REPORT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING of the FEO
on 30 th October 2004 at 10 00 a.m.
at the XVIII National Congress of SIDO
(Società Italiana di Ortodonzia) in Florence, Italy.
Representatives present:
Mr. 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 Pinhao Ferreira. Portugal Secretary-General of FEO
and President, SPODF
Dr. Odile Steil-Hutereau. Luxembourg Treasurer of FEO
and President SLODF
Prof. Andre Horn. Montfort-L’Amaury, France President, SFODF
Dr Paul Karvelas GOS
Mr. Chris Kettler. Bedford, England Representative BOS
Dr. Oliver Mauchamp France Representative of SFODF
and Chairman of World Conference 2005
Prof. Francesca Miotti. Italy Representative of SIDO
Representative of WFO
Vice-President of EFOSA
Prof. Dr. Mirjana Šašić. Serbia President, Serbia and Montenegro Orthodontic Society
Dr Zoran Šašić. Serbia Secretary, Serbia and Montenegro Orthodontic Society
Prof. Carlos Silva. Portugal Representative of SPODF
Dr Silvia Geron. Israel Treasurer Israel Orthodontic Society
Invited Observers
Dr Barbara Siemińska-Piekarczyk. Warsaw, Poland President of Orthodontic Section of the
Polish Stomatological Association
Kevin Mulligan Malta
Prof. Anne Marie. Kuijpers-Jagtman Nijmegen, Holland President of EOS
Anne Le Berre COCCIO
EFOSA was represented by Francesca Miotti (Vice-President)
Apologies were received from:
Dr. Lee W Graber. USA President, WFO
Prof. Athanasios Athanasiou. Athens, Greece President GOS
Dr Vittorio Cacciafesta. Italy Assistant Secretary FEO
Dr Nir Shpack. Israel President Israel Orthodontic Society
And from Turkey, Cyprus, Holland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Belgium, Denmark, and Germany
GOS = Greek Orthodontic Society
SFODF = Société Française d’Orthopédie Dento‑faciale
SEDO = Sociedad Española de Ortodoncia
SIDO = Società Italiana di Ortodonzia
SPODF = Sociedade Portugeuesa de Ortopedia Dento-Facial
SLODF = Lasociété Luxembourgeoise d’Orthodontie
The Agenda as published prior to the meeting was:
- Call to order.
- Welcome by President of the Italian Orthodontic Society, Professor Giuseppe Siciliani.
- Welcome to observers.
- Apologies for absence.
- Approval of the agenda.
- Approval of minutes of meeting of 5 th October 2003 in Belgrade.
- Matters arising from minutes not in agenda.
- Secretary General’s report.
- FEO Award.
- 2004 winner.
- 2005 award; deadline for papers. 31 March 2005.
- FEO List of Speakers.
- Corresponding members.
- Subscription rate.
- Treasurer’s report.
- 2003 accounts.
- Accounts to 30 th September 2004
- Subscription rates for 2005.
- Auditors Report.
- Webmaster’s report.
- Reports from Member societies.
- FEO membership of WFO.
- 2005 World Conference. Dr Olivier Mauchamp to report
- Report on European Directive “Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications”.
- EFOSA and EOS relationship.
- Forum of National Orthodontic Societies.
- General Assembly 2005:
- Obligations of Host country.
- Applications to host the next General Assembly.
- Place, date and time of General Assembly 2005.
- Any other business.
- Approval of Board for 2005 - 2006.
- Close of meeting.
(the numbering above is as on the printed agenda and not a mistake by your reporter)
The meeting was opened at 10.20 a.m. by Dr. Allan Thom, President of FEO.
The President, Dr. Allan Thom welcomed delegates to the General Assembly.
- Welcome by President of SIDO (Italian Orthodontic Society), Professor Giuseppe Siciliani
Professor Giuseppe Siciliani spoke in English to apologise that he would address us in Italian and Francesca Miotti would translate for him. He make us welcome on behalf of SIDO. He said that FEO is very important. SIDO has the largest membership of FEO member societies. He hopes that SIDO will play an increasingly important part in FEO in the future. He noted that FEO has elections for a new Board and he hopes these will be successful.
