2020 is a new year for the books. A new year, a new decade; it’s the “Roaring ‘20s” again!

The International College of Dentists has its own reason to celebrate in the new year. 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the organization, which was founded in 1920 in Nagoya, Japan.

When Drs. Louis Ottofy and Tsurukichi Okumura first birthed the idea to create the International College of Dentists, likely they never imagined that the inaugural number of 250 fellows would grow to more than 12,000 fellows in 122 countries. It’s the International College of Dentists, after all.

The ICD will celebrate that growth in 2020 with 100th anniversary celebrations all over the world and throughout the year, culminating at the 2020 meeting of the International Council in Nagoya, Japan, in November with an international induction ceremony, gala banquet and other commemorative events.

"I am so excited to have this special opportunity to serve all fellows of our global 100-year-old organization as international president,” said Japan’s Dr. Akira Senda, ICD international president. “I believe that we are very fortunate to have the valuable and rare opportunity to participate in a historic celebration to honor the first 100 years of the International College of Dentists.”

The organization is focused on improving access and quality of oral health across the globe and is also a professional society of shared interests and values. “This is a unique group in which there is the absence of an atmosphere of competition and the need to show how successful one is or how many papers one has published,” said Dr. S. Dov Sydney, ICD international editor and director of global communications as well as general chair of the worldwide centennial committee. “The ICD promotes a collaborative, sharing relationship guided by the universal principle that all members are equals regardless of their national origin, culture or language.”

Dr. Sydney looks forward to the future of the ICD. “The fact that we grew from a concept first established by a Japanese dentist and an American dentist 100 years ago endeavoring to have an international organization to today, with the largest footprint of any dental honor society in the world, says a great deal,” Dr. Sydney said.

To learn more about centennial events in the U.S. and Japan, visit ICD100.org.