The ADF was instrumental in the creation in March 2000 of the IFRO (Institut Français pour la Recherche Odontologique), the French institute for dental research whose mission is to provide support to French dental researchers, who often lack the appropriate funding. The IFRO funds doctoral scholarships and research fellowships, and allocates grants both to research teams and individual scientists working for laboratories. It also ensures the promotion of dental research through a variety of means, including conferences, publications, symposiums, awards and competitions.

The seven members of the IFRO Governing Board include two representatives of the ADF Executive Committee, who ensure that the Association and the Institute remain in permanent contact.

As early as October 2000, eight research grants were allocated by the IFRO Scientific Committee. Since then, eight to nine grants have been allocated each year, mostly to individual scientists, but also to a few laboratories. Thus in its eight years of existence, the IFRO has already provided dental research with over 500,000 euros.

In addition to the annual contribution provided by the ADF, the IFRO receives the necessary funds from the dental industry. The French Dental Association has to this purpose succeeded in raising the interest of companies that specialise in pharmaceutics, in oral health care and the prevention of oral diseases, and in dental biomaterials. It is thanks to these companies, which include Pierre Fabre and GABA – its two major sponsors – as well as Colgate and GC, that the IFRO can provide such strong support to dental research.

The recipients of the IFRO grants must each year write an article presenting the results of their research. These articles are published in a special issue of the French Dental Association publication Les Cahiers de l'ADF.

It is too early yet to fully appreciate how much the projects funded have contributed to the practice of dentistry. Nevertheless, the articles written up to now, which are of the highest quality, show a definite trend for the future: the contribution of tissue-engineering to reconstructive therapies is often at the forefront, which goes to show that science, in the years to come, may prove far more important than technique.

Pr Michel Goldberg
IFRO Chairman

The IFRO Governing board

Michel GOLDBERG - Chairman
Dominique DEVILLE de PERIERE - Chairman of the Scientific committee
Nicola MAILHAC - Treasurer
Youssef HAIKEL - Representative for the Academic sector
Patrick HESCOT - General Secretary

The IFRO Scientific committee

Ariane BERDAL, Martine BONNAURE-MALLET, Serge BOUILLAGUET, Michel BRECX, Catherine CHAUSSAIN, Dominique DEVILLE DE PERIERE, Jérôme GUICHEUX, Henri MAGLOIRE, Dominique MAQUIN, Bernard PELLAT, Jacques-Olivier PERS, Christian REY, Michel SIXOU, Henri TENENBAUM, Alain WODA.


Last updated on 3rd June 2009