Dr. Allan Thom welcomed the invited observers. Prof. Anne Marie Kuijpers-Jagtman, the President of EOS. Dr Barbara Siemińska-Piekarczyk, President of the Orthodontic Section of the Polish Stomatological Association. Anne Le Berre who is responsible for the administration of the World Conference in Paris, 2005. Dr. Kevin Mulligan, who is the consultant orthodontist in Malta. Allan Thom reminded Dr Silvia Georges that she is not an observer, as she claimed, since Israel is a Corresponding member.
Allan Thom told the observers that they may observe but may not speak to the meeting except with permission from the chair. They may not take part in any vote.
Anne Le Berre said she could not stay for the meeting. She just wanted to ensure everyone that arrangements for the World Conference were going very well. They second notice is about to go out to members. She left cards with her contact details and encouraged anyone to contract her if they need.
The Secretary read a list of apologies for absence. These included apologies from Dr. Lee Graber, President of WFO, from Prof. Athanasios Athanasiou, President of the Greek Orthodontic Society and the next President of WFO, and from Turkey, Cyprus and the Dutch Orthodontic Society.
Allan Thom said it is appropriate to consider the Bylaws at this point and he read the following paragraph: “The purpose of the "Foederatio Europea Orthodontica", a non-profit making organisation, will be the promotion of orthodontics and dento-facial orthopaedics in Europe by: - improving understanding and cooperation between the constituent associations; - harmonizing programs and training sessions;- encouraging research. The Federation, to this effect, will be able to organize or undertake any activity relating directly or indirectly to the aforementioned goals.”
Allan Thom announced that Prof. Anne Marie Kuijpers-Jagtman has to be at another meeting at 12 noon. Therefore he will take item 20 (EFOSA and EOS relationship) before she has to leave. This item is recorded in this report in its original order on the agenda. Otherwise the agenda was approved.
- Approval of minutes of meeting 5 th October 2003.
Allan Thom said that the Minutes of the previous General Assembly in Belgrade on 5 th October 2003 are available on the website. Allan Thom briefly went through the minutes and mentioned all the most important items. There were no corrections. Allan Thom moved that the Minutes be accepted as a true record of the last meeting. The Minutes were approved.
- Matters arising from minutes not on the agenda.
There were no matters arising.
- Secretary General’s Report
Prof. Afonso Pinhao Ferreira complimented the President, Allan Thom for the large amount of work he does on behalf of FEO. He gave thanks to the President of SIDO for hosting the General Assembly in Florence this year. The Secretary-General has updated members’ addresses. He has circulated all the members on the subject of the FEO List of Speakers and has collated the replies.
The Secretary-General reported that the FEO Award this year has been made to a paper in the Hellenic Orthodontic Review.
He had invited orthodontists from former eastern block countries to attend the FEO General Assembly as observers. He is disappointed by the poor response.
He would like to see an annual socio-professional journal or review of postgraduate courses in Europe.
He has reached the end of his term of office. He has found the task to be very rewarding. He wished every success to his successor.
Allan Thom confirmed that an offer had been made to all the new EU members from Eastern Europe to come to the FEO General Assembly. Had there been sufficient interest, the plan was that there would be a symposium on Friday 29 th October. FEO had offered to pay the airfares and hotel expenses of delegates. No one had responded.
Andre Horn supported the idea of an annual socio-professional publication but believes that it would be best done on the website. He suggested that every member should open one or two pages on their website to provide information on their postgraduate training courses. The FEO website could provide links to these pages.
Andre Horn said that the FEO Constitution needs to be altered. The Board of FEO changes too often. It is wrong that nearly all the Board is leaving at once today. Jose Dahan pointed out that Board members can stay on for up to two years after completing their term of office. Andre Horn said we have to vote today for a President who has never sat on the Board and who knows nothing about the running of FEO. It should be policy to promote the Vice-President to President.
