William McLean, President of the British Endodontic Society (BES), discusses his hopes for his presidential term and for the future of the society, and shares his excitement for events coming up in the year ahead:
My presidential year has started well, with our 2024 Spring Scientific Meeting a great success. We were joined by two fantastic speakers, Sergio Kuttler and José Aranguren, who delivered excellent presentations and provoked thought amongst our delegates. There was a brilliant turn out – the best since the pandemic – and it was great to see the endodontic community supporting the Society yet again. As is customary for each presidential year, this was the first of two meetings. The second meeting for my presidential year will take the form of the IFEA World Endodontic Congress (WEC). This is to be held in Glasgow, Scotland. It has been a long time in planning, with the journey starting 8 years ago. I have been given the responsibility by the BES to deliver this highly anticipated Congress, and it is a great honour. This is an event which myself and others on behalf of the BES fought to win and I am excited to be delivering it in the year of my presidency. Preparing for the WEC has been a team effort, and I have been honoured to act on behalf of the Society and as Congress Chair to help us achieve this. This will be a truly global event with speakers from around the world presenting. The programme is fantastic and Phil Tomson, the Chair of the Scientific Committee, has done an exceptional job in bringing this together. It has been great to see the support that the Congress has had from the industry. This reflects the positive change in the relationship between industry and organisations such as the BES.
I am excited to see that the BES Early Career Group (ECG) continues to go from strength to strength. It’s excellent to see that they have become formally organised, enabling them to run an education and support programme for those early in their careers. The ECG will be delivering a parallel educational programme at WEC under the stewardship of Dipti Mehta and Daniel Vaz de Souza. Along with this, attendees can expect a Teachers in Endodontics parallel session, organised by Professor Alison Qualtrough. This is a brilliant opportunity for teachers globally and highlights the importance of education to the BES.
Besides WEC, my key aim for the Society in the coming year is to maintain the momentum that has been developed over the past few years, thus allowing continued growth of the BES. On the back of some very positive conversations, I am keen to be more collaborative with international societies, so that our members can truly become integrated into the wider global endodontic community. Legacy development is very important to me also. As a society, our primary goals are to promote and advance endodontology. As part of this, I hope to facilitate the BES’s engagement with the public. In part, I aim to do this through the Congress with the development of an exhibit at the Glasgow Science Centre exploring biofilm disease and its management and with a dental trauma activity to be held ahead of the Congress in Glasgow’s Central Station.
Past-Presidents have initiated several projects over recent years, and stepping into this role, I will continue to support and develop these further. The Society recognises the challenges that may potentially arise with a one-year presidential system – understanding that there is an element of risk in terms of maintaining momentum. However, at the BES, we have a collaborative approach. Both past and future BES Presidents work together with the experience offered by our Chief Operations Officer Annabel Thomas, to ensure continuity for both the Society and its members.
In summary, I am very much looking forward to furthering the accomplishments of the BES and continuing to support our members. I encourage any dentist, no matter their level of endodontic expertise to become a member and join us at the upcoming IFEA WEC.
Register today for IFEA WEC 2024 at ifea2024glasgow.com/registration
For more information about the BES, or to join, please visit the website www.britishendodonticsociety.org.uk or call 07762945847
