South African delegation completes ICDAS training workshop in Mexico, coordinated by the Latin American Caries Research Observatory and funded by the Global Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future.
From 11 to 14 May 2026, two South African delegates — Dr Maphefo Thekiso, Chapter Lead of the South African (SA) Chapter, Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future (ACFF), and Dr Carl Potgieter SA ACFF Chapter Committee Member — travelled to Mexico to take part in a hands-on ICDAS (International Caries Detection and Assessment System) training workshop. The event was hosted with the support of Asociación Dental Mexicana and coordinated by Dr Rita Villena, General Coordinator of the Latin American Caries Research Observatory [Observatorio de Investigación de Caries en América Latina (OICAL)], as part of the Observatory’s ongoing regional training programme.
The workshop was funded by the Global Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future, forming part of a deliberate strategy to seed ICDAS training and implementation capacity in South Africa , a direct outcome of a recommendation made by the SA ACFF Chapter in 2025. In taking up the invitation, the Chapter signals its intent to move from advocacy toward applied, calibrated clinical practice: a shift that matters for a health system still weighing how best to fold caries detection into routine primary care.
WHY IT MATTERS
ICDAS offers a standardised, evidence-based system for detecting and staging dental caries earlier — before cavitation — allowing clinicians to intervene non-surgically. Bringing calibrated ICDAS training into South Africa strengthens the evidence base needed to integrate oral health more meaningfully into national NCD and primary healthcare programming.
A REGIONAL OBSERVATORY, A GLOBAL AMBITION
The Latin American Caries Research Observatory by hosting an international cohort in Mexico City the Observatory’s growing role as a training partner beyond Latin America. The Global Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future’s support for travel and training helps connect experts worldwide and builds a truly global network.
During the four-day program, the South African delegation received both theoretical training in ICDAS scoring and hands-on clinical calibration. They followed the same rigorous inter- and intra-examiner reliability process used internationally to validate ICDAS data for research and surveillance.
FROM WORKSHOP TO CHAPTER STRATEGY
The SA delegation’s attendance at the workshop formed part of the recommendations by the SA ACFF Chapter in 2025: that meaningful progress toward a cavity-free future in South Africa requires locally calibrated examiners who can generate ICDAS-grade data, rather than relying solely on imported evidence.
With two calibrated examiners now returning to South Africa, the Chapter has a practical foundation on which to build examiner-training pipelines, epidemiological surveys, and, in time, routine integration of standardised caries detection into public oral health services. The Chapter has indicated that this training will inform the design of a national ICDAS calibration programme, developed in partnership with the National Department of Health, with further details to be shared with members in the coming months.
SA ACFF | South African Chapter, Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future
Working toward a South Africa where every child grows up free of dental caries.
