Highlights in IADS History

 
In February 1951, the French Dental Students invited some students from other countries to attend their Annual Meeting in Paris where the Danish, Dutch and Swedish representatives proposed to establish an international dental student’s organization.

This proposal was unanimously welcomed, and, in September of that same year, representatives from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom met in Copenhagen.

A committee consisting of representatives from Denmark, Holland and the United

Kingdom was formed to work out the basic principles on which to build the constitution of the

Association, this constitution was drafted and the first Executive Committee was elected; Leslie Sorling from Sweden having the honor of being elected the first President, with Mogens Skougaard from Denmark, Secretary and Carlo Nevejan from Holland, Treasurer.

This draft constitution and other organizational matters were worked out with the advice and encouragement of Professor P.O. Pedersen whose great knowledge of the affairs of the Federation Dentaire International (FDI) was invaluable and whose interest in dental students is well known. It was indeed appropriate that he was later appointed as an Honorary Life Member of the IADS

In July 1952, the IADS Council (now the General Assembly) met in Birmingham. The constitution, regulations and plans for the future were put forward by the Executive Committee and it was decided that, in the future, the Annual Session of the Council should coincide with an international dental student event.

Therefore in 1953 that the first IADS Congress was held at the University of Marburg/Lahn in Germany; some 120 students attended and the official constitution was approved and signed at the Council meeting. The preliminaries had therefore been completed and the Association was launched.

September 1954 the Dutch dental students organized the second IADS Congress at Groningen and Utrecht; at this meeting the Council began the important work of formulating future policy and deciding upon the various activities which the Association would pursue. Co-operation with other international organizations, especially the World Health Organization and the Federation Dentaire International, were considered and, as a result of this, the close relationship between the F.D.I. and the IADS was established.

1954 to 1966 memberships increased to fifteen countries and the Association had become well established in the dental world. The Annual Congress had become a most enjoyable, although mainly social, gathering; it provided almost the only communication between members as the finances of the Association precluded circularized publications. However, the exchange program had become established and this international exchange of dental students has continued to be a most worthwhile and successful project and one of which the IADS can be justly proud

1966 that the IADS Congress was held outside Europe for the first time in its history-in

Jerusalem.  THIS marked the transition of the IADS from that of a young association to that of a mature one attempting to solve its present problems and to plan for a successful future. The General Assembly considered several urgent matters. Firstly, it was appreciated that the enrollment of new members had so far been confined almost entirely to Western Europe; a recruitment drive in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and North America was therefore initiated.

Secondly, it was stressed that some regular contact between member countries must be provided throughout the year if the association was to retain the interest and co-operation of its members, and a newsletter with some commercial sponsorship was planned.
Thirdly, the increasing volume and complexity of business to be considered by the General Assembly made it essential that this be conducted in a well-ordered ‘and democratic manner, presided over by an independent Chairman. .

At the 1967 Congress in Paris there was already evidence that the recruitment drive was meeting with some success and that the newsletter, although at this time rather thin and infrequent, was being appreciated by the members. It was also in 1967 that Dr. Gerald Leatherman, the Executive Director of the F.D.I, in view of the increasing importance of the IADS, decided that a permanent liaison officer should be appointed whose job it would be to keep the F.D.I. informed of IADS matters and to assist the IADS when requested by its Executive Committee, thus contributing some degree of continuity.

1968 the IADS visited Eastern Europe for its Congress in Czechoslovakia at which observers from Egypt, Hungary, Japan and Turkey were present; by this time, also, the newsletter was becoming better produced, due almost entirely to the energy of its editor, Brian McMullen. Even with considerable sponsorship, it was costing the Association a large proportion of its annual, income; however, the continuing improvement in communication between members was certainly worth this high expenditure.

