The BDA’s Health and Science Committee member David Williams, research professor of global oral health, has been elected onto the FDI’s Science Committee; and the chair of the BDA’s Principal Executive Committee, Mick Armstrong, onto the Dental Practice Committee.
David is internationally renowned for promoting awareness of oral diseases as a major health burden on a global scale, and of the major inequalities that exist both within and between countries in terms of severity and prevalence. He believes that oral health needs to be accorded the same consideration as cancer, heart disease, obesity and mental health. David is a past president of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR), and a co-founder and former president of the IADR Global Oral Health Inequalities Research Network, which sets the research agenda to deliver the evidence base for a strategy to reduce oral health inequalities within a generation.
Mick brings a wealth of experience to the post, both as a general dental practitioner (GDP) and as a representative of GDPs on a range of bodies. This includes being the chair of the BDA’s Principal Executive Committee since 2014 and serving on the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee. Mick is currently treasurer of the Council of European Dentists and has participated in the FDI’s General Assembly and the FDI’s European Regional Organisation over several years.
They join BDA president Susie Sanderson, who was elected last year as speaker of the FDI General Assembly.
The FDI World Dental Federation serves as the principal representative body for more than one million dentists worldwide, developing health policy and continuing education programmes, speaking as a unified voice for dentistry in international advocacy and supporting member associations in global oral health promotion activities. Its mission is to be the voice of dentistry, promote oral health for everyone, support member associations and advance the ethics, science and practice of dentistry.