A clash of culture within the dental hygiene profession itself occurred on July 19-21 when the International Federation of Dental Hygiene convened in Toronto.
Several hundred dental hygienists from 21 countries attended the three-day symposium, the 17th one for the IFDH. The IFDH meets every three years, with Scotland being the next destination in July 2010.
The host in 2007, the Canadian Dental Hygienists' Association, used the setting to proudly display the successful results of its long struggles to achieve self-regulation, as well as federal reviews of dental hygienists to "self-initiate" services to consumers.
Before getting down to the business of dental hygiene on a global scale, the IFDH and CDHA listened to a little music. The keynote speaker was Dr. Deforia Lane, a music therapist in Cleveland, Ohio, hospitals.
"Everyone is impacted by music from the very first cry at birth to his or her final breath," said Dr. Lane, who coached dental hygienists about using a little music therapy for dental phobics, pediatric patients, pain control, Alzheimer's patients as well as other geriatric or homebound situations, and, of course, minimizing the unpleasant sounds heard in dental offices.
After Dr. Lane's best wishes for dental hygienists, attendees participated in 24 seminars arranged by the IFDH. Five seminars presented panelists with speakers from varying countries to comment on topics of interest.
The speakers hailed from Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Approximately 20 exhibitors displayed products at the symposium. RDH was the only U.S. dental hygiene journal exhibiting at the conference.
