Dear IADT Family,

The IADT board had a long and fruitful virtual meeting several weeks ago. Each committee chair or vice-chair presented a report of their committee’s activities in 2025, reviewed its plans for 2026, and offered suggestions for how the organization could be more useful and attractive to a growing membership. I was amazed and extremely grateful for the work done over the last year and the long hours spent by our hard-working colleagues on the committees. Every committee has been working hard to carry out its assigned duties and to plan interesting, rewarding, and educationally engaging programs that will benefit clinicians, educators, and patients around the globe. In the next few months, we will see the fruits of this hard work and planning. Please join me in thanking the members of the committees for volunteering so much of their time and effort to support the worthy mission of the IADT.

Many of you undoubtedly watched with admiration and wonderment at the variety of skills displayed by hundreds of elite athletes at the recently concluded 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan, Italy. However, if you watched the Canada-USA men’s gold medal hockey game, as IADT members, I am sure you were alarmed when Jack Hughes, who scored the winning overtime goal for the USA, sustained a significant dental trauma during a high stick incident earlier in the game. In that incident, the player sustained multiple injuries to the maxillary anterior teeth, including tooth fractures and displacements. As the game progressed and after, it was evident that those injuries were overlooked. While the intensity of elite competition is undeniable, the apparent lack of awareness for immediate emergency stabilization of these injuries is deeply concerning and highlights a critical gap in on-site urgent care protocols or sufficient awareness and care about the consequences of these injuries. Even more pressing is the urgent need to address the insufficiency of current preventive measures in high-level men’s hockey. Clearly, this incident shows an egregious failing to adequately protect athletes from preventable orofacial trauma. It is imperative that we, as dental professionals, leverage this high-profile moment in a timely way to advocate for improved safety equipment, and to educate the public, the media, and our own patients on the imperative of both primary and secondary prevention. Only then can we hope to attain the gold-standard, time-sensitive management of dental injuries to ensure the best possible long-term outcomes.

I am getting more excited every day about our dental trauma conference in Warsaw, Poland, later this year. I strongly urge you to visit the website for the

23rd World Congress on Dental Traumatology (WCDT2026), scheduled for Warsaw on September 3-5, 2026. You can find a link to the congress website on the landing page of the IADT website. Each week, the WCDT2026 website offers new, interesting, and vital information about the meeting. I urge you to secure your seat at the congress by registering early. This is truly going to be an extraordinary event. Spots are filling up quickly for the workshops, so do not delay in signing up for one of these great learning experiences. WCDT2026 has a magnificent scientific program and delightful social events. It also offers unlimited and invaluable networking opportunities.

Have you considered becoming a Fellow of the IADT? Check out our website for more information about how to earn Fellowship and become an IADT Fellow. You will be joining the highest membership tier of the IADT. For those of you who have previously earned Fellowship, do not miss our Fellows Breakfast held during the WCDT in September.

Remember to renew your IADT membership for 2026. Log in to your Members Only section of the website or contact our management office at iadt@iadt-dentaltrauma.org to ensure you are in good standing for another exciting year with the IADT. Do not miss out on being a part of a great organization with its stellar events, superb education, and a few surprises that await in 2026.

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Yours,

Liran Levin

President, IADT