants Aiguilles of Paris, France. Address of the Review headquar ters is Avenida Franklin Roosevelt 39, Room 918, in Rio de Janeiro. It is directed by Januario de Pascoal and its chief editor is Jacob Reitman. The first issue, containing 67 pages, is well presented and illustrated. IBI president is Manoel Ballian. H AN S F R E U D E N T H A L , C D
Brazil
■ Public Health Dentistry: All Bra
zilian dentists who teach and prac tice public health and social dentis try can now join their own organiza tion—The Brazilian Group of So cial Dentistry (GBOS). The central headquarters of GBINTERNATIONAL DENTISTRY ■ 1297
ADA President H ubert A. M cGuirl (second from le ft) was am ong representatives of fo u r dental groups who m et recently in the R epublic o f Panama. Others (from left) are A lfredo H. Berguido, president, Federacion Odontologica de Centro Am erica y Panama;
Argentina
■ Dental Meeting in Salta City: About 500 dentists from throughout the country and 40 from the Bolivian cities of Tarija, Cochabamba, and Oruro attended the 1 1th Meeting of the Interior, sponsored by the Asoci acion Odontologica Argentina in con junction with the Second Encuentro Odontologico Argentino-Boliviano, which was held March 30-April 2. Following a welcoming address by Gov Hugo A. Rovaletti of Salta, speeches were given by Adolfa Sam son, president, Asociacion Odonto logica de Salta; Alfredo Alvarez, president, Asociacion Odontologica Argentina; Antonio Calle Guevara, representative of the Public Health Department; and Gerardo Cespedes Gutierrez, president of the Asoci acion Odontologica de Bolivia. Included in the scientific program were three panels devoted to trauma tology, pedodontics, and oral reha bilitation. ■ International Dental Congress: The Second International Dental Congress and the Seventh Meeting of the Circulo Odontologico de Misiones were held in Posadas, capi 1298 ■ JADA, Vol. 78, June 1969
Maj Gen Robert B. Shira, ch ie f of the US Army Dental Corps; Dennis T. Lindo, president, Asociacion Odontologica de Panama; Louis A. Saporito, ADA Fourth D is tric t trustee; and Damon Bernard, president, Canal Zone Dental Society.
tal of the Province of Misiones, April 1-5. About 250 practitioners, some from France, Brazil, Venezue la, and Paraguay, attended the meet ing, which was sponsored by the government of the Province. Inter national guests included Joachim Gabka, West Germany, and Vicente Espindola, Paraguay. The social portion of the meeting included a visit to Iguazu Falls and to San Ignacio’s Jesuitic ruins. Eugenio Krebs headed the orga nizing committee for the meeting. ■ Returns from the United States: Nicolas Parula, professor of opera tive dentistry, Facultad de Odontologia de Buenos Aires, has returned from the United States after viewing teaching procedures of operative dentistry at nine American univer sities. His trip was sponsored by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. ■ Mutual Odontologica Argentina: Mauricio Wilder has been elected president of this mutual-aid associ ation. Other officers: Julio C. Barrancos Mooney, vice-president; Norberto Dieguez, secretary; Eduardo Minsk, assistant secretary; Carlos Waissbein, treasurer; Victor D. Abadi, assistant treasurer; and Carlos A. Mazariegos, Oscar S. Bonal, Al
berto J. Dell’Acqua, and Cayetano J. Vernola. ■ Fluoridation in Santa Fe: As a re sult of an agreement between the Public Works Department and the Ministry of Public Health and So cial Welfare, fluoridation of water supplies has begun in the city of Santa Fe. JU A N CHANELES
Spain
■ Madrid: Three members of the faculty of the University of Pitts burgh School of Dental Medicine participated in the annual program of the Spanish Dental Congress, held in Madrid April 7-12. Dean Edward J. Forrest and Asso ciate Deans Roy T. Durocher and W. Arthur George each presented programs in their specialties— Doctor Forrest in orthodontics, Doctor Durocher in oral medicine, and Doc tor George in prosthodontics. The possibilities of expanding the International Faculty Exchange pro gram to include Spain also was ex plored.
