DT U.S. Edition, Nov./Dec. 2010, Vol. 5, No. 23

A word from Jérôme Estignard, FDI interim executive director 2010 FDI/Unilever Poster Award CompetitionJérôme Estignard was appoint- ed interim executive director by the FDI Council during the 2010 FDI Annual World Dental Congress held in Salvador da Bahia. He will manage the FDI head office during the search for a permanent execu- tive director. Estignard has been with the FDI since November 2009 as finance and operations director. His prior experi- ence includes five years as senior auditor at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in France and 12 years at SITA in France, Germany and Switzerland, including head of financial reporting at SITA, Switzerland, from 2004 to 2008. Estignard holds an MBA from the International University in Geneva (Switzerland), a degree in accounting and finance from the ICS Business School in Paris (France) and a degree in business economics from the Uni- versity de Sceaux (France). “Last month FDI hosted another Annual World Dental Congress in Salvador da Bahia, bringing together close to 10,000 participants world- wide. Striving toward better oral health never stops and we are now focusing on building a solid founda- tion for the work ahead of us,” Estig- nard said. “The FDI is a membership organ- isation and as such, we are seeking to enhance services for our members, taking into account the advice and opinions from all members, national dental associations and stakeholders. “I am privileged with a trust that the FDI Elected have placed in me and am very enthusiastic about our future. With the support of the FDI Council, numerous volunteers, head- office staff and our partners, FDI is continuing its journey toward the vision of optimal oral health for all. “The FDI head office stays at your disposal and service. We welcome your questions and feedback, espe- cially on the FDI’s new projects, launched at the recent FDI Congress in Salvador, such as Data Mirror and VOX. Both tools were developed with one goal — to better serve our mem- bers,” he said. FDI National dental associations rally to help rebuild Haiti’s oral health infrastructure When Chantal Noël, national liaison officer of the Association Dentaire Haï- tienne, spoke at the General Assembly and at the NLO Forum in Salvador, she expressed enthusiasm to work with VOX, the FDI’s new communication platform, in the quest to rebuild the oral-health capabilities of her coun- try. Eight months after an earthquake devastated Haiti, many of the dental offices are still in ruins. Noël plans to enlist the support of national dental associations worldwide in the rebuilding and re-equipping efforts. She will use VOX to communi- cate with all FDI members about the equipment that is needed by Haitian dentists. Chantal gave insight into the benefit that such a tool can bring to a national association that has been affected by a natural disaster. Already engaged, the American Dental Association is raising funds for Haiti through a campaign called “Adopt-a-Practice: Rebuilding Dental Offices in Haiti.” The ADA will use VOX to promote this campaign and is urging other national dental associa- tions to participate. Without help, most Haitian dentists will not be able to rebuild their practices. The campaign aims to raise $350,000 by the end of 2010. For more information or to donate, go to www.ada.org/4412.aspx. FDI Jérôme Estignard Chantal Noël The six winners of the 2010 FDI/Unilever Poster Award Competition were announced during the VIP reception at the 2010 Annual World Dental Con- gress on Sept. 2. They are: • Comparison of resin-based sealers 2seal and AHPlus cytotox- icity on cell lines MG-63 and Saos-2 Maryam Ehsani*, Ebrahim Zabihi (Iran) • Prostaglandin-E2 induces receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa B ligand expres- sion in human periodontal lig- ament cells via EP2 receptor Nawapat Sakornwimon*, Auspre- eya Rujirachotiwat, Prasit Pavas- ant (Thailand) • Prevalence/distribution of Por- phyrmonas gingivalis fim- briae subtypes in patients with severe periodontitis Patrick Frank*, Sigrun Eick, Chong-Kwan Kim, Peter Eickholz, Ti-Sun Kim (Germany) • Activity of plant extracts from the Brazilian Panta- nal against Streptococcus mitis Fernanda Louernção Brighenti, Marcos José Salvador, Alberto Carlos Botazzo Delbem, Ádina Cléia Botazzo Delbem, Cristiane Yumi Koga-Ito (Brazil) • Tooth loss and oral health self-perception of adults cov- ered by health strategy for the family in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil Mércia Sacramento Dos San- tos, Gimena Melo Santos, Fabi- ana Raynal Floriano, Maria Isabel Pereira Vianna, Maria da Conceição Nascimento Costa (Brazil) • Sickle cell disease, oral health status and socioeconom- ic conditions of children in the state of Bahia — a cohort study Felipe Fagundes Soares, Thaís Régis Aranha Rossi, Maria Isa- bel Pereira Vianna, Maria Cristina Teixeira Cangussu (Brazil) The FDI received more than 120 submissions for the competi- tion this year. The best posters were selected as finalists prior to the congress and they were then invited to present their posters and research to a panel of judges, followed by a question-and-answer session at the congress. All winners received a free reg- istration to a future FDI Annual World Dental Congress and 1,500 Euro toward his or her partici- pation in the congress. Information on the 2011 contest will be posted on the FDI website once it becomes available. FDI FDI successfully launches new communication platform — VOX VOX, the voice connecting the oral-health world, was successfully launched in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, during the FDI AWDC 2010 The platform was presented to members in both the FDI General Assembly and National Liaison Officers forum, following online access being made available to members. This new FDI web-based mem- bership communication platform comes in response to requests from FDI members, and it is tai- lored to meet their diverse needs. VOX aims to unify FDI members, governance and staff online con- tact through an intuitive appli- cation that provides information about FDI members, facilitates FDI member-to-member relation- ships, enhances visibility of oral health leaders and encourages knowledge sharing. After the launch, members have been actively exploring VOX and communicating their feedback: • “Congratulations on the g FDI page 13A (Images on this page were provided by the FDI)