2018/2019 Year Overview

This year we saw a record number of attendants at our induction lecture, and went on to hold a second due to popular demand. The induction lecture, given by Professor Gallagher, gave an insight into the current oral healthcare issues which children are facing in terms of diet and access to healthcare. Students went away from the talk feeling more confident in being able to give oral health advice to young primary school children, and many went on to attend our school visits.

During the year we held numerous primary school visits where our volunteers could take part in different stations that the children would visit, including stations where they could give preventative advice, show tooth brushing techniques and use plaque disclosing tablets on the children.

"Volunteering for Smile Soc this year has been a really enjoyable experience. It's been a pleasure to help educate children on the importance of good oral hygiene and seeing them answer all the questions enthusiastically at the end of each session makes it incredibly rewarding!" - Martine Morcos BDS3

Smile Society also ran a competition within a primary school- where different classes were all tasked with creating posters promoting oral health and giving tooth brushing advice. The committee then marked all the individual student's posters to choose our favourites and the winner from each class, along with an overall winner.

We also took part in helping the homeless through events such as volunteering as dental receptionists for Crisis at Christmas and through handing out toothbrushes, Fixodent for dentures and toothpaste to the homeless, along with pamphlets on tooth brushing.

"It was an amazing experience, and really fulfilling to know that we were able to help make a difference." -Sinchana Lakshmish BDS1

This year we also had the pleasure of visiting Downright Excellent centre to provide our oral health workshops. 5 students from year three and above were able to give advice and take part in interactive tasks with both the children and their families.

"Our visit to Downright Excellent was a truly unique experience. It was undoubtedly a challenge to engage the children as they would naturally have a shorter attention span and would require more help than most. However, I do recall advising a parent on how to encourage their child to start brushing their teeth independently. They carefully grabbed their child's hand holding the huge toothbrush and started moving it around the large teeth model, counting to 10! The joy in their face was so contagious! Many of the children, even the older ones, are heavily reliant on their parents for basic dental care that we often take for granted - like tooth brushing. The sincerity, love and patience that the parents have when taking care of their special child has definitely left an indelible mark in my heart and has inspired me to better my patient care services in the clinic. Thank you Smile Soc for such a rewarding experience and I look forward to the next session." - Dinah Yusoff BDS3

Throughout the year, we were able to fundraise for our school events through raffles at our student's Halfway Ball and Graduation Ball, which together saw over £800 raised. This money went towards providing the classes we visit with a small goody bag for each child- often including a toothbrush/toothpaste and an oral health promotion booklet. Our biggest fundraiser took place in the form of our annual Pub Quiz, which saw a very large turnout and had some brilliant prizes available for those teams who took part.

At the end of June, we also held our second annual student-led conference, with the aim being to present dentistry in a different light by showing the innovative ways dentists are expanding their careers and skills. Our conference, titled 'Not the Usual Drill,' included four accomplished and influential speakers: Dr Ellie Heidari ('My Time Behind Bars'), Dr Sam Shah ('From Scaling Teeth to Scaling Interventions: Bridging the Gap in Digital Healthcare'), Dr Tashfeen Kholasi (' From Olympians to Informaticians- You Control Your Own Career') and Dr Abdul Hakim Zaggut ('Lessons Learned by an Oral Surgeon During Libyan Conflict').

To celebrate the end of a fruitful year for the society, we held our AGM - where the new co-presidents, Gianne Williams and Reem Al-Hakim, had the opportunity to introduce themselves and the old committee, headed by Megna Shah and Gwen Li, handed over to the new committee for 2019-2020. Each committee member spoke about their role within the team and what they had been up to for the year, and certificates and badges were handed out to our members who had volunteered at our events.