Unconfirmed Minutes of the General Assembly of the FEO
on 5 th October 2003 at 10. 30 a.m.
at the First International Orthodontic Congress of the
Serbia and Montenegro Orthodontic Society
Hotel Beograd Inter-Continental, Belgrade.
Representatives present:
Name From Position
Dr. Allan Thom Tunbridge Wells, England President of FEO
International Representative of BOS
Prof. Jose Dahan Brussels, Belgium Administrator of FEO
Prof. Valentine Moutaftchiev Sofia, Bulgaria Vice-President of FEO
and President, Bulgarian Orthodontic Society
Prof. Afonso Pinhão Ferreira Porto, Portugal Secretary-General of FEO
and President, SPODF
Dr. Odile Steil-Hutereau Luxembourg Treasurer of FEO
and President SLODF
Dr. Vittorio Cacciafesta Italy Assistant Secretary of FEO
Representative of SIDO
Prof. Athanasios Athanasiou Athens, Greece President GOS
Mr. Chris Kettler Bedford, England Representative BOS
Dr. Georges Kratzenberg Luxembourg Trustee, SLODF
Prof. Oliver Mauchamp France Representative of SFODF
Prof. Francesca Miotti Italy Representative of SIDO and representative of WFO
Prof. Mirjana Sasic Serbia President, Serbia and Montenegro Orthodontic Society
Dr. N Raudebovic Serbia Secretary, Serbia and Montenegro Orthodontic Society
Prof. Carlos Silva Portugal Representative of SPODF
Dr. J P Varela Spain Trustee, SEDO
Dr. Alexis Xenopoulos Cyprus President, Cyprus Orthodontic Society
Invited Observers
Dr. Wolfgang Schmiedel Germany President of EFOSA
Dr. Nejat Erverdi Turkey Representative of Turkish Orthodontic Society
Prof. Todor Bojadziev Macedonia President of Macedonian Orthodontic Society
Unknown name Macedonia Representative of Macedonian Orthodontic Society
Dr. Barbara Sieninska-Piekarczyk Warsaw, Poland President of Orthodontic Section of the
Stomatological Society of Poland
Dr. Nir Shpack Israel President of IOS
Apologies were received from:
Dr. Gabriela Alexandrova Slovenia President, Slovakian Orthodontic Society
Dr. Lee W Graber USA President, WFO
Prof. Brite Melsen Aarhus, Denmark President of EOS
Prof. Peter Schopf Germany President, German Orthodontic Society
Prof. Andre Horn Montfort-L’Amaury, France President, SFODF
Dr. Giorgio Fiorelli Arezzo, Italy Past-Secretary General SIDO
and FEO Webmaster
Prof. Leonid Persin Russian Orthodontic Society
BOS = British Orthodontic Society
IOS = Israel Orthodontic Society
GOS = Greek Orthodontic Society
SEDO = Sociedad Española de Ortodoncia
SFODF = Société Française d’Orthopédie Dento‑faciale
SIDO = Società Italiana di Ortodonzia
SLODF = Lasociété Luxembourgeoise d’Orthodontie
SPODF = Sociedade Portuguesa de Ortopedia Dento-Facial
The Agenda as published prior to the meeting was:
- Call to order.
- Welcome by President of the Serbian and Montenegro Orthodontic Society, Prof. Dr. Mirjana Sasic.
- Welcome to observers.
- Apologies for absence.
- To report the sad death of Alain Fontenelle.
- Approval of the agenda.
- Approval minutes of General Assembly Sophia 29 th September 2002 (@ www.feo-online.org)
- Matters arising from minutes not in agenda.
- Application of new members:
- Turkish Orthodontic Society (Dr. Enis Guray).
- Macedonian Orthodontic Society (Prof. Dr. Todor Bojadziev).
- Secretary General’s report.
- FEO Award.
- 2003 winner.
- Discuss modification of FEO Award.
- 2004 award deadline for papers. 31 st March 2004.
- FEO lecture.
- FEO List of Speakers.
- Corresponding members.
- Treasurer’s report.
- 2002 accounts.
- Accounts to 30 th September 2003
- Subscription rates for 2004.
- Auditors Report.
- Webmaster’s report.
- Reports from Member societies.