Great Britain
■ Metrication and Decimalization:
The British Dental Journal had the following to say about this most im portant change: “From March 3, 1969, it was un lawful for prescribing and dispens ing of drugs to be done otherwise than by use of the metric system. In preparation for this change, the cur rent editions of the British Pharma copoeia, British Pharmaceutical Co dex, and British National Formulary
— all published recently—have elim inated all reference to the imperial and apothecaries’ systems in relation to medicine and drugs. “For a number of years, many manufacturers of pharmaceutical preparations have marketed their products in metric quantities and this has provided—for those professions which prescribe or dispense drugs— some preliminary experience of the system. “No doubt a burden of extra work will fall on pharmacists, at first, to check and to convert some prescrip tions made by those unaccustomed
to the metric system. All dentists in contract to provide Part IV services under the National Health Service will receive shortly detailed guidance in the form of a circular from execu tive councils. “This change is being made at a time when the United Kingdom is changing to decimal and metric sys tems. The five new penny and ten new penny pieces are already famili ar, having been in circulation since April 23, 1968; the issue of the 50 new penny piece is planned for Oc tober, 1969; and the changeover to the complete new decimal coinage will take place in February, 1971. “Side by side with the change to a decimal currency, there proceeds the increasing use in Great Britain of the metric system in science, in industry, and for the purpose of daily life for which the expression of sizes and quantities is required. “At the present time, when the metric system is being used increas ingly in Great Britain and the cus tomary, time-honored native units are being replaced, it is of advantage that there is available a fully devel oped international system of metric units.
“In 1875, the Conference General des Poids et Mesures was set up in Paris, and this body has—since then — controlled the system. In 1960, it finally approved the Systeme Inter national d’Unites (SI) which derives all the quantities needed in all tech nologies from only six basic and ar bitrarily defined units. “Nearly 30 countries have now de cided to make SI their only legally accepted system. As each country joins them, another step is taken toward the achievement of a com mon language of quantitative mea surement for scientists of all kinds, for engineers and technologists, and for the general public. “The science and art of dentistry are becoming more and more inter national in the spread and under standing of their knowledge as well as through the ties and relationships between dental institutions and ser vices. This process is bound to in crease and widen.” ■ National Health Services: A daily newspaper published a report that Richard Crossman, secretary for social services, was advised that a conference of delegates from local INTERNATIONAL DENTISTRY ■ 1295
dental committees throughout Great Britain— called by the British Den tal Association to discuss the impli cation of the Green Paper recently published by the government— had passed a resolution calling on den tists not to renew their Health Ser vice contracts with the new health boards to be set up to run local ser vices, as proposed in the Green Paper. Dentists claim that the govern ment’s proposed “shakeup” of all medical services as outlined in the Green Paper is the first step toward ordering patients which dentist to attend. It could jeopardize the public’s freedom to choose private or Na tional Health Service treatment, and result in dentists themselves being directed to practice in certain areas. m An Informed Profession: The Brit ish Dental Journal, in advising the members of the dental profession in Great Britain of the importance of keeping well informed, has these comments: There is probably greater need at this time than any other since the es tablishment of the dental profession in Britain for every member to be well informed as to those develop ments currently proposed or fore cast which will affect the status, or ganization, and administration of the profession. The past 12 months have seen con clusion of studies initiated by the BDA and the publication of their re sults as papers which have been dis cussed by the Representative Board and circulated by publication in the British Dental Journal or one of its supplements. Government documents which have appeared during the past 12 months have included a number which, while not directly or wholly concerned with dentistry, may well have a profound effect on the orga nization of the profession and the livelihood of the dentist. Those which have received the most attention as being the most likely to have farreaching effects have been the Re port of the Royal Commission on Medical Education and the Green Paper on the Administrative Struc 1296 ■ JADA, Vol. 78, June 1969
A group of 23 US Arm y Dental Corps o ffice rs stationed in Europe—all sp e cia lists in prosthodontics—recently attended a four-day postgraduate course in advanced prosthod o n tics in London conducted by Kenneth P. Liddelow, chairm an of the departm ent of dental prosthetics, The Dental School, K in g ’s College H ospital, London. Pictured are (from left) Col Perry W. Bascom, 9th Hospital Center; Col Arnold W. K irch o ff, US Army, Europe, shown presenting a C e rtifica te of Appreciation to Doctor Liddelow; Col Louis Emory, co n su lta n t in prosthodontics, US Army, Europe; and Lt Col W illiam A. Jennings, pro je ct officer.