Allan Thom agreed that we need to look urgently at the constitution on the Board but it cannot be changed today.
2004 winner. Allan Thom said that the FEO Award is a very nice award and is hotly contested. Entries for the Award are chosen by the Presidents of the national societies. They are asked to submit a maximum of two papers from their national journal published in the preceding two years. At least one author must be a member of an FEO member society. The papers 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. This year the award was made to a paper in the Hellenic Orthodontic Review: “Comparative study of the effect of in vitro and in vivo aging on morphology, microstructure and elemental composition of nickel-titanium orthodontic archwires.” by S. Zinelis, M. Makou, C. Gioka, T. Eliades. The judges were unanimous. 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 to deliver the paper if the opportunity can be made available by the host member. The authors were not able to attend this year. The plaque was presented to Paul Karvelas by the FEO President at the “Speakers Dinner” last night and will be forwarded to the winners.
Afonso Pinhao Ferreira reported that in this area too there was a problem in getting a response out of members. Five members had not responded to his letter asking for their nominations for the FEO Award.
2005 award deadline for papers. Allan Thom announced that the deadline for submissions for the 2005 Award will be the 31 st March 2005.
FEO List of Speakers
The FEO List of speakers is a list of people who are willing to speak at members’ meetings without an honorarium and only payment of their expenses. The list is held by the Secretary-General and will be posted on the website. FEO would like to expand the list. Names should be sent to the Secretary-General with a short C.V., a list of publications in the past five years and subject of the papers that could be presented. Allan Thom, emphasised that only a short c.v. is needed.
- Corresponding members
Allan Thom said this item is just a matter of report. The subscription for a corresponding member is just half that of a full member. At present only Israel is a Corresponding member of FEO.
2003 Accounts. The Treasurer, Dr. Odile Steil-Hutereau reported that all members have paid their subscriptions for 2003 and Romania had paid for two years. The sum of 30,000 euros has been deposited in a long-term account. The principal expenses were the expenses of the Board of Directors and the FEO Award. The balance in the account was 6,739 Euros.
Accounts to September 2004. Allan Thom reported that the accounts to September 2004 show a good balance in the accounts still. Odile Steil-Hutereau said we have funds to promote research if we wish. The new Board will look at this.
Subscription rate for 2005. The subscription rate for 2005 will remain at 1 Euro per member. The bill for subscriptions will be set to members in January. She asked to be sent the current e-mail address of each member’s treasurer.
Odile Steil-Hutereau reported that the independent auditors, Andre Horn and Thierry De Coster, have examined the accounts in detail and given their approval.
Allan Thom reported that the website has been changed. It is now hosted by “ Website Design and Creation” which is a UK company based in Margate, Kent. He thinks it is working very well. He is managing it himself now and is acting as Webmaster. He will put any information reported to him on the website within 24 hours of receiving it.
Postgraduates find the site very useful. He agrees with Afonso Pinhao Ferreira that we must improve the links to the orthodontic departments of dental schools.
Jose Dahan pointed out that the site is open to the public and not protected by password.
- Reports from Member Societies.
Afonso Pinhao Ferreira said that members had been asked to submit a report on the main activities and current concerns of their society. Prior to the meeting he had received reports from the Turkish Orthodontic Society from Luxembourg . Five reports have been tabled at the meeting.
Chris Kettler read the British report. Silvia Georges from Israel reported that she has founded a World Society of Lingual Orthodontics and that Didier Fillión has agreed to be the first President. Valentine Moutaftchiev reported that the Bulgarian Orthodontic Society has held three meetings in the year. The Bulgarian Orthodontic Review is published twice a year and is sent to every FEO member. Mirjana Šašić reported that the membership of the Serbia and Montenegro Orthodontic Society is now 102 members. They are holding a two-day course with Adrian Becker in April 2005 and the 2nd International Congress will be in September 2005. She asked for help in relating to the Ministry of Health for specialist recognition and education.