- FEO membership of WFO.
- 2005 World Conference.
- European Directive “Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications”.
- Personal Report of meeting with EU lawyers in Brussels.
- EFOSA and EOS relationship.
- Forum of National Orthodontic Societies.
- General Assembly 2004:
- Obligations of Host country.
- Applications to host the next General Assembly.
- Place, date and time of General Assembly 2004.
- Any other business.
- Approval of Board for 2004.
- Close of meeting.
The meeting was opened at 10.35 a.m. by Dr. Allan Thom, President of FEO.
The President, Dr. Allan Thom welcomed delegates to the General Assembly. He thanked Prof. Dr. Mirjana Sasic, the President of the Serbia and Montenegro Orthodontic Society for their hospitality.
- Welcome by President of the Serbian and Montenegro Orthodontic Society, Prof. Dr. Mirjana Sasic
Prof. Dr. Mirjana Sasic said it was a great honour for the Serbia and Montenegro Orthodontic Society to be the host of the General Assembly and she welcomed all the delegates and guests. She particularly paid tribute to Dr. Allan Thom for his encouragement and for giving them the inspiration to start their own conference and journal.
Dr. Allan Thom welcomed the invited observers. Dr. Wolfgang Schmiedel, President of EFOSA was attending for the first time. Prof. Dr. Oliver Mauchamp, Chairman of World Conference was also here as a representative of France. He was also very pleased to see a representative from Poland and from Israel.
Apologies for absence have been received from Dr. Lee Graber, President of WFO, from Prof. Birte Melsen, President of EOS, from Prof. Andre Horn, President of SFODF and from Dr. Giorgio Fiorelli, the FEO Webmaster. Apologies have also been received from Russia and Germany.
President Allan Thom spoke of the great sadness at the unexpected death of Dr. Alain Fontenelle with whom many of those present had worked with on the COCCIO. He has sent a letter of condolence to the family on behalf of FEO. The General-Assembly stood in silence to remember Dr. Fontenelle.
It was agreed to move item 18 to follow item 9 as Prof. Dr. Oliver Mauchamp needed to leave early to catch his flights home. This item is recorded in this report in its original order on the agenda.
- Approval of minutes of meeting 29 th September 2002
President Allan Thom said that the Minutes of the previous General Assembly in Sofia have been circulated to all members. He has received no corrections. Wolfgang Schmiedel pointed to two typographical errors on Page 10. Allan Thom accepted these corrections and moved that the Minutes be accepted as a true record of the last meeting. The Minutes were approved.
- Matters arising from minutes not in agenda.
There were no matters arising.
- Application of new members
Turkish Orthodontic Society. The application for Turkish membership was proposed by Dr. Nejat Erverdi. He said that the Turkish Orthodontic Society has 370 members who are all specialists. There are 13 orthodontic departments. The society was founded in 1982 and is the only orthodontic society in Turkey. The Turkish delegates were asked to leave the room. Prof. Athanasios Athanasiou said that he has tried several times to persuade the Turks to join FEO. The society is very scientific and they have their own journal. It is a happy moment for him that they have decided to join. The Turkish application to join FEO was approved.
Macedonian Orthodontic Society. The application from the Macedonian Orthodontic Society was proposed by its Secretary. The Society is 32 years old and has 89 members. The majority work in the University. The Macedonian delegates were asked to leave the room and their application was approved.
President Allan Thom reported that the FEO has received an “expression of interest” in joining from Moldavia and enquiries about corresponding membership from the Lebanon and Outer Mongolian Orthodontic Societies.
- Secretary General’s Report
Secretary General Prof. Afonso Pinhão Ferreira, complimented the President Allan Thom and presented his report as follows:
“With this report I wish to inform the Assembly about the developed work since the last meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria and I wish to give a more effective contribution to promote FEO in the orthodontic profession.
First of all I want give my compliments to President Allan Thom for his hard work and magnificent performance.
During this year a lot of work regarding communication between FEO society members has been done, namely:
- Update of addresses and delegates of FEO society members;
- Address information to the website;
- Check information in the website;
- FEO Award to the best scientific publication within the FEO society members reviews;
- Info request for the making of the FEO speakers list;
- Request for the appointment of a webmaster from each of the FEO society members;
- Presence in the EFOSA General Assembly in Prague;
- Presence in the EFOSA/EOS joint Meeting in Prague;
- FEO Board Meeting in Prague;
- Organization of FEO Board Meeting and General Assembly in Belgrade.