ture of Medical and Related Services in England and Wales. In connection with each of these, the British Dental Association has published papers which provide a useful basis for discussion. When legislation and regulations are introduced to give effect to pro posed changes, it will not do for in dividuals to say that they did not know what was coming. It will be too late then to say that the new legisla tion is wrong, restrictive, or retro grade. There have been no advances in the organization and administration of the dental profession in the past few decades comparable to the enormous advances in the technics of dental practice and the scientific knowledge of means to prevent den tal disease. The community has accepted im proved dental care based on the tech nical advances in dentistry with a system of adjustment of the dentist’s remuneration so that it gets the prin cipal benefit and he gets practically
none. The government, when setting up the Royal Commission on Medi cal Education, found itself unable to include dental education in its terms of reference, although the two are so closely related. There have been other fields in which a reluctance to take any interest in the advancement of the organization of the profession has been noted. The profession should accept the responsibility to propose the kind of education required to produce den tists able to meet the needs of the community in the next few decades. It is for the united dental profession to show, after consideration of the information available, how best and how most economically it can be or ganized and administered to provide a dental service for a community to the full extent which technical and scientific progress has now made possible. ■ Research: W. H. Bowen, depart ment of dental surgeons, Royal Col lege of Surgeons of England, pre
sented a report in the February issue of the British Dental Journal which has created much comment in the daily press. It is titled “A Vaccine Against Dental Caries: A Pilot Ex periment in Monkeys.” The experiment is described as follows: Since the identification of specific cariogenic microorganisms, the de velopment of a vaccine capable of preventing the disease has been rec ognized as an attractive possibility. This report describes an experiment carried out on six monkeys, three of which were vaccinated with whole, live bacterial cells. The summary reads: “Three monkeys vaccinated with whole, live dextran-forming strepto cocci developed substantially fewer carious lesions than control unvac cinated animals. The results of this exploratory trial encourage the be lief that vaccination may provide a means of preventing dental caries.” G. H . L E A T H E R M A N , D M D , F S C , FD SRCS
■ London: An album of photographs, presented to S. C. Barnum— in ap preciation of his invention of the rub ber dam— by the founding members of The American Dental Society of Europe about 1877, are being sought. The album could provide valuable material for a history of the Society, which is being planned for its com ing centennial. Anyone having any information about the album is asked to contact Donald Derrick, Honorary Secre tary, The American Dental Society of Europe, 140, Park Lane, London W.l, England.
OSis located in Belo Horizonte, and its elected president is Renato Quintinos dos Santos. There are nine re gional GBOS groups throughout Brazil. ■ Inter-American Meeting o f Den tists: This meeting will be held in
Porto Alegre, at the School of Den tistry of the Catholic University, July 7-11. Many courses, to be given by out standing authorities, are scheduled at this convention. These include re movable prosthesis, by Reinaldo Todescan; caries prevention, Alfredo Reis Viegas; oral surgery, Mario Graziani; fixed prosthesis, Palmiro Fava; radiology, Arao Rumel; oral microbiology, Wilson Chagas de Araujo; periodontics, Rugerpe Pedreira; and traumatology, Doctor Grumberg. ■ Two Presidents Reelected: Alvaro Badra was reelected president of the Sao Paulo State Dental Associa tion—APCD. His new term covers two years, through 1970, and will include the important Sao Paulo Den tal Convention in 1970. Also retained for another two
years was Jairo Correa of the Sao Paulo Society of Orthodontics. ■ Moving to New Location: The
