World Federation of Orthodontists (WFO) Guidelines for Postgraduate Orthodontic Education

This task force was chaired by WFO President Professor Athanasios E. Athanasiou and had as members Professor M. Ali Darendeliler, Associate Professor Theodore Eliades, Professor Urban Hägg, Professor Brent E. Larson, Professor Pertti Pirttiniemi, Professor Stephen Richmond, Professor Kunimichi Soma, Professor Alexander Vardimon, and Professor William Wiltshire. The objective of this task force was to provide the WFO Executive Committee with detailed recommendations concerning guidelines for postgraduate orthodontic education, which may assist countries, associations, and educational institutions to develop or improve such programs. Over the past several years, the WFO has placed increased emphasis on support for the recognized training programs in every region of the world through its affiliate national organizations. At the same time, the WFO intends to continue to provide, when requested, encouragement and expertise to developing orthodontic graduate programs in areas where orthodontic education did not previously exist. It is anticipated that these guidelines will be used by postgraduate program directors all over the world and by related educational, scientific, and administrative institutions at all levels of sophistication to measure their respective curriculum against a worldwide standard. The following detailed recommendations of the task force on Guidelines for Postgraduate Orthodontic Education are herewith presented, and they are accompanied by two appendices: (1) Clinical Care, Study, and Research Facilities and (2) Educational Topics