Editorial - The 89th General Session & Exhibition of the IADR and the Brazilian Saliva Symposium

EDITORIAL

The 89^th General Session & Exhibition of the IADR and the Brazilian Saliva Symposium

Dear Readers,

As all of you know, the 89^th General Session & Exhibition of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) was held in San Diego, California, from March 16^th through 19^th. Those who were able to attend this outstanding meeting could witness the most recent achievements of dental research around the world. The scientifc program was extremely well organized and gave the opportunity for young and senior investigators to interact and share their experiences. As a direct consequence, many possible research collaborations were discussed. This successful meeting had Professor Maria Fidela de Lima Navarro as the IADR President. For the frst time Latin America and the Caribbean Region had a member holding such a distinguished position. For more than 40 years, Dr. Navarro has been involved with dental research, since her time as an undergraduate student in the frst graduating class of the Bauru School of Dentistry until becoming the frst woman Dean of this school. As the Secretary-General of the University of São Paulo she faced a wide range of new challenges, not only establishing strong collaborations across Brazil, but also around the world. All of this has been facilitated by the fact that, during her academic career, she has had the chance to work with a strong team of colleagues while organizing international seminars, conferences, and symposiums. These same skills have served her very well in her roles at the IADR and many other scientifc societies. In addition these relationships have helped her to understand the complexity of trying to establish new research partnerships in a complex world with political and cultural challenges. This rich history provided a basis for her to help promote the 89^th General Session & Exhibition of the IADR, engage new scientists in a wide range of countries in almost all continents, and foster the missions of the association. We now wish Dr. Navarro the best of luck in her journey as the Immediate Past President of the IADR.

Another excellent event, the Brazilian Saliva Symposium, was held at the Bauru School of Dentistry, University of São Paulo, on April 9^th. As stated by Dr. David Wong, one of the symposium speakers, saliva has long been considered a "mirror of the body" that refects the state of a person's overall health. A wide range of systemic diseases, such as diabetes and Sjögren's syndrome, have oral manifestations that dentists can encounter in patients at various stages of disease development. Dentists are therefore ideally situated to monitor and treat oral disease progression, impaired salivary status, and various oral complications associated with systemic conditions. In recent years, sparked by initiatives from the National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), saliva has attracted widespread interest as a diagnostic medium for rapid, pointof-care testing. The advantages of using saliva for disease diagnostics include ease of access, noninvasive sample collection, increased acceptance by patients, and reduced risks of infectious disease transmission. Oral samples are readily accessible as whole saliva or by sampling secretions from specific glands or gingival crevicular fuid. Advances in the science of salivary diagnostics will lead to identifcation of disease signature patterns of candidate biomarkers and/or confrmation of genetic susceptibility for some conditions. The speed and scope of available tests are also likely to increase. As salivary diagnostic applications advance, dentists are encouraged to take leadership roles in integrating the tests and related technologies into clinical practice, consistent with the best available scientifc evidence. Besides Dr. David Wong the following distinguished speakers lectured and discussed their fndings with all the participants from different regions and states of Brazil: Walter Siqueira, Daniel Malamud, Eva J. Helmerhorst, Mario Taba Jr, Fernando N. Nogueira and Olga Baker. The event was very fruitful and also established new perspectives for scientifc projects in the area. This was only possible because of the efforts of many people who worked together: Professors José Carlos Pereira and Maria Aparecida A.M. Machado, respectively Dean and Vice-Dean of our school, the staff of our school and the IADR Brazilian Division, represented in the event by its President Dr. Giuseppe Romito, who were all leaded by the enthusiastic Dr. Maria Fidela de Lima Navarro.

I hope to come up soon with more excellent news such as the aforementioned.

Kind regards,

Carlos F. Santos, DDS, PhD, Associate Professor

Editor-in-Chief

Journal of Applied Oral Science

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  02 May 2011
• Date of issue
  Apr 2011