Brazil 2019

The Foundation for Oral-facial Rehabilitation (FFOFR) and its international team, conducted an outreach program on September 5-7, 2019 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A three-day program was tailored for prosthodontists and restorative dentists.

The major topics included the use of digital technologies in the management of oral and facial defects, prosthetic restoration of facial defects, combined surgical-prosthetic restoration of tongue-mandible defects, restoration of hard and soft palate defects, and dental management of irradiated patients.

Several hands-on sessions and a poster competition were also be conducted. We were thankful for the efforts of Dr. Ana Soares and her colleagues at the Oswaldo Cruz Hospital for their tireless efforts in planning for and conducting the conference.

Over 60 attendees from 4 countries made up predominately of prosthodontic specialists. The scientific session included a poster competition. A total of 13 posters showcased the clinical and research activities of the region. The Foundation for Oral-Facial Rehabilitation (FFOFR.org) awarded $1000 in prizes to the top three posters. Dr. Makrakis, Prosthodontics faculty at the University of São Paulo, was awarded first prize for her quality of life study of ocular (eye) prostheses. Almost half of the attendees participated in the post meeting hands-on courses, which included sculpting and painting facial prostheses, and a demonstration of procedures for ocular prostheses. For the first time, we held a live demonstration a virtually planned free flap reconstruction, primary placement of dental implants and designing a custom reconstruction plate. The following messages from participants (translated from Portuguese) give a sense of the enthusiasm for the meeting: “Excellent event”,“Marvelous course” ,“A very organized course. An excellent initiative to create a discussion group for oncogy and rehabilitation”, and “May we continue to have as productive events such as we had this week”.

Egypt 2018

Maxillofacial Prosthetic Symposium and Outreach in Alexandria University, Egypt, 2016

The symposium and outreach program devoted to comprehensive lectures and discussions on surgical management and prosthetic rehabilitation for head and neck cancer patients. The hands-on session for ocular and facial defects. The overall goal of this outreach efforts is to educate medical and dental professions for more interdisciplinary team approach to optimize the rehabilitation outcomes in restoring oral functions and facial esthetics in patients with major orofacial deformities.

The speakers and teaching faculty include Dr. John Beumer, Dr. Ting-Ling Chang, Dr. Evelyn Chung, Dr. Jay Jayanetti, Dr. Peter Moy, Dr. Dave Parks, Dr. Kumar Shah, Dr. Arun Sharma, Head and Neck Surgeon Dr. Maie St. John, Dr. Teoh Kim, Ms. Tomomi Baba, and Mr. Don Pedroche.