History of the 8th IOC from Dr. Jonathan Sandler

At the 2007 AAO Annual Session in Seattle, it was announced that the British Orthodontic Society (BOS) bid to host the 8th International Orthodontic Conference had been successful. Twelve months earlier, the preliminary 2015 committee had composed a bid document, which had to be submitted by December 2006. I was delighted to head up this bid, which eventually saw off fierce competition from Barcelona, Mexico City and Toronto.

Official notification was sent to the then President of the BOS, Jeremy Hodgkins, that the 8th International Orthodontic Congress (IOC) would be returning once again to London. The IOC congress is effectively the ‘Olympics’ of orthodontics, which in recent times, has been held once every five years. The only other country to have hosted this event on two previous occasions is the USA; however, London now had the great honour of being awarded the IOC for a third time. The 2nd IOC was held in London (1931), then after a gap of 42 years, again in London (1973) under the Royal patronage of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

My first task as Chairman of 2015 was to approach many of the former British Orthodontic Conference (BOC) committee members and ask them if they would be willing to spend the many hundreds of hours of their ‘free time’ to ensure that the 2015 IOC would be the best orthodontic conference Europe has ever seen. Mrs. Ann Wright agreed to be the Executive Secretary for the 2015 Committee, having looked after the BOC since its inception under the Chairmanship of my old Consultant, mentor and very dear friend David DiBiase. I was greatly relieved that Ann was willing to ‘step up to the plate’ and confirm that she would take on the monumental task of helping organize this Congress. Professor Kevin O’Brien was thrilled to be appointed as Scientific Committee Chair, with the proviso that he had complete autonomy. He put together a scientific committee of international repute and invited 35 of the top international orthodontic speakers to contribute to the 8th IOC. We signed up those with an international reputation and proven track record for presenting the latest and best in contemporary clinical orthodontics and research. In addition, one third of the programme was devoted to younger clinicians and researchers to give them the opportunity to demonstrate their work in the form of a Poster or short oral presentation. We recently closed to entries and have had an unprecedented interest, resulting in over 1,100 submissions from 75 countries around the world.

Simon Littlewood was appointed to run the 2015 exhibition. Simon used all his many undeniable talents to collect in excess of £800,000 in sponsorship, which went a long way to ensuring the financial success of this event. Simon Littlewood together with Trevor Hodge, started the first, and one of the most successful Orthodontic Therapist Courses in the UK, therefore nobody was more appropriate than Trevor to be appointed to chair the Allied Dental Personnel Programme. It has been a pleasure to work with Trevor, who has quietly and calmly put together a superb programme to attract Orthodontic Therapists, Dental Nurses and Orthodontic Technicians from all over the world. Many of the Keynote speakers also presented on Trevor’s programme; thus, providing a truly enticing two days. In addition, Trevor set up bursaries to provide access to the 8th IOC to orthodontists who otherwise would not be able to find the necessary financial support to attend this landmark event.

One of the most important parts of any International Congress is the social events. Tania Murphy managed to sign up Tower Bridge, the Painted Hall in the Naval College at Greenwich, Madame Tussaud’s and the Natural History Museum, as well as Billingsgate Market for the final Gala dinner. Tania, together with the inimitable Rye Mattick, adding her theatrical flair to the entire event, made numerous exploratory visits to London. They were both very busy choreographing the spectacular opening event, as well as meticulously planning all other social events with Swiss precision.

The Chairman of the BOS at the time, Alison Murray, was the Protocol Chair. Alison ensured that all the right people were in the right place at the right time and that every aspect of international protocol was maintained. She was ably helped in this task by my friend and colleague, Julian O’Neill, who has had extensive European experience, having led both European Specialist Groups for a number of years (EFOSA and the FEO).
A highlight of every IOC is the World Village Day and the BOS has played a large part in this event at the two previous congresses. Dr Ama Johal spent countless hours negotiating with orthodontic leaders throughout the world. He put together an innovative programme, which both educated and entertained, encompassing the sixteen international societies that decided to put together a programme for this event. One of the toughest jobs at any International Conference is organizing the accompanying audiovisual facilities for up to eight parallel sessions. Alex Cash rose to the challenge and produced something at least as impressive as that seen recently in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Andrew DiBiase worked tirelessly for 7 years on the 2015 Committee as the PR and publicity Tzar. Andrew worked very closely with Claire Joffe from Kenes, to ensure the entire orthodontic world have absolutely no doubt as to ‘what was occurring’ in September 2015. Evidence of Andrew’s success is evident from the variety of submissions, that emanated from over 75 countries, for the short presentations. It was Andrew that we have to largely thank for the international turnout to witness this orthodontic extravaganza. Guy Deeming, one of the last additions to the 2015 Committee, was unbelievably helpful covering the social media brief. A number of the Committee were initially not up to speed with all aspects of social media; however, nobody escaped Guy’s reach. We found that this aspect of the 2015 Congress produced an incredibly exciting ‘buzz’, around the entire event. Dr. James Spencer, as Vice Chairman of the 2015 Committee, has spent the last seven years ‘watching my back’, as well as ensuring the smooth running of all the other factions within the Committee. Dina Slater is the other newcomer to the Committee, having joined a couple of years ago. Dina’s brief has been to organize the pre-congress course and she rose to the challenge admirably, having secured the world’s pre-eminent practitioners in Autotransplantation of teeth: Drs. Ewa Czochrowska and Pawel Plakwicz from Warsaw. Dina, with the help of Professor Nigel Hunt, the current BOS President and Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery, secured the Royal College of Surgeons as the venue for this prestigious course. Last but not least was our Treasurer Nigel Fox, who had to bear the burden of responsibility for the £5,000,000 budget associated with this Congress. Nigel likes to be known as ‘the man from Delmonte’ and quite rightly … as by his own admission he will always say ‘yes’ to any reasonable request, provided the justification meets his exacting standards.

For me it was an absolute privilege to work with this very special team of individuals. Many of the 2015 Committee worked tirelessly from 2007 until  months after the meeting. This was the largest conference that the BOS has ever been asked to organize. We believe that due to the support of the entire membership of the BOS, who showed a true UK welcome to all our overseas friends and colleagues, this was the event of a lifetime for those who came to London and saw the world smile!