Unfortunately, some of the society members did not answer in due time to our requests, which slows down the work, becoming sometimes even insufficient. On the other hand, it was a testing year for us. I seriously think that next year will be easier, both in work matters and more innovating and interesting, due to the experience we gained. It is my truly belief that we will succeed next year.
As Secretary General, and as for all I was able to notice during this year, I think it is of major political importance:
1 – To create attractive mechanisms for all the society members associates;
2 – To develop performance which positively distinguish us from other orthodontic institutions.
The first point is of extreme importance.
One must create a seductive offer to the society members associates. In fact, FEO as an institution does not speak with its associates. It speaks mainly with the President of each society. As far as information goes, we do not know, whether it circulates within the societies or not. It is vital wider and serious information about FEO, as an institution and to what concerns the actions within the orthodontic profession. There are several actions that can be done in this domain:
- To divulge each society member on the FEO website (in order to do that we must develop an urgent inquiry, sent by register post, requesting the society symbol, statutes, board constitution, number of associates, address, contacts, foundation date, a short society history report, etc).
- To create links with other societies and stimulate others to create their one site;
- To reach to an agreement with each society member so that every year, information requested and needed by FEO is sent:
- To update FEO Directory;
- Orthodontic post-graduation courses functioning all over the country (contact the course director afterwards and ask for the information needed so that, and according to the EU directives, one promotes the students interchange);
- Review editor, magazine title, titles and summary of the scientific articles published in the national scientific publication;
- To send FEO advertisement and site to one of the pages of the professional review published by the society members (FEO will have a different photo litho every year);
Secondly, I think that the best way to make a difference is to let others the accreditation policy and all the matters concerning the recognition of the speciality. Let others keep the dividing points and let us keep what really matters, that is, the qualification of Orthodontics. I think that we should be concerned with the of post-graduate speciality teaching. We should dedicate to the post-graduate speciality teaching, namely promoting a debate/forum between who teaches and who learns. To my knowledge there is no journal in orthodontic education. I think that an annual publication on “Orthodontic education” would, in fact, be innovating”.
- FEO Award
2003 winner. Allan Thom reported that the entries for the Award are chosen by the Presidents of the national societies. They are asked to submit a maximum of two papers. They are translated into English, if necessary, and anonymised. The judges are the Presidents of the national societies plus the Board of Directors of the FEO. The judges have no idea from where the papers originate. In 2002 the award was given to a paper from Italy. This year the award was made to a paper in the British journal, the “Journal of Orthodontics”. The two authors are both Japanese. The award comprises an engraved certificate and the payment of the author’s expenses to attend the conference where the FEO General Assembly is held and deliver the paper. The authors were not able to attend this year. David Tidy presented some of their material to the Serbia and Montenegro Orthodontic Society Congress this week. The plaque was presented to him by the FEO President at the Gala Dinner last night and will be forwarded to the winners.
Modification to FEO Award. Allan Thom said that the original intention of the FEO Award was to encourage European journals and papers and to promote high standards in Europe. It was not envisaged that the award could be made to papers originating entirely from outside Europe. Allan Thom therefore proposed that in future the Award should only be given if the first author is a member of a national society, which is a member of FEO. Prof. Athanasios Athanasiou did not agree with this suggestion and made an alternative proposal that at least one author must be a member of a national society, which is a member of FEO. After some discussion these alternatives were put to a vote. A majority of voting members voted for the proposal of Prof. Athanasios Athanasiou and after the value of their votes was counted, the proposal that at least one author be a member was carried out.
Allan Thom announced that the deadline for submissions for the 2004 Award will be the 31 st March 2004.
FEO Lecture. Allan Thom said that one of the purposes of the FEO Award was to give something back to members. He is now suggesting an FEO sponsored lecture. All members of FEO could be asked to nominate a speaker and one would be chosen to give the lecture at the Conference hosting the FEO General Assembly. The FEO would fund the speaker. Dr. Alexis Xenopoulos from Cyprus thought this was a very good idea especially for the small societies. It was agreed that the Board of Directors will develop the idea.
