CanadianOral Health Summit The inaugural Canadian Oral Health Summit (COHS) brought together a wide audience across oral health care and research to advance oral health in Canada and internationally. Over three days in June 2024, academic leaders, professors, students, oral health professionals, researchers, representatives from organized dentistry, health policy experts, and patients gathered at Dalhousie University’s faculty of dentistry in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to attend symposia, presentations and workshops. “The idea for the summit arose from how much important work and dynamic change is happening in dentistry in Canada and around the world,” says Dr. Paul Allison, chair of the COHS organizing committee. “The Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry (ACFD) normally holds an in-person biennial meeting, historically a small event primarily involving academic and other dental leaders.” In 2022, the ACFD reached out to other oral health research organizations to gauge their interest in collaborating. “They all immediately jumped on-board,” says Dr. Allison. At the same time, the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) initiated a project to create Canada’s first ever National Oral Health Research Strategy (NOHRS). “We quickly decided that the summit would be the ideal event to formally announce the new strategy,” says Dr. Allison. The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) was rolling out and the COHS organizing committee wanted to invite the federal Minister of Health, the Honourable Mark Holland, and representatives from Health Canada to discuss the program with the research community. “And of course, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its Global Strategy and Action Plan on Oral Heath in May 2024, which has objectives directly related to activities in Canada,” says Dr. Allison. Minister Holland attended the summit in Halifax and officially announced the NOHRS. With its presentation at the summit, Canada became the second WHO member The Canadian Dental Care Plan was rolling out and the COHS organizing committee wanted to invite the federal Minister of Health and representatives from Health Canada to discuss the programwith the research community. 19 Issue 5 | 2024 |
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