Orthodontists from Georgia, Albania join the WFO

In December, the WFO Executive Committee approved WFO fellowship status for Dr. Mirlinda Naci of Tirana, Albania, and Dr. Tamara Kublashvili of Tbilisi, Georgia. Dr. Naci and Dr. Kublashvili are the first orthodontists from their respective countries to join the WFO. With their participation, the WFO is now represented in 103 countries.

Dr. Naci, who received her orthodontic training at the Carol Davila University of Medicine in Bucharest, Romania, is in her fourth year of private practice and her second year of teaching at Nostra Signora Del Buon Consiglio University, a private university in Tirana. She is an assistant lecturer of orthodontics.

For Dr. Naci, her WFO fellowship is a starting point to expand resources for orthodontists in Albania.

"I was prompted to join the WFO because of the fact that the WFO is a worldwide organization with a membership of 105 affiliate societies and encourages high standards in orthodontics throughout the world," Dr. Naci said.

Albanian orthodontists do not always have the advantage of up-to-date training and practical technical information, she said. “They (the orthodontists) are not part of any international community of orthodontists and have remained apart from the development of contemporary orthodontics. This, in the first place, prompted me to think of gathering our professionals into a national society and then to aspire for all to be part of the international professional community.”

Two years ago, she and several of her colleagues at public and private universities founded the Albanian Orthodontic Society. Twenty-five individuals belong to the Albanian Orthodontic Society, but most are general dentists. At this time, the Albanian government does not formally recognize the orthodontic specialty, and the universities do not provide postgraduate orthodontic programs. Because of this, dentists who have had limited training in orthodontics provide orthodontic treatment. Dr. Naci is one of only a few orthodontic specialists who have received formal training in orthodontics outside of Albania. She is optimistic that the universities will soon offer postgraduate programs.

“Hopefully, the situation will change in the near future since the private education system represented with the private universities, like the one I teach at, have the interest and financial means to develop specialty training in orthodontics.

“I am very positive about the future of orthodontics in my country because the world is coming nearer to us in this era of technology and virtual development.”

Dr. Naci also notes that the educational system in Albania is getting stronger due to the growing support of the private sector. Further, political factors that isolated Albania from the rest of the world ceased to exist 17 years ago.

Dr. Naci hopes that the Albanian Orthodontic Society will become an affiliate organization of the WFO.

“Some of the efforts we are taking to make the society an affiliate of the WFO have to do with adapting the bylaws of our society to those recommended by the WFO,” she said. “Namely, Article III in the WFO Bylaws states that to bean active member of the WFO, a dentist shall have successfully completed postgraduate dental education in the specialty of orthodontics of at least 3,700 faculty supervised hours at a recognized institution accepted by the WFO. This condition is not fulfilled by all members in our society since we do not have formal graduate training in orthodontics in Albania.”

Members of the Albanian Orthodontic Society are also reviewing how the organization handles its administration. A WFO affiliate organization must have a board of directors that is vested with full power to conduct all business of the organization.

“In the bylaws of our society, it is the General Assembly which is the managing body of the Association,” Dr. Naci said. “This is in accordance with Albanian law for NGO (non-governmental organizations). But we are seeking legal advice to be able to make a modification in our bylaws, which could be approved by the courthouse.”

Dr. Kublashvili has goals similar to those of Dr. Naci; she hopes to improve the specialty of orthodontics in her country. After completing her dental education at the Tbilisi State Medical University in 1995, Dr. Kublashvili participated in the Special American Business Internship Training Program (SABIT). Through this U.S. government-private sector partnership program that trains Eurasian business leaders in U.S.business practices, Dr. Kublashvili spent six months in the office of Dr. Peter Orr, a dentist from Columbia, Missouri, USA. The two had met previously, once when Dr. Orr visited Georgia through the program “A Call to Serve.” Later, they met again when Dr. Kublashvili visited her brother who was attending the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). While working for Dr. Orr, she learned about working in and managing a dental office. Following her internship, Dr. Orr and several other Missouri dentists helped her enroll and pay for advanced specialty training in orthodontics at the UMKCSchool of Dentistry.

After graduating from the residency program, Dr. Kublashvili returned to Georgia. She is the only U.S.-trained orthodontist in the country. There are 24 other orthodontists;three were trained in Russia.While the government does recognize the specialty, the orthodontists have not formed a national organization.

“I wanted to come back to Georgia,” said Dr. Kublashvili, who works for the dental clinic Unident in Tbilisi.“I missed my country and family so much. … I am very proud of my UMKC education. I came back willing to change something in this field in Georgia. The specialty is very poorly developed here. … It is difficult to find ways to change something for the better. That’s what I am trying to do, and this is one of the reasons I was willing to become a member of the WFO. I want people allover the world to know that this specialty exists in Georgia. Problems are very many, and I faced them right at my arrival.”

Dr. Kublashvili reports her practice developed slowly over the past six years. However, her patient load is now increasing. Her main goal is to open her own “American-style” office and to encourage the development of the specialty in Georgia.

“This is the aim of my life, and I hope I will have enough energy for that,” she said.