of all stakeholders, which include manufacturers, oral health care providers, regulators and patients. “Recognizing patients as stakeholders in dental standardization is an interesting conundrum,” he says. “Patients are the ultimate beneficiaries of good standards in dentistry, but the technical nature of the work and the funding model for ISO work prevents their involvement in the standards process.” Short of direct patient involvement, Dr. Soucy sees the participation of clinicians as the best option to ensure that the work of ISO/TC 106 considers the concerns of patients. Members of ISO/TC 106 delegations from other countries, especially Germany, Japan and the US, are largely representatives of industry and manufacturing. In contrast, dentists with strong academic and clinical backgrounds have, for many years, comprised most of the Canadian delegation. “We definitely bring the perspective of dentistry, rather than industry, to the table,” Dr. Soucy says. He believes that having members of the Canadian delegation with a regulatory background would expand the expertise that Canada offers the committee. How ISO/TC 106 works ISO/TC106 has 8 subcommittees that cover broad categories of standardization topics. Each subcommittee includes working groups within which experts write the drafts that eventually become the ISO international standards. Currently, there are 51 standards under development or revision. “We have experts from all over the world,” says Lee, who manages the secretariat. “Imagine trying to schedule a Zoom meeting when you have participants who are based on both coasts of North America, Asia, Oceania and Europe. You always have somebody who has to wake up in the middle of the night for a meeting.” Participating experts are, to a large extent, volunteers, so Lee tries to make their work as convenient as possible. ISO recently introduced online tools for standard development that can be used asynchronously. “The default tool for ISO/TC 106 is now the ISO online standard development platform,” says Dr. Soucy. “We hope that more of the work can happen while experts are in their home countries so that, when we meet, we have more time to address contentious issues, build consensus and formally adopt the standards.” New standard proposals are presented by the national bodies of ISO. The participating members of the technical committee vote on these proposals. If the results are twothirds in favour, the proposal is assigned to a working group where experts come to consensus on a working draft that is circulated as a committee draft for comments and voted on by participating countries. This stage is intended to allow participating countries to reach consensus on the technical content of the standard. When consensus is reached, the document is registered as a draft international standard and recirculated for comments and voted on. Once consensus is reached on the draft international standard, it is registered as a final draft international standard that is circulated one more time before moving to the publication stage, once consensus on its content is confirmed. Each year, ISO/TC106 has a meeting hosted by a member country that brings all the experts together. The event includes a series of workshops where experts write standards collectively. “Last October, we gathered in New Orleans, and the 2025 meeting is set for Seoul, South Korea,” says Lee. The country that hosts the meeting funds the event and is not allowed to Patients are the ultimate beneficiaries of good standards in dentistry, but the technical nature of the work and the funding model for ISO work prevents their involvement in the standards process. Dr. Benoit Soucy presenting the SC 3 Report to the 2024 ISO/TC 106 Plenary in New Orleans, Louisiana. 17 Issue 2 | 2025 | News and Events
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