Greetings from Presidents

OFP SIG President's Message

Dear Friends

It is my pleasure to invite you all to the joint meeting of the Asian Academy of Craniomandibular Disorders (AACMD), The Japanese Society for Orofacial Pain (JSOP) and the IASP's OFP Special Interest Group (SIG). The joint meeting is an officially approved satellite of the IASP's meeting in Yokohama and will be held on September 24th-25th 2016.

In October of 2015 Dr. Wajima (AACMD President) and I visited Yokohama to assess the venue for the satellite (off site from the main meeting), and visit the main venue. Both venues are excellent and fully equipped. The city is a modern seaport, a short train ride from Tokyo, with all the amenities one could need. It also has an attractive China Town where you may enjoy traditional Chinese fare and shop for trinkets.

The fun will be backed up by excellent science. I would like to recognize the small organizing committee that worked with me in conceptualizing and organizing the OFP-SIG session. Dr Lene Baad-Hansen, the elected Secretary for the SIG, has been invaluable in her input and practical assistance. I also asked Dr. Peter Svensson to act as a consultant for the meeting. Peter has been very active and has contributed his vast experience to creating an interesting content. The organizing committee has collaborated closely with Dr. Wajima, Dr. Iwata (JSOP President), Dr. Imamura to produce an exciting and rich scientific meeting you should not miss.

The OFP SIG scientific session will run on Sunday September 25th from 9am till 5pm, with a break for a light working lunch of the SIG membership. The focus of the meeting will be on designing an improved classification for acute and chronic orofacial pain. This has been a long time coming and I have taken it upon myself to coordinate with all interested, to reach this important goal. The speakers are all well known and I am confident will deliver interesting critiques and important suggestions as we move forwards. We will set up work groups who will continue to collaborate over the next year and hopefully we will meet in the USA during September 2017 for a follow up meeting.

The AACMD and the JSOP have been excellent partners and I thank them for their efforts. Additionally they have been extremely generous and are hosting us as their guests for this satellite. I am sure all the OFP SIG members join me in thanking you all.

The OFP SIG is a small but traditionally active group within IASP. To maintain and improve our position we must retain and indeed increase our member's roster. Importantly we should be more involved in the IASP's committees to ensure our voice is heard. I encourage both new and veteran members to volunteer for these positions.

I am looking forward to seeing you all in Yokohama.

Best Regards

Rafael Benoliel (OFP SIG President)

Welcome message from the president of AACMD

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

It is a great honor for us to co-host the joint meeting of the three organizations (International Congress of Orofacial Pain: ICOP) in Yokohama, Japan, September 24-25, 2016.

ICOP will be co-hosted by the 2016 meeting of International Association for the Study of Pain Special Interest Group on Orofacial Pain (IASP SIG on OFP), 21st scientific meeting of Japanese Society of Orofacial Pain (JSOP) and the 16th scientific meeting of Asian Academy of Craniomandibular Disorders (AACMD).
On behalf of AACMD, we are pleased to invite you to participate in this very special meeting around the same time with the 16th World Congress on Pain IASP (IASP). IASP is the largest-scale pain related society in the world and will be held for the first time in Japan. IASP SIG on OFP meeting is approved in the formal satellite meeting by IASP, and the prominent researchers and clinicians in the world who participate in IASP will lecture on it. Three precious plenary sections during this joint meeting will be set up by big names participating in the IASP and SIG meeting.

AACMD made some significant progress in the past several years. A change in generation of council members occurred and members are rejuvenated from the 1st generation to the 2nd and 3rd generation. By holding council meetings every year, communications improved and reflected in the program plan of meeting, the program has been substantial. Moreover, discussion during the meeting was animated. In the Taegu meeting last year, there were many participants from many countries in Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines added to the formal member country. From now on, we hope that many Asian countries will become a formal member of AACMD.

The theme of this AACMD meeting was ”Cooperation for Improving the Education and Treatment of TMD/OFP”. There are various concerns over TMD and OFP in each Asian country. The level of each country's future activity in special features, advancement, and the present condition of TMD and OFP will be presented and shared with all countries. As a future goal, the present condition of TMD medical treatment and the OFP resident training course in USA are explained by Dr. Gary Heir will be invited as keynote speaker by AACMD.
JSOP will introduce clinical diagnostic reasoning and the importance of clinical education to improve OFP diagnostic accuracy. The demonstration of clinical diagnostic reasoning will be performed using an actual patient.
I would like to thank Prof. Yoshika Imamura, the chairman of the organizing committee, for his enthusiastic effort to make this meeting successful. I also thank Prof. Rafael Benoliel, the president of IASP SIG on OFP, and Prof. Koichi Iwata, the president of JSOP, and their corporations for organizing a joint meeting.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Yokohama.

Welcome message from the president of JSOP

Dear Orofacial pain Clinicians and Researchers,

I am happy to invite you to International Congress of Orofacial Pain (ICOP) on September 24-25 2016 in Yokohama. ICOP is organized by 3 societies, the Asian Academy of Craniomandibular Disorders (AACMD), The Japanese Society for Orofacial Pain (JSOP) and the IASP Special Interest Group (SIG) on Orofacial Pain (OFP). This is the first joint meeting organized by these 3 societies.

Two years ago, OFP SIG was selected as the global year in the IASP. This indicates that OFP SIG is recognized as an important group in the IASP society. As you may know, the OFP mechanisms are more specific and complex in comparison with spinal cord system. Dysfunction of orofacial region due to the orofacial chronic pain directly affects the QOL. It is important to understand the mechanisms underlying orofacial chronic pain associated with trigeminal nerve injury or inflammation to treat OFP patients appropriately. We OFP Clinicians and Researchers need to know OFP mechanisms as well as clinical treatments.

In this meeting many famous clinicians and basic researchers are invited from the whole world and many important clinical and basic research lectures will be presented. Professor R. Dubner is invited as the plenary lecturer; Professors E. Eliav, G. Heir and B J Sessle are also invited as the guest speakers. This is a good opportunity to get new insights regarding OFP mechanisms and techniques to treat patients, and also good chance to talk with famous pain clinicians and researchers. Please come and join us, and discuss OFP.

I really hope to see you in Yokohama.