The eighth National Congress of the Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry (IAPHD) is to begin at New Delhi on August 9, 2003. The theme of the two-day congress is “Oral Health is Nation’s Wealth”. About 500 delegates are expected to be part of the congress.

The highlights of the congress include a seminar on “National Oral Health Survey & Fluoride Mapping of The Dental Council of India” and a symposium on “Oral Health Is Nation's Wealth: Professional Perceptions & Recommendations”.

The conference is to shed light upon the latest international developments in preventive and general dentistry, says Dr R K Bali, president IAPHD and chairman of the congress. Dr Bali is also the President of the Dental Council of India, the apex national body that regulates dental education in the country.

According to Dr Bali, modern dental practice encompasses wide-ranging areas of quality professional care for the patient including general dentistry, esthetics and implantology. “There have been rapid developments in the field of dental health care. The awareness level and the patients’ expectation from the dental profession are high. There is a need for continued and greater investment in the promotion of oral health care of the people”, he opined.

Dr V. B. Mathur, the Organising Secretary of the Congress, said public funded oral health care resources are scarce and must be judiciously used. “The benefits of the modern developments in dentistry must reach out to the poor and deprived communities through well-planned preventive and health promotion programmes,” he suggested.

The deliberations at the Congress, Dr Mathur said, will review the changing oral health care needs of the people and discuss practical strategies for improving and promoting oral health.

Among the key speakers, Professor Stephen H. Y. Wei, Professor Emeritus of Dentistry in Hong Kong University, will present a paper on ‘the impact of technology on clinical preventive dentistry’. Dr Raj K. RajaRyan, Dean of the Faculty of General Practitioners of the Royal College of Surgeons of England will speak on the ‘amalgamation of clinical and preventive practice in dentistry.’

Dr S. G. Damle, Professor and Head of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dean of the Nair Hospital and Dental College Mumbai, Dr Sandesh M. Mayekar, President, Asian Academy of Aesthetic Dentistry, Dr Ajit Shetty, Honorary Professor and Head of the Department of Oral Implantology, MGV Dental College Nasik, and Dr A. Kumarswamy, a specialist in the field of periodontics are among the experts attending the conference.

A Dental Trade Fair will be also run concurrent to the event.