I consider it a great honor and privilege to have been given the trust and confidence as Chair of the Philippine Board of Orthodontics for the past four years.

As I reflect on what has transpired 30 years back, I give very special credit to the founders of the Philippine Board of Orthodontics, Dr. Luz C. Macapanpan and Dr. Juan E. Quejada. Indeed, they foresaw the need to create a body that would certify practitioners of orthodontics prior to becoming members of the Association of Philippine Orthodontists. The Philippine Board of Orthodontics, as an examining arm and a certifying body of the APO, therefore holds a significant role in protecting not only the association but more significantly in protecting the public’s interest. As we all know, orthodontics is a highly specialized field in dentistry which calls for sufficient knowledge and skills in order to deliver optimum treatment to patients.

Realizing the significant role of the members of the PBO, I cannot ignore the selfless dedication and great sacrifice of the members of the board in preparing the examinations that would test the knowledge and skills of the orthodontic practitioners.

Imbued with the noble objective of uplifting the standard of orthodontic practice in our country thereby safeguarding the patient’s health and wellbeing, the PBO was recognized in 1989 and accredited in 2005 by the Board of Dentistry of the Professional Regulation Commission.

As we performed our tasks along the way, it has not been smooth sailing for the PBO. We have bumped into problems which tested our stability and credibility as a Certifying Board. Nevertheless armed with ideal principles and a vision that someday people would read our line of thinking, our direction, the PBO stood solidly on the ground.

The greatest problem we have been encountering is that majority of the general dentists are delivering orthodontic treatment. Are these general dentists equipped with the proper training? We do not truly know but it certainly is a fact that there are numerous malpractice cases filed with the Professional Regulation Commission’s Board of Dentistry. We can only surmise that the only training these dentists carry is what they have learned from undergraduate dental education. If this is true, how we wish that the orthodontic undergraduate program is strong enough for their dental graduates to be able to discern a simple case that they can handle from a complicated case that they should refer.

Although we admire the preceptors for giving their time and effort to offer short orthodontic courses to the general dentists, we simply frown at the lack of clinical training they offer. Obviously there is a great difference between a part time preceptorship course running from months to barely a year and a 2-3 year full time orthodontic training in an accredited university with complete clinical supervision. An average orthodontic case takes 2-3 years to complete. Orthodontics cannot be learned overnight and in fact learning is a continuing process.

Our thanks to the PRC/BOD for putting a stop to preceptorship courses being offered by general dentists. According to the rules and regulations under the new Dental Law, preceptorship courses must be university based as it is only through this venue that a proper and sufficient training can be achieved. At this point I would like to give credit to Dr. Rose Nisce, former Chair of the Board of Dentistry, for being responsible in coming up with clear guidelines regarding preceptorship courses. This is truly a laudable accomplishment and we hope that the BOD will strongly implement the Rules and Regulations under the new Dental Law.

We attempted to work closely with the PRC/BOD by expressing our concerns with the actual problems that have existed in our country in regard to our specialty. We want to protect the public; we want the orthodontic patients to receive the optimal treatment that they all deserve. In this regard, may I also give credit to the Honorable Commissioner Antonio Adriano for being one with us in this endeavor.

A big boost to the Philippine Board of Orthodontics was when we received a special recognition by the World Federation of Orthodontists (WFO) in 2007. Yours truly was appointed by the WFO Executive Committee to serve in the WFO Committee on National and Regional Orthodontic Boards which convened during the 7th International Orthodontic Congress held recently in Sydney, Australia. During that Congress I met Dr. Roberto Justus, the President of WFO and interacted with the various Orthodontic Boards from all over the world. Deep within me I was proud that the PBO stood at par with its counterparts globally.

I would like to take this opportunity to echo what the WFO has emphasized and this is to encourage orthodontic specialists to be board certified, to be constantly at par with the standards of the WFO.

In response to the WFO’s call to uplift the standard of orthodontics globally, I propose the following as a challenge:

  1. to be instrumental in strengthening both the undergraduate and graduate orthodontic programs through constant review and updating
  2. to recommend a 3 year orthodontic graduate program in order to allow more time for the graduate students to finish and assess their clinical cases including retention as well as complete their research projects
  3. to encourage if not make mandatory for graduate students in their final year to take the PBO written examination and eventually for them to take the PBO clinical case examination so that we can be globally competitive

With these proposals, I am certain that we will have dramatically raised the bar of Philippine Orthodontics.

I sincerely thank my co-officers, including the Chairs and members of committees, for their untiring support and assistance all these years. Allow me to single out Dr. Marina Lu Tan for her dedicated service as Secretary and Archives Committee Chair of the PBO for many years.

Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to be of service to the Philippine Board of Orthodontics.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2011.

– Excerpts from the Valedictory Address of Dr. Ermelinda Sabater-Galang during APO’s 30th Anniversary and Induction of Officers