1969 the United States of America and Canada attended as observers

For the first time The New York Dental School applied for corresponding membership and thus the door to North America was at last opening. By this time, also, another international dental student association was being established, albeit a regional one. The Asian Pacific Dental Students Association was formed in Southeastern Asia and liaison with this Association was established

1970 a major reappraisal of the Scientific Program for future Congresses took place. It was Mr. Mark-John Vella-Bardon who urged that discussion groups should replace formal lectures as the major content of the Scientific Program; whilst dental students have a great variety of lectures available in their own countries, the IADS Congress provides a unique opportunity for international discussion on dental topics of mutual interest. The success of these groups was immediately apparent when they were subsequently introduced. The conclusions of these discussion groups were forwarded to, amongst others, the relevant F.D.I. Commission.

1971, the Association paid its first visit to its smallest member, Malta, and under the Chairmanship of Mark-John Vella-Bardon, a magnificent Congress was arranged. It was at this meeting that the two very active North American coordinators, Jeffrey Leeds and Barry Grayson, presented the application for membership of the newly-formed American Student Dental Association, as well as more Canadian Schools, Mexico and Nicaragua. In addition, Egypt, Greece and Italy were elected members at this meeting.

1972 Australia joined as a corresponding member. Very much more important, it was the year in which Quintessence International took over the publication and distribution of the newsletter. This most generous offer by the Berlin publishing house has provided the IADS with the opportunity to provide its members with a quarterly newsletter of the highest quality and which is printed and circulated worldwide at no expense to the Association.

In 1973, the F.D.I. Commissions on Dental Education, Dental Practice and Public Dental Health each invited the IADS to appoint a representative to participate in their Commission meetings at the F.D.I. Congresses. It is obviously of benefit to the F.D.I. to have informed student opinion available-the very considerable contributions to the 1976

1974, delegates learned of the offer of the Medical Protection Society, a professional insurance organization in London, to provide a central address and some secretarial assistance to the IADS Since the acceptance of this offer, a restructuring of the administration has been gradually very evident that the continuity offered by this arrangement is of great value to the Association.

1980 to 1982
The constitution seemed to slow down proceedings and often caused the General Assembly to come to a virtual standstill over a procedural point. Valuable debating time was often lost. In 1980, at the Utrecht Congress, a small working party, under the Chairmanship of the IADS President, Wojieck Kowalski, set about reviewing the entire constitution. This proved to be a long and arduous task, and indeed two further attempts were necessary Egypt 198I and Puerto Rico

1983 when the constitution we use today was finally accepted.

1986 Singapore, This was the first time that an IADS Congress coincided with a meeting of the Asian Pacific Dental Students’ Association.

Agenda for 1987 was “declining membership, an uncertain future of Central Office, the loss of the Quintessence International account and more long term decisions to make should there be a voluntary work abroad scheme? How can the exchange program be improved?

1996: Formation of the AIDS committee, gather information about
AIDS and send it through the Dental Students.  Organizing a summer school, producing a booklet that is to be published and distributed by IADS.

1998 SPECIAL SESSION OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY BARCELONA, SPAIN:
A. This was the year when the annual meeting that was planned to take place in August 1998 in Belgrade was cancelled due after a long process of consultation with the organizers, the Executive Committee,
the FDI, various foreign ministries, the member associations and the Honorary Life members.
The Congress had been cancelled because of:
• A low number of registrations (25), which included 3 NEOs. This would have made it impossible to
hold a valid General Assembly. The deadline for registrations had been extended, twice, at the request
of the CoCo to allow more time for people to register. However, this had not been successful.
• A lack of sponsorship, which together with the lack of registrations, made the Congress financially enviable.
• Political problems in Yugoslavia, which made people not want to attend. This contributed to the low
numbers of registrations. And thus a special session was held in Barcelona in October to compensate for the meeting.

B. the acceptance if the school in Bergen (Norway) as Full School Members, the two
Norwegian schools had formed an International Committee, which would represent both of them as Full Country Members for Norway.

1999:IADS Committee was thanked for their work and after they collected enough information, Organized a summer school, made the booklet and present a seminar, their job was done and the committee was closed.
APDSA offered to help organizing the 2001 annual meeting for IADS in Kuala lampur in order to celebrate the IADS 50th anniversary with the FDI.

