This year, the Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future was delighted to host the ACFF Global Virtual Summit. This 3-day event comprised of a series of educational talks, a live discussion on Caries after Covid and activity updates from our global network of Chapters. It is the first time that the charity has produced such an event and we are thrilled by the high level of positive feedback that we received. There were over 30 speakers from around the world who participated in a total of 20 sessions. By holding the summit virtually, the event attracted a truly global audience, and it was amazing to talk to attendees coming from over 50 different countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, North America and South America.
The first day saw the Summit opening with an introduction by ACFF Global Chairman, Prof. Nigel Pitts, welcoming attendees and summarising the need for collaborative work to achieve a cavity-free future. This was followed by talks that explored Minimum Intervention Oral Healthcare, how saliva testing has helped diagnose Covid in children, the psychology behind changing people’s behaviour, how the ACFF Dental Policy Lab is driving policy development and how the Covid pandemic has created some unique opportunities for achieving a cavity-free future. The day also included a presentation on all of the wonderful work accomplished by our worldwide network of 29 Chapters.
The second day explored the importance of inter-professional collaboration and the role of the dental hygienist, how CariesCare International has adapted during the Covid pandemic, the results of the Latin America and Caribbean dental caries consensus, as well as diving deeper into the activities of both the Australia and New Zealand Chapter and the Malaysia Chapter.
The day also held the Live Forum which explored the theme of ‘Caries after Covid: Reflections, Plans and Ambitions’ and was hosted by Prof. Tim Newton of King’s College London. The live panel of international experts included Prof. Nigel Pitts, Dr Marko Vujicic, Dr James Taylor, Prof. Avijit Banerjee, Dr Nigel Carter, Prof. Stefania Martignon and Prof. Georgios Tsakos, and they discussed topics covering how the pandemic has impacted the dental sector, what the current global policy situation is and how the ACFF fits into this.
Day three saw a deeper exploration of our Chapter activities with presentations from the Central and Eastern Europe, Nordic, Colombia, Japan and Spain Chapters and introduced their different aims and the issues that they face in their regions.
The whole event could not have gone ahead without the support of the speakers and those that helped produce the talks so the ACFF would like to thank them all for their hard work and time.
All of the recordings of the talks are available on our website for FREE to our members. Just log in to your membership account to access them.
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