Andre Horn reported that the SFODF now has 1600 members of whom 1500 are active members. He has been the President for four years and has two more years in office. The Society has close links with Canada, the Lebanon and with some countries in Africa. They are holding a meeting in Beirut in February. There will be no French conference in 2005. The 2006 Conference will actually be in Belgium. The Society spends about 15,000 euros a year promoting research.
Carlos Silva reported that Portuguese society has 271 members. They have moved their headquarters from Lisbon to Porto. Odile Steil-Hutereau from Luxembourg had sent in her report beforehand and this was included in the papers for the meeting. She said that the FEO list of speakers was really useful for a small society such as hers as they could not afford to pay a large honorarium to well known speakers. Paul Karvelas reported that the Greek Orthodontic Society is now in its 40 th Year. The International Symposium in April was well attended with many delegates from other countries.
The Turkish Orthodontic Society was not able to be represented today but had sent in their report which is included in the papers. Afonso Pinhao Ferreira thought part of the Turkish report is particularly interesting. There are two types of specialist training in orthodontic in Turkey. One is a three-year clinical programme. Completion of this leads to recognition as a specialist. The other is a four-year programme of clinical and academic work leading to a PhD. Although it is agreed by the Ministry of Health that the clinical content is more than adequate for recognition as specialist training it is not recognised as leading to specialist registration. The majority of orthodontists in Turkey take the four year programme and so most orthodontic practitioners are not recognised as specialists. The Society is negotiating with the Ministry of Health for this to be changed.
Jose Dahan said members should send in their reports in time for them to be included in the papers for the meeting. Delegates would then have a chance to read them beforehand and ask questions.
Francesca Miotti asked members to publish the dates of their meetings on the web and for societies to try to avoid an overlap of dates.
Allan Thom reported that he has received a letter of congratulation from Lee Graber, President of the WFO about the role of FEO especially in including countries from Eastern Europe. Allan Thom said FEO must think about the future of orthodontics in Europe and especially must consider its role once COCCIO ends. Europe is now a very big place and he believes that FEO should enlarge its role within the scope of WFO. The General Assembly expressed strong support for this and the Board will set up a small group to consider the way forward.
Olivier Mauchamp said we should remember that 2005 is a WFO event. The French Society had wanted to bring together most of the orthodontic societies in Europe and are so pleased to have achieved this. We will give an excellent impression of Europe to the rest of the world.
COCCIO is ready. The second and final notice is due to go out in two weeks time. The main scientific programme is completed and is perfect. There will be a pre-congress course by EOS for postgraduate students on surgical orthodontics. Raymond Edler will play a part in this. The European Village will be most impressive with high quality from nine separate societies. Olivier Mauchamp has not seen anything like this in the rest of the world. There will be an Assistants Programme and a Technicians Programme co-ordinated by the BOS.
Second announcements will be sent to the Societies in the next two weeks. It is really important that these be sent on to members as soon as possible. Some societies had still not sent out the first announcements after six months. There are still slots for 60 ten-minute oral presentations. The deadline for abstracts for these is 15 th January 2005. The societies are asked to provide a link to the conference website from their own websites.
Francesca Miotti particularly asked members to publicise the deadline of 15 th January for oral presentations.
- European Directive “Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications”
Allan Thom said that last year there is great concern about the new Directive on “Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications” in the UK. It would have abolished recognition of the dental specialties of oral surgery and orthodontics. It would have permitted a professional to work in another member state without registration in that state for 16 weeks.
Fortunately this had now been resolved and the threat removed. This had come about through pressure from dental organisations and FEO had played a part.
Anne Marie Kuijpers-Jagtman thanked Allan Thom for the invitation to the General Assembly. The relationship between EOS, EFOSA and FEO was defined last year. It is the turn of EFOSA to chair the Forum of National Societies at the EOS Congress in Amsterdam next year. She is happy to receive items for the agenda. The Forum meeting will be on Friday 3 rd June at 9.00 a.m.
Allan Thom said there has been an enormous sea change in relations between the three Europeans societies and the problems of the past have gone.