2000: A 3 year plan was set with FDI concerning promotion and fund raising for the IADS as well as enhancing the FDI-IADS communication.
VCP for IADS in Tanzania and Romania were put in to action.
IADS as part of the UNESCO collective consultations was invited to all their meetings.
The 5Oth anniversary for IADS will be celebrated during the joint FDI-IADS meeting taking place in Kuala lampur Malaysia in 2001.
Poland, Nigeria and Estonia were accepted for IADS membership.

2002: Prague MYM and Sharm elsheikh annual meeting.Memberships of France, Lithuania, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, Puerto rico, Mexico and Iceland were lapsed. Launch of iads domain www.iads-web.org. Standing Committee On Research and Education –SCORE- was formed. Georgia (GSSA) was accepted for membership.

2003: Cracow MYM and Istanbul annual meeting.
IADS president accepted the invitation and attended the 8th UNESCO/ NGO Consultation on Higher education January of the same year in Paris.
The Sudanese Association of Dental Students (SADS) was accepted as a full National Member
The Scientific Association if Hellenic Dental Students (EEFOE) was accepted as a National Corresponding, representing the 2 dental schools in Greece.
The Maltese Association of Dental Students (MADS) was accepted as a full National Member representing the one and only dental school in Malta
The Italian Association of Dental Students (AISO) was accepted as a National Corresponding Member representing 22 local organizations.

2005: Bergen MYM and Prague annual meeting
Haitian Dental Student Association applied for Full Country/National Membership.
Students Union of Medical Faculty Novi Sad, Serbian & Montenegro -     Full Local Membership-  350 members
Georgian Dental Students Association (GeDSA)- Full Membership-300 members
Associazione Italiana Studenti di Odontoiatria (AISO)- Full Membership- 820 members

2006 Split MYM and Sudan annual meeting

COSPIE the committee with an aim to help solve problems often occurring during exchanges was created.

The “Insurance Deposit System” was created;

•    deals with exchanges of students and young dentists,
•    aim - to help NEO to arrange the exchange,
•    points related to accommodation, transportation
•    rules of any changes that might be done before the exchange.

First time to connect a voluntary work project with an IADS congress around 4000 patients were treated by the congress participants in combination with the students and doctors from Khartoum University during the trip.

2007 Georgia MYM and Hungary annual meeting:
HCCM, Russian Federation- application for full country membership, 7000 members, and 12 schools represented

The ”Abc of Exchange”:
•    general duties of NEO,
•    duties of NEO and LEO during exchange
•    student obligations.

Palestinian Association of Dental Students (PADS)

2008 Lublin MYM and Sharm el-Sheikh annual meeting:

a.     Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta – Indonesia – Corresponding Membership
b.    The League of Students in Dental Medicine Bucharest (LSMDB) - Full Local Membership - 300 members
c.    Dental Students’ Society of Iasi ( Societatea Studentilor Stomatologi Iasi )- Full Local Membership – 240 members
d.    Dental Students Scientific Association of Egypt - Full National (Country) Membership -650 members

More than 40 IADS members participated in the IADS voluntary project and more than 300 students took part in IADS Exchange Program.

Partnerships were made with the European Dental Students’ Association – EDSA,   as well as Dentist Network and SICOBAIR.

SCORE:
a. reached an agreement with Institute of dental Research –Washington university USA that the latter will host selected IADS students to conduct their own research in the premises of Washington University.
B. A database of students’ researches and lectures were made on the IADS website
C A database of post graduate studies in many countries were prepared
D. a students’ lecture contest were conducted during the 55th annual meeting.
 

The information here is clearly incomplete, but is as complete as the records allow any one knows any information that may be useful to that task please pass it on.

Past Congresses

Past Mid-Year Meetings

In the past all of MYMs were held in London. Since 1994 it was held outside the United Kingdom for the first time. 

2008 Lublin, Poland

2007 Tbilisi, Georgia

2006 Split, Croatia

2005 Bergen, Norway

2004 Ljubljana, Slovenia

2003 Cracow, Poland

2002 Prague, Czech

2001 Istanbul, Turkey

2000 Budapest, Hungary

1999 London, UK

1998 Rijeka, Croatia

1997 Bucharest & Sinia, Romania

1996 London, UK

1995 Istanbul, Turkey

1994 Paris, France