Standards meeting comes to Sydney

The 39th International Organization for Standardization (ISO) TC 106 Dentistry meeting was held in Sydney immediately following FDI, from September 22-27.

The venue was the Novotel Hotel at Brighton Le Sands, just across from the site of the initial landing of the First Fleet at Botany Bay.

243 delegates from 20 countries attended with 57 accompanying persons. The 10 member Australian delegation was led by Professor Martin Tyas. The delegates are generally senior academics, government health officers and manufacturers' research and design staff.

Forty-eight working groups met throughout the week to discuss a wide variety of topics including manual toothbrushes; power toothbrushes; toothpastes; oral hygiene products; dental terminology; endodontic and orthodontic materials; dental implants; impression materials; lights; chairs; stools; suction equipment; and, biological evaluation.

The development of an ISO standard occurs in stages with member countries voting approval or disapproval at various points. In this way the views of all member countries can be considered and incorporated into the developing standard.

Under the new "European Harmonisation" regulatory system for dental products being introduced by the Therapeutics Goods Administration (TGA), one of the principal routes for obtaining conformance is via compliance with the relevant European ('EN') standard. European standards for dental products are generally republished international dental product standards, which underlines the importance to Australia of actively participating in the work of ISO TC106.

The meeting flowed smoothly thanks to the efforts of Mrs Barbara O'Keefe from Standards Australia International, who coordinated her team to deliver data projectors, photocopies and computers as needed.

The social program consisted of a welcome cocktail party at the hotel and a dinner cruise on Sydney Harbour. As usual, Sydney Harbour sparkled for the evening and the visitors were very impressed.

Sponsorship for the event was provided by the Australian Dental Industry Association, the Australian Dental Association, Cattani Australia and SDI Limited.

A highlight of the opening ceremony was the presentation of a Certificate of Appreciation to A/Professor John Harcourt, former Reader in Restorative Dentistry at the University of Melbourne, for more than 20 years of service to ISO.

Thailand will host the 2004 ISO TC106 meeting.