About APC

The Association of Prosthodontists of Canada is the Canadian Dental Association-recognised representative body of the specialty of prosthodontics in Canada. All dental regulatory authorities across Canada recognise the association of Prosthodontists of Canada as the source of consultation concerning our specialty. However, APC is not a regulatory body nor does it grant credentials for the practice of prosthodontics in Canada. Please see Prosthodontic Programs and New Members for more information.

A Brief History of the APC:

Compiled by James Taylor in consultation with the Founding Members of the APC

Prosthodontics in Canada owes its heritage to many pioneers such as Sperry Fraser, Lorne MacLachlan and Ken Kerr; but it was the initiative of three Canadian Prosthodontists in particular that gathered its qualified people under the banner of a new association, the Association of Prosthodontists of Canada (APC), in order to advance a comprehensive, educationally-based, specialty of Prosthodontics. Upon returning to Canada following the completion of their graduate Prosthodontic programs, Doug Chaytor, Don Kepron and George Zarb were dismayed to find their predilected discipline split into the twin solitudes of Fixed and Removable Prosthodontics. This professional and educational predicament was reflected in the existence of two separate organizations vying for specialty recognition: the Canadian Academy of Prosthodontics (CAP) and the Canadian Academy of Restorative Dentistry (CARD).

The ensuing polarization was a profound threat to the identification of the specialty as an integrated focus for orofacial rehabilitation. Drs. Chaytor, Kepron and Zarb were profoundly concerned about the inherent limitations of two separate specialties in the same field, most particularly since the perceived differences related perhaps more to technique and sophistry rather than to educational principles. It was their conviction that a foundation for a specialty that was not tied to graduate education would usurp the notion of the highest level of professionalism; they therefore undertook to found the APC at a meeting in Ottawa in September 1971. The first Executive Council of the APC was elected in 1973 and comprised Don Kepron (President), George Zarb (President-Elect), Jacques Fiset (Vice-President), Doug Chaytor (Secretary-Treasurer), John Hibberd (Senior Delegate-at-Large) and Bill Harley (Junior Delegate-at Large).

APC founders L to R: Dr. Don Kepron, Dr. Doug Chaytor and Dr. George Zarb

The principle that Membership be open to all educationally-qualified, or licensed, Prosthodontists but also limited to dentists with these qualifications was essential for acceptance of the new Association. This principle was persuasive in the decision of CAP, which had held Section status in the Canadian Dental Association (CDA) since the recognition by the CDA of Prosthodontics as a specialty in 1965, to be willing to relinquish this status in favour of the APC. In April 1973, Drs. Chaytor and Zarb submitted a letter on behalf of the APC to the Chair of the CDA Council on Dental Education, describing in detail the background of the situation and requesting that the APC be accorded Section status for Prosthodontics. The Minutes of the next Annual Meeting of the CDA Board of Governors in Vancouver in October 1973 reflect that such acceptance was contingent upon the development of an acceptable definition for the Specialty of Prosthodontics. A definition agreed upon by APC and the two Academies, CAP (1973 President: Brock Love) and CARD (1973 President: Walter Grenkow), was then approved at the Annual Meeting of the CDA Board of Governors in St. Johns's in August 1975. At the Annual Meeting of the CDA Board of Governors in Edmonton in September 1976, it was resolved that the APC be granted Section status for Prosthodontics.

Both the definition of Prosthodontics and Membership criteria for APC were remarkably eclectic and indeed prescient, as subsequent developments in education, licensing and specific areas of research, such as implant prosthodontics, demonstrated. The APC's formation also served as a catalyst for the development of Provincial and Regional specialty organizations in Prosthodontics. All three Co-Founders of the APC eventually served as Presidents, with Don Kepron's seniority and distinction being recognized in his having been elected as the first President in 1973. The Co-Founders were very ably supported by numerous Canadian Prosthodontists from across the country, but perhaps most notably Jacques Fiset, Brock Love, Aaron Fenton (all of whom served later as Presidents), Ken Kerr and Alan Fee, who joined the APC's mission for official recognition by the CDA. Having much benefited from such strong roots, the current and future viability of the APC is reflected in its burgeoning Membership, its support by Provincial/Regional Prosthodontist Organizations and by the CDA, the success of its publications, and its strong relations with national and international Prosthodontic and Allied Specialty organizations.