- FEO List of Speakers
Prof. Afonso Pinhão Ferreira has sent a request to all members for their list of speakers who would be willing to speak at a member’s conference without an honorarium on the basis of payment of expenses only. There had been a very poor response. Only Italy, Greece, Portugal, France and the UK have responded. There is a list of 54 speakers now. He wants an answer from every member and he will send out the request again. Allan Thom said it would be nice if all members would reply. The speakers do not need to be members. Once more information has been received it will be posted on the website.
Allan Thom reminded members that Israel was the first Corresponding member of FEO. When making that decision last year the General Assembly had neglected to set a subscription rate. The suggestion that the rate should be half that of a full member was agreed. At the current level the subscription for a Corresponding member will be 0.50 Euro per member of his society. It will apply from 1 st January.
2002 Accounts. The Treasurer, Dr. Odile Steil-Hutereau had previously circulated the accounts for 2002. They show that all the members have paid their subscriptions. The principal expenses were the expenses of the Board of Directors and the FEO Award. The balance in the account was 30 918,80 Euros.
Accounts to September 2003. Dr. Odile Steil-Hutereau tabled the incomplete accounts for 2003. Romania has not paid yet. Russia has paid double the amount due and will not be liable for a subscription next year. The sum of 30,000 Euros has been put on deposit.
Subscription rate for 2004. The subscription rate for 2004 will remain at 1 Euro per member. Italy who has the greatest number of members, has again requested a reduction in subscription level above 2000 members. Allan Thom asked Italy to bring a paper for consideration to the next General Assembly.
- Auditors’ Report
Dr. Odile Steil-Hutereau reported that independent auditors have examined the accounts in detail and given their approval.
Giorgio Fiorelli the Webmaster was absent from the meeting. Allan Thom said that Giorgio has done an enormous amount of work but it has now become too much of a task for him to manage on his own. The interactive part of the website has proved to be less than satisfactory. Unfortunately not all members have appointed a Webmaster. The Board is now proposing that they appoint a professional Webmaster to run the FEO website in future.
Prof. Athanasios Athanasiou agreed that Giorgio Fiorelli has done a great deal of work but that the present system does not work well. He thinks we should keep what we had before the meeting in Sofia last year and should appoint a professional. The new Webmaster should be based in England as it is important to appoint someone who has English as a first language. The address should remain the same. Prof. Afonso Pinhão Ferreira said the site needs to be urgently updated. Allan Thom said that the Board will get quotations.
- Reports from Member Societies.
Prof. Afonso Pinhão Ferreira said that members had been asked to submit a report on the main activities and current concerns of their society. He has received reports from the British Orthodontic Society and from Portugal. Mr. Chris Kettler read the British report as follows:
“The chairman of the Society is Dr. Geoff Webb and he is now in his second year in post. Our President is appointed for one year only and Mr John Williams took office two weeks ago.
The membership of the Society is now over 1700 of which over 1.000 are specialists. The remainder are nearly 200 postgraduate students and over 400 general practitioners.
Among the main activities of the BOS of behalf of members are our Journal and our Meetings.
The Journal of Orthodontics. On the advice of the Editor, Prof. Kevin O’Brien and his predecessor, Prof Malcolm Jones, the word “British” has been dropped from the title of our Journal. It is not that we are ashamed of our Journal; in fact it has never been better. It is believed the “British” has a poor connotation in orthodontics outside the UK and we wish to widen the international market for the Journal and get the Journal on the citation index. We are about to change our publisher from the Oxford University Press who we are consider is too expensive. The Journal of Orthodontics is published four times a year and attracts contributors from throughout the world.
British Orthodontic Conference. Our Conference Committee arranges two meeting of the whole Society every year. The one day spring meeting at Warwick University on 17 th May this year had the title “An Update on Orthodontic Techniques”. Eight speakers spoke on a variety of practical subjects including adhesives, brackets, archwires, anchorage, retention and de calcification.
