Council on Education Report

By Dr. P. Emile Rossouw

I am delighted to use this opportunity to introduce myself. I serve as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Orthodontics at Baylor College of Dentistry, a Division of the Texas A&M University System Health Science Center in Dallas, Texas. This is a wonderful opportunity to serve the AAO, and more particular the SWSO. I have succeeded Dr. Mark Felton as the SWSO representative on the AAO COE. Mark has completed a successful term and kept us all well-informed of the COE activities. Mark and I will do our best to ensure that this transition is seamless and thus not interrupt the communication to the members of the SWSO. Communication, especially that offered by the Internet 2, was a main feature of most of the discussions and meetings which I now have the privilege to report to you.

Meetings

  1. The COE hosted a luncheon for orthodontic educators during the ADEA Annual Session, March 2005, held in Baltimore, Maryland. Drs. Carla Evans and David Hall addressed the issues of communication between Departments of Orthodontics, utilizing digital capabilities and the technology of the Internet 2.
  2. The Coenraad F.A. Moorrees Education Leadership Conference and Educators’ Workshop was held on Friday, May 20th, 2005. The Educator's Conference, which included Department Chairs and Program Directors, was held in San Francisco, in conjunction with the AAO Annual Session. Internet 2 and the new ABO certification/re-certification processes were the featured topics.
  3. A COE educational event for orthodontic educators is planned in conjunction with the ADEA Annual Session in Orlando, Florida in March 2006.

Internet 2

The overall goal is to develop a real-time, interactive distance learning system that takes advantage of Internet 2 video conferencing to allow accredited orthodontic graduate programs to share faculty resources, and provide specific information, free of cost, which will facilitate participation in education of this type for programs that desire it. This technology can also facilitate the continued participation of retired faculty in orthodontic education. The COE developed an Internet 2 business plan for the usage of Internet 2 in university orthodontic programs. The House of Delegates authorized that the Internet 2 program be allocated funding to develop an Internet 2-based pilot program, subject to approval of a business plan by the Board of Trustees. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The Ohio State University, and the University of Louisville, Kentucky, are developing a model program using the Internet 2 in order to facilitate the sharing of faculty resources beginning in the fall term, 2005. Experiences with the program model will be reported to the Board of Trustees in spring, 2006.

Craniofacial and Special Needs in Orthodontics

The motion to the Board of Trustees, that the AAO develop an accredited orthodontic fellowship program for special needs and craniofacial anomalies, was referred back to COE for additional clarification and study and report back to the Board of Trustees.

ABO Phase II Exam

A sub-committee for the ABO Phase II Exam is exploring the use of the ABO Phase II exam as the standardized exit examination. Educators will meet for an ABO presentation on ABO certification on October 8, 2005 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Evidence-Based Dentistry

The House of Delegates adopted the ADA’s definition of evidence-based dentistry.
The definition reads as:
“Evidence-Based Dentistry (EBD) is an approach to oral health care that requires the judicious integration of systematic assessments of clinically relevant scientific evidence, relating to the patient’s oral and medical condition and history, with the dentist’s clinical expertise and the patient’s treatment needs and preferences.”

Speaker Registry

The House of Delegates adopted the following elements for the development of a speaker registry to be developed for use by the AAO, and constituent and component organizations.

  1. Speaker contact information
  2. Lectures given by a speaker, including event name, presentation title, dates and location
  3. Specialties and sub-specialties
  4. Organizations – list of the speaker’s professional memberships, constituency and component organizations
  5. Educational Background – schools, degrees, any additional training
  6. Clinical Interests – will include topics which the speaker is proficient
  7. Financial Interests/Affiliations – disclosures of corporate funding
  8. Visual Enhancements – disclosures of altering of visual images relating to a presentation
  9. Resume or Curriculum Vitae
  10. Supporting Material – including PowerPoint presentations, etc., which may be relevant to speaker and/or presentations
  11. Languages spoken
  12. Honoraria/speaker fees and expenses
  13. The speaker’s agreement to be recorded

Endodontics Definition

The Board of Trustees approved the ADA Council on Education and Dental Licensure’s proposed revised definition of Endodontics:

“Endodontics is the dental specialty pertaining to the biology, pathology, and regeneration of the human dental complex and periradicular tissues. The study and practice encompass the biological and clinical sciences related to the normal and diseased dental pulp and associated periradicular tissues, as well as the etiology, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of pathoses and injuries of these tissues. Endodontics emphasizes the preservation of the healthy natural dentition to promote the highest quality of life.”

The COE’s next meeting will take place on October 9, 2006, in St. Louis.

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American Association of Orthodontists