School of Dentistry, University of Sao Paulo, is gradually moving to the new campus at University City in Butanta. The departments of anat omy, histology, and dental materials were transferred first, and are being followed by the departments of pa thology, physiology, and operative dentistry. ■ Implant Dentistry: The first issue of the Brazilian Review o f Implant Dentistry has just been published. This journal is the official publica tion of the Brazilian Institute of Im plant Dentistry— IBI, the Brazilian section of the Societe Odontologique des Implants Aiguilles of Paris, France. Address of the Review headquar ters is Avenida Franklin Roosevelt 39, Room 918, in Rio de Janeiro. It is directed by Januario de Pascoal and its chief editor is Jacob Reitman. The first issue, containing 67 pages, is well presented and illustrated. IBI president is Manoel Ballian. H AN S F R E U D E N T H A L , C D
Brazil
■ Public Health Dentistry: All Bra
zilian dentists who teach and prac tice public health and social dentis try can now join their own organiza tion—The Brazilian Group of So cial Dentistry (GBOS). The central headquarters of GBINTERNATIONAL DENTISTRY ■ 1297
ADA President H ubert A. M cGuirl (second from le ft) was am ong representatives of fo u r dental groups who m et recently in the R epublic o f Panama. Others (from left) are A lfredo H. Berguido, president, Federacion Odontologica de Centro Am erica y Panama;
Argentina
■ Dental Meeting in Salta City: About 500 dentists from throughout the country and 40 from the Bolivian cities of Tarija, Cochabamba, and Oruro attended the 1 1th Meeting of the Interior, sponsored by the Asoci acion Odontologica Argentina in con junction with the Second Encuentro Odontologico Argentino-Boliviano, which was held March 30-April 2. Following a welcoming address by Gov Hugo A. Rovaletti of Salta, speeches were given by Adolfa Sam son, president, Asociacion Odonto logica de Salta; Alfredo Alvarez, president, Asociacion Odontologica Argentina; Antonio Calle Guevara, representative of the Public Health Department; and Gerardo Cespedes Gutierrez, president of the Asoci acion Odontologica de Bolivia. Included in the scientific program were three panels devoted to trauma tology, pedodontics, and oral reha bilitation. ■ International Dental Congress: The Second International Dental Congress and the Seventh Meeting of the Circulo Odontologico de Misiones were held in Posadas, capi 1298 ■ JADA, Vol. 78, June 1969
Maj Gen Robert B. Shira, ch ie f of the US Army Dental Corps; Dennis T. Lindo, president, Asociacion Odontologica de Panama; Louis A. Saporito, ADA Fourth D is tric t trustee; and Damon Bernard, president, Canal Zone Dental Society.
tal of the Province of Misiones, April 1-5. About 250 practitioners, some from France, Brazil, Venezue la, and Paraguay, attended the meet ing, which was sponsored by the government of the Province. Inter national guests included Joachim Gabka, West Germany, and Vicente Espindola, Paraguay. The social portion of the meeting included a visit to Iguazu Falls and to San Ignacio’s Jesuitic ruins. Eugenio Krebs headed the orga nizing committee for the meeting. ■ Returns from the United States: Nicolas Parula, professor of opera tive dentistry, Facultad de Odontologia de Buenos Aires, has returned from the United States after viewing teaching procedures of operative dentistry at nine American univer sities. His trip was sponsored by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. ■ Mutual Odontologica Argentina: Mauricio Wilder has been elected president of this mutual-aid associ ation. Other officers: Julio C. Barrancos Mooney, vice-president; Norberto Dieguez, secretary; Eduardo Minsk, assistant secretary; Carlos Waissbein, treasurer; Victor D. Abadi, assistant treasurer; and Carlos A. Mazariegos, Oscar S. Bonal, Al
berto J. Dell’Acqua, and Cayetano J. Vernola. ■ Fluoridation in Santa Fe: As a re sult of an agreement between the Public Works Department and the Ministry of Public Health and So cial Welfare, fluoridation of water supplies has begun in the city of Santa Fe. JU A N CHANELES
Spain
■ Madrid: Three members of the faculty of the University of Pitts burgh School of Dental Medicine participated in the annual program of the Spanish Dental Congress, held in Madrid April 7-12. Dean Edward J. Forrest and Asso ciate Deans Roy T. Durocher and W. Arthur George each presented programs in their specialties— Doctor Forrest in orthodontics, Doctor Durocher in oral medicine, and Doc tor George in prosthodontics. The possibilities of expanding the International Faculty Exchange pro gram to include Spain also was ex plored.