The British Orthodontic Conference (BOC) was held this year on 14 th to 17 th September in Bournemouth. Our conference is now the largest dental conference in the UK and this year more than 1.200 delegates. There are separate parallel one day programmes for Orthodontic Technicians and for Orthodontic Nurses. The Northcroft Memorial Lecture was given by Prof. Katherine Vig from Ohio. Other speakers included Professor John Casco, Professor Fraser McDonald, Professor Nigel Hunt, Professor Urban Hagg, Dr Nigel Harradine, Dr hugo De Clerk, Professor Kevin O’Brien and Dr Marcel Korn. In 2004 the BOC will be in Harrogate.
Development and Standards Committee. This committee is constantly active in producing documents with advice to members in many areas relevant to the practice of orthodontics. Recently the Committee has been working on recommendations for sterilising tried-in molar bands with tubes particularly with reference to recent concern about new variant CJD.
Ethics Committee. The Committee has drawn up a list of members who have had training and experience as an expert witness. This year the Committee has written advice on “patient compliance” to add to their many previous advice sheets.
Media Committee. The Society has a very active media committee which promotes media interest in orthodontics and reacts swiftly to adverse press reports. The Committee has had many successes this year with numerous published articles in newspapers and periodicals prompted by the Society. The Committee is also responsible for our very successful website which has been expanded and updated again this year http://www.bos.org.uk . We have recently appointed a full time IT consultant to our London office and have greatly expanded our IT activity. We will soon be able to edit our website in house.
Political.The Society is very politically in furthering and protecting the interests of members. The Society has gained the respect of the Department of Health which now frequently consults us instead of the British Dental Association. A widespread modernization of NHS Practice is being undertaken and we are being actively involved. We have been very active working the General Dental Council to establish “Orthodontic Therapists”, who when the legislation is completed in Parliament, will have the widest range of permitted duties of any country in the world”.
Prof. Carlos Silva read the portuguese report as follows:
“On behalf of the Portuguese Dento Facial Orthopaedics Society I want to express my compliments to FEO’s Board Directory for the continuing good work in the name of the orthodontic profession.
The President of the Society is Prof. Dr Afonso Pinhão Ferreira. His mandate is of three years and he is now in his second year in post. Our society is member of the European Federation of Orthodontics (FEO), member of the World Federation of Orthodontics (WFO) and we hope, very soon, to be an active member of the European Federation of Orthodontic Specialist Association (EFOSA).
The Portuguese Dento Facial Orthopaedics Society has 257 (two hundred fifty-seven) associates and it was constituted in 1986. By now the society has its headquarters in Porto, North of Portugal.
During the last eighteen years, the Portuguese Dento Facial Orthopaedics Society held:
- Fifteen annual scientific meetings. The 16 th Meeting will happen in Porto at the 25, 26 and 27 of March 2004 and will be presided by Prof. Drª Maria Cristina Figueiredo Pollmann. The17 th Meeting will be in the International Orthodontic Congress (ICO), in Paris, September 2005 and it will be presided by Prof. Dr. Pedro Leitão.
- The promotion of debates on the quality of the orthodontic profession;
- The promotion of several meetings on policy of the orthodontic profession;
- The organization of tens of courses;
- The publication of the periodic bilingual scientific review “Ortodontia”;
The publication of the periodic bilingual socio-professional bulletin “Open Bite”, in which last year was published an interview from the President of FEO, Prof. Athanasios Athanasiou.
The publication of two speciality books.
In Portugal, there are two Postgraduate Courses in Orthodontics with three intensive years in the Faculty of Dentistry – University of Porto and Degree in Dental Medicine from the University of Coimbra.
Since 1999 an orthodontic board and an official register of the orthodontic specialists from the Portuguese Dental Association (OMD) was constituted. We have a bilingual site that you can consult: www.spodf.pt
I think that we have been collaborating in the goals and works of FEO. Thank you very much.”
Allan Thom reported that the FEO is now a member of the WFO. He has received a letter from Lee Graber, President of the WFO which was sent to the Presidents of all WFO affiliates. The letter encloses the WFO guidelines on Orthodontic Speciality Education and asks for comments. These papers had been circulated with the agenda. There was a discussion of the statement in the guidelines that “the program must be full time for at least 24 months”. Prof. Athanasios Athanasiou and Prof. Francesca Miotti both pointed out that this statement reflects the existing situation in the USA Canada and Japan where a number of postgraduate programs are still of two year duration. We must emphasise the European view that training should be full time for three years. Prof. Francesca Miotti thought we should respect the American position. Prof. Jose Dahan was concerned that the WFO statement could be exploited by governments to limit postgraduate training. Allan Thom thought it was important that FEO should make a strong statement that “at least 3 years” was necessary. This was agreed and Allan Thom will make this response on behalf of FEO. Francesca Miotti said the WFO Executive is still working on the guidelines and a strong statement from FEO could be accepted.
