History of the Asian Academy of Orofacial Pain and Temporomandibular Disorders (AAOT)

The Asian Academy of Craniomandibular Disorders (AACMD) was founded in 1988 by dentists from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore who specialized in temporomandibular disorders and orofacial pain. Hong Kong was the fifth member, joining the AACMD at its inception. Since the first scientific meeting held in Japan in 1989, 18 meetings have been held over the last 30 years. These meetings were held annually from 1989 to 1993 and then every other year between 1995 and 2015. Until 2015, the sister academies from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan took turns hosting the biennial meetings. In 2015, sister academies from Indonesia and the Philippines joined and the scientific meetings were again held annually. A sister academy from Thailand joined in 2018.

Five sister academies from North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America take turns holding the International Congress on Orofacial Pain and Temporomandibular Disorders (ICOT) every 4 years. The first ICOT meeting was held in Chicago, USA, in 1992, and the second was hosted in Paris, France, in 1996 by the European Academy. The third meeting was hosted in Seoul, Korea, in 2000 by the AACMD. More than 600 people attended the meeting from all over the world, and around 250 participants were from outside Korea. The fourth ICOT meeting was in Sydney, Australia, and the fifth was in Salvador, Brazil, in 2009. The AAOP started the second round of ICOT in Las Vegas in 2014. The seventh ICOT was held in London, UK, in 2018. The Asian academy is expecting to hold the next ICOT in Asia in 2022 and the location will be decided soon.

The AAOT will become more active in the future, as it has grown since the new sister academies from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand joined the academy. At the 18th scientific meeting in Taipei, the name of the academy was changed to the Asian Academy of Orofacial Pain and Temporomandibular Disorders (AAOT).