AAO Y WFO MODIFICAN REQUERIMIENTOS PARA SUS AFILIADOS

Lea a continuación comunicación enviada a nuestra Sociedad por la AAO y la WFO.

Dear Dr. Perez Torrealba,

As the world’s largest and oldest dental specialty organization, the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) serves more than 19,000 members worldwide including 4,000+ outside the United States and Canada. The AAO is proud to support the professional needs of its International Members with first-class education opportunities through online and in-person events, access to a variety of practice management resources, and a subscription to the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics (AJO-DO).

The AAO has also long supported other national orthodontic societies from around the globe. In past years this has included a requirement for AAO International Members and International Student Members to be members of the World Federation of Orthodontists (WFO) at the time of initial application. Recently, the AAO made a change to this requirement that further strengthens its support to your organization and its members.

What was the change?
During its 2019 AAO Annual Session in Los Angeles, California, the House of Delegates (AAO’s governing body) adopted a change to AAO Bylaws requiring AAO International Members and International Student Members to maintain WFO membership – rather than require only at the time of application. As you know, WFO members must also maintain membership in their national orthodontic societies.

Why was the change made?
As the AAO continues to be a professional membership organization for orthodontic specialists, it is important that individuals seeking membership have and maintain the necessary qualifications to be eligible for AAO membership. This is difficult for the AAO to monitor globally, yet it is one of the chief objectives of the WFO: to encourage high standards in orthodontics throughout the world. With its restated membership requirement, the AAO can have confidence that all International Members are qualified as orthodontic specialists in the country within which they practice and continue to maintain those credentials.

What does this mean for your organization?
The AAO’s restated membership requirement strengthens its support of the WFO and its affiliate organizations worldwide by maintaining membership in all three organizations. For AAO International Members who are already members of the WFO, they are meeting this membership requirement and no action is required other than to maintain their memberships moving forward. For AAO International Members who have dropped their WFO memberships, they will need to rejoin the WFO, and if necessary, their national orthodontic societies.

How can you help?
The WFO has already committed to helping remove barriers to individuals seeking reinstatement by temporarily waiving WFO reinstatement fees AND assuming responsibility for re-validating national organization memberships. As such, the WFO will be periodically sending you names to verify as members of your organization. Your prompt attention to these requests will be greatly appreciated. In addition, when and where appropriate, we invite you to reinforce this message by informing your members of the AAO’s restated membership requirement. To help, this landing page on the WFO website contains detailed information and WFO membership reinstatement forms.

On behalf of the AAO and WFO, thank you for your support of our collective organizations and the entire orthodontic specialty. It is through this mutual support that we can continue advancing our members’ success in delivering excellent patient care. For questions, please contact the WFO at wfo@wfo.org or the AAO at info@aaortho.org.

Sincerely,