Allan Thom reminded members that their own societies may make their own response, including those who are not WFO members.
Prof. Olivier Mauchamp said there are just two years to go to the World Conference in Paris. Turkey and Lebanon have joined the supporting societies. It is possible that Russia will too. The only condition for being a supporting society is to be registered with WFO. Prof. Francesca Miotti is now acting as President of the Scientific Committee. All the “Champion” speakers and most of the “Key Note” speakers have accepted. Invitations for abstracts for self promoted papers will open soon. The Orthodontic Team Committee is working hard. It was Lee Graber’s wish to have an “Assistants Programme”. The orthodontic nurses will have their own programme on the 2 nd and 3 rd days. They will attend the main programme on the first day and the “European Village” on the final day. There will be a fashion show of dental wear and ten minute competitive presentations. Olivier Mauchamp is now asking the societies to start publicising the Conference. The conference organisers will be very helpful with articles and advertising materials if asked.
- European Directive “Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications”
Allan Thom said there is great concern about the new Directive on “Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications” in the UK. It will abolish recognition of the dental specialties of oral surgery and orthodontics. It will permit a professional to work in another member state without registration in that state for 16 weeks. In March this year he had attended with Prof. Jose Dahan at a meeting in Brussels with Ms Rodriguez-Perz to discuss the Directive. He had circulated a report of the meeting with the Agenda. .
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Allan Thom said that although they had a helpful and friendly meeting, they had the strong impression that it would not cause any changes to the Directive to follow. The Directive is still under discussion in the European Parliament and that is where the competent authorities in Europe are now concentrating their efforts for amendments.
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Dr. Wolfgang Schmiedel wanted to know the number of the Directive. It is important for FEO and EFOSA and EOS to come together and agree their respective areas of responsibility. He had been very comfortable with the idea that FEO was strictly scientific. But this meeting was political and infringed on the EFOSA area of responsibility. He feels that he should have been invited to attend along with Allan Thom and Jose Dahan. Dr. Allan Thom said he entirely understood Wolfgang Schmiedel’s reaction. The invitation to meet Ms Rodriguez- Perez was personal and confidential to him and not to the President of FEO. He could not disclose how he had come to receive the invitation and it had not been possible to extend the invitation to other parties.
Allan Thom reported that relations with EOS and EFOSA are now stronger than ever with mutual respect. Wolfgang Schmiedel President EFOSA confirmed.
- Forum of National Societies
Wolfgang Schmiedel said that next year at the EOS Congress in Aarhus the FEO will join EFOSA and EOS in running the Forum of National Societies. Allan Thom confirmed that it has been agreed that he will be Chairman of the meeting in his capacity of FEO President.
- Date and place of next meeting
Allan Thom said that the Board has received one firm invitation to host the 2004 General Assembly. This has come from SEDO, the Spanish Orthodontic Society, to join their conference in Cordoba to celebrate 50 years of their society. The representative from SEDO confirmed that the dates are 5 th to 9 th June 2004. It was pointed out that this is at the same time as the EOS Congress in Aarhus. Many members who would attend the FEO General Assembly will also wish to attend the EFOSA General Assembly on 6 th June and the Forum of National Societies on 7 th June. It was agreed that the Board will explore the possibilities.
The Assistant Secretary, Dr.Vittorio Cacciafesta, asked members to give him updated information on their postgraduate training programs. These are posted on the FEO website. Allan Thom confirmed that this list is found to be very useful by prospective postgraduate students and he has received many favourable comments.
Allan Thom said that the current Board was elected last year and no one is due to leave office. However formal approval of the Board for another year is required. The meeting gave approval.
Allan Thom gave thanks to the members for attending.
- The meeting concluded at 12.50 p.m.
