About IAOFR

Formerly called International Research Group on Preprosthetic Surgery, the first meeting of surgeons and prosthodontists took place in Berlin in 1983. This meeting was called together and chaired by Paul Stoelinga, on request of the IAOMS, to conduct a symposium on “The relative roles of vestibuloplasty and ridge augmentation in the management of the atrophic mandible” on the occasion of the 8th International Conference on Oral Surgery. Present at that meeting were the sugeons Roberto Brusati (It), Franz Härle (GER), Sören Hillerup (DK), Russell Hopkins (UK), Christos Martis (GR), and Bill Terry (USA), the prosthodontists Hans de Koomen (NL) and Dick Grisius (USA). The Proceedings of this meeting were published in 1984 and included a consensus statement, which was the basis for improved versions in later years. The first International Congress on Preprosthetic Surgery was held in 1985 in Palm Springs, USA, and was organized by Howard Davis and John Beumer. In attendance were Bill Terry, Franz Härle, Sören Hillerup, Russell Hopkins, Paul Stoelinga, Dick Grisius, Hans de Koomen and George Zarb.

The first Consensus Conference took place at the second International Congress on Preprosthetic Surgery held in Palm Springs. This was subsequently updated at the 3rd meeting in Arnhem (The Netherlands) in 1989 and first published in 1990. The panel in those days consisted of John Beumer, John Cawood, Howard Davis, Dick Grisius, Franz Härle, Sören Hillerup, Russell Hopkins, Erik Hjorting Hansen, Hans de Koomen, Peter Moy, Hermann Sailer, Paul Stoelinga and Bill Terry.

The name change from International Research Group on Preprosthetic Surgery to International Academy for Oral and Facial Rehabilitation was introduced at the meeting in Noordwijk(2005) as to reflect the change of focus, largely caused by the introduction of endosteal implants, which opened a new era in the art of oral and facial rehabilitation. At the meeting in Berlin in 2009, it was decided to expand the group but also to act as a leading group initiating visions on patient assessment and the practice of evidence based treatment.

The first meeting with a substantial group of newcomers, took place in Washington DC in 2011. It was there that the decision was taken to meet every year so as to act more proactively. It was also decided to initiate studies on behalf of IAOFR with a emphasis on quality of life. Decisions on some initial studies were made at the meeting in Stoke Park, UK in 2012. The first report on the risk of fracture of ultra thin edentulous (Class VI) mandibles was presented in 2013 at the Tampa meeting, while a new multicenter study was proposed on "Short dental implants in the posterior region; A multicenter study on solitary restorations supported by dental implants of ≤8 mm in length" . At this meeting it was also proposed to have debates on various topics introduced by two speakers one pro and one contra, resulting in consensus statements as in the beginning years of the group. At the next meeting (2014) in Haarlem (NL) four important topics in oral-facial rehabilitation were approached this way. The topics involved included, the importance of perfect anatomic reconstruction, more or less surgery for best quality of life , calvarial versus cortico-cancellous bone grafts, Cad-Cam versus conventional planning for prosthetic rehabilitation , a large implant supported prosthesis with no microvascular free flaps versus a small implant supported prosthesis with free flap reconstruction . The debates culminated in consensus statements eventually to be published at the website.

The 18th meeting in 2015 took place in Hong Kong and was combined by a symposium on "Prevention and management of complications in implant dentistry" conducted by fellows of IAOFR and some local colleagues. It was a huge success. The scientific meeting of the group per se was focussed on "Reconstructive Pre-implant Surgery- Advancements and Pitfalls". Two consensus statements evolved from this meeting. The 19th meeting was organised by Joel Ferri and his staff in Lille (France) in 2016. It was the best attended meeting in the history of IAOFR and all participants enjoyed the French hospitality and cuisine. Close to 40 fellows were present. The theme of the meeting was "Facial reconstruction and repair – a team approach" . At this meeting the consensus statements of the 2014 and 2015 meeting were approved and considered ready to be put on the website. Most importantly, guidelines for organizing meetings of IAOFR were also approved by the general assembly and were to be implemented for the upcoming events. The 20th meeting in 2017 took place in Manchester, organized by Tim Blackburn. It was also one of the best attended meetings. The main topic was the irradiated patient and the implications for the rehabilitation of these patients , but the program also included papers about issues related to the surface and shape of implants. At the business meeting a committee was appointed existing of Anthony Summerwill, Lim Cheung and Tim Blackburn under the chairmanship of John Cawood, to write a strategic review.

The 22nd meeting took place in Hong Kong again in April 2018 and like in 2015 a symposium was organized entitled "Advances on cleft and implant rehabilitation". It was attended by mainly participants from the south Asian region. Although there was significant input from fellows of IAOFR the attendance of fellows was disappointing. During the business meeting the report of the strategic review group was discussed, culminating in a plan to come up with a position paper to be written again by John Cawood with the assistance of Piet Haers, Ashok Sethi and Paul Stoelinga. It was decided to have a special business meeting in October 2018 to discuss this position paper. This meeting took place in Haarlem (NL) with 15 fellows present while 14 fellows, who could not be present, filled out a questionnaire about the position paper that had been circulated among the fellows. The content of the position paper was unanimously agreed upon, including the assistance of an organization bureau to help IAOFR to achieve its goals. As a consequence of this agreement five focus groups were established to formulate consensus statements to be presented at a special meeting in Barcelona in March 2019. At this meeting a strategic plan was developed with the assistance of BCO congresos that would serve as a template for at least the coming 3 years. The chair persons of the focus groups presented their drafts on the consensus statements that were to be finalized at the meeting in October 2019 in Haarlem again.