charge participants to attend the meeting, which helps lowerincome countries to attend and participate. “Katie does excellent work liaising with the host countries to make sure that the meetings run smoothy,” says Dr. Soucy. “The other part of our task is making sure that the subcommittees stay focussed and operate as they should. ISO directives define the basic procedures to be followed in the development of international standards and Katie knows them very well, so she guides and helps working groups and subcommittees that need it. And, most important to me, she supports the chair.” At the annual ISO/TC 106 event, Lee schedules the meetings over 5 days. “During the first 3 days, 55 to 60 working groups have to meet and there are people who are members of multiple working groups, which is a logistical challenge,” she says. The subcommittee plenaries are on day 4 and then, on day 5, each of the subcommittees presents their work for the full technical group to vote on them. “Usually, the Canadian group includes six people, including head of delegation and subject matter experts,” Lee says. “Last year it was only 4, but Canada punches above our weight and contributes in a very meaningful way to the committee.” Aspirations for Dr. Soucy’s tenure as chair Dr. Soucy wants to encourage Canadian dentistry to become more involved in standardization. “We currently have a core group of about eight experts that shoulder the bulk of the work,” he says. “By demonstrating how important standards are to dentists, I hope we can attract more experts. I need to find my replacement on the terminology subcommittee because, as chair of the TC, I am not available to serve in that capacity at meetings of ISO/TC 106.” Until 2022, France hosted the secretariat for the terminology sub-committee of ISO/TC 106. CDA now hosts it and recently gained a new manager, Igor Minic, programs and services associate at CDA. “As a bilingual country, the terminology Standards published by ISO/TC 106 There are now over 200 dental standards published by ISO/TC 106 and 51 under development or revision, covering dental materials, dental instruments, dental equipment, dental terminology, codes and abbreviations, oral hygiene products, dental CAD-CAM systems, biocompatibility of medical devices used in dentistry and dental implants. Standards for medical devices that are used in both dentistry and in other fields of medicine have their own ISO technical committees, which are monitored by members of ISO/TC 106 but not directly participated in. ISO/TC 106 Subcommittees What is ISO/TC 106? One of more than 200 technical committees at ISO, the mandate of ISO/TC 106 includes standardization in oral health care including: terms and definitions; performance, safety, and specification requirements of dental products; and clinically relevant laboratory test methods, all of which contribute to improved global health. ISO/TC 106 was established in 1962.The British Standards Institution held the secretariat until 2004 when it was transferred to the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), for whom it is administered by CDA. ISO/TC 106 has 31 participating member countries and 19 observing member countries. ISO/TC 106 contributes to the quality and safety of products used in the treatments by dental professionals as well as hygiene products used by the public. • TC 106/SC 1—Filling and restorative materials • TC 106/SC 2—Prosthodontic materials • TC 106/SC 3—Terminology • TC 106/SC 4—Dental instruments • TC 106/SC 6—Dental equipment • TC 106/SC 7—Oral care products • TC 106/SC 8—Dental implants • TC 106/SC 9—Dental CAD/CAM systems (L. to r.) Dr. Soucy, Dr. Lise Payant and Dr. Lex MacNeil, representing Canada at the 2019 ISO/TC 106 Plenary in Osaka, Japan. Read more about the history of ISO/TC 106 in an article by Dr. Derek Jones, former ISO/TC 106 chair: www.nature.com/articles/ sj.bdj.2012.835.pdf 18 | 2025 | Issue 2 News and Events
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