Francesca Miotti, Vice-President of EFOSA, said there is still an area of concern that needs to be clarified. She has sent out a questionnaire on postgraduate training in Europe. There was initially a very poor response of only 30%. After further checking of contacts and addresses a second questionnaire has been sent out. This has improved the response. But in some cases she has had to resort to getting friends to chase up responses for her. For instance she had had no response from anyone in Spain until she telephoned a Spanish friend.
Valentine Moutaftchiev said that EFOSA and FEO should seek to ensure that training to the Erasmus standard was an essential qualification for EU membership. Francesca Miotti agreed and said that WFO is working to draw up guidelines on undergraduate orthodontic education first. Allan Thom said the FEO position is that 3 years training is essential.
- Forum of National Societies
Allan Thom said that FEO had chaired the Forum in Århus last year. The minutes are mostly completed but are not on the website yet as we are waiting for information from EOS and EFOSA. The next Forum will be in Amsterdam on Friday 3 rd June at 9.00 a.m. and will be chaired by EFSOA.
Allan Thom said that the next General Assembly will be in Paris at the World Congress. The FEO General Assembly will probably be on the afternoon of Saturday 10 th September.
There was no other business
At this point the President adjourned the meeting for ten minutes.
Allan Thom gave thanks to the Assistant Secretary, Dr.Vittorio Cacciafesta for all his work for FEO. He is retiring from office. There is no need to appoint a replacement at this time and the new Board can do this in due course.
Allan Thom gave thanks to Jose Dahan for his wise counsel. He is of course continuing on the Board as Administrator.
Odile Steil-Hutereau has carried our her role as Treasurer with absolute perfection. Fortunately she is continuing on the Board too.
Valentine Moutaftchiev is leaving the Board. Allan Thom thanked him for his great support.
Afonso Pinhao Ferreira has had a hard job as Secretary-General and Allan Thom thanked him for all his work.
Allan Thom said he has had great fun on the Board first as Secretary-General and subsequently as President. He thinks that FEO is on the right lines.
New officers must be elected for the posts of President, Vice-President and Secretary-General. It has been the custom so far for the Secretary-General to continue as President and in the past this has assured continuity of the senior officers. Afonso Pinhao Ferreira has other commitments can cannot give the time needed to FEO anymore.
It had been agreed that the next President would be from Italy. SIDO had originally nominated Dr Giuliano Maino as President. Dr Maino has now had to withdraw. Professor Roberto Martina was nominated instead by SIDO yesterday. He is the Chairman of Orthodontics at Naples and was the EOS President in 2002 in Sorrento. He is reported to believe that the role of FEO should be increased.
Andre Horn said it is a shame that Roberto Martina has not been on the Board before. Preferably he should have served for at least two years already. We need some continuity. He suggests that the immediate past President should remain on the Board for two years. Jose Dahan endorsed this view. It does not require a change of constitution as Board members may already stay on the Board for two years after leaving office. Allan Thom had not been warned of this proposal beforehand but he very graciously agreed to serve on the Board for two more years.
Roberto Martina was invited to address the General Assembly. Allan Thom explained to him the new arrangement that the past President would stay on the Board. Roberto Martina expressed pleasure that an experienced Board member was remaining. He confessed that he had been hostile towards FEO when it was first founded. As a member of EOS Council he had wondered what was the purpose of FEO and was concerned that it threatened the EOS. He now perceives that FEO plays a very different, valid and useful role apart from EOS. He is very honoured to have been nominated and is very keen to serve the FEO.
At this point Allan Thom asked Roberto Martina to leave the room. The General Assembly agreed without dissent that Roberto Martina should be appointed as President.
The other appointments had already been advised to the General Assembly in the papers and were approved:
Vice-President: Olivier Mauchamp
Secretary-General: Mirjana Šašić
The meeting gave approval.
Close of meeting.
Allan Thom gave thanks to the members for attending.
The meeting concluded at 1.05 p.m.
C J R Kettler, A R Thom 4th November 2004
