In February 1970, a group of dental students met in Chicago to form an independent national dental student organization and named themselves the Student American Dental Association (SADA). The following year the ADA embraced this idea and organized a meeting of student representatives from each dental school in the country to help form a new organization called the American Student Dental Association (ASDA). Although scattered all over the world, several of the founders and leaders of those two organizations planned on having a reunion this year in celebration of their 50th anniversary, but it was scuttled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, they decided to mark this auspicious occasion by writing and publishing a series of seven articles regarding the state of dentistry, dental education, and health care in general from a retrospective perspective in the New Dentist News. The essays in the series are: A look back at ‘70s-style

15th June 2021 When you think about maintaining a healthy mouth, brushing your teeth should be the top priority.  Twice daily toothbrushing with a fluoride toothpaste is the cornerstone to a healthy smile, but there is one simply addition that can truly transform how healthy your mouth is – and that is interdental cleaning.  While toothbrushing is the most effective way to keep your teeth clean, it only reaches 60% of the tooth’s surfaces.  Using interdental brushes to clean in between the gaps in your teeth is one of the easiest and most important things you can do to change the health of your smile for the better. That is why, as part of National Smile Month, the Oral Health Foundation has joined with TePe to give you the very best advice about this simple addition to your oral health routine. Why interdental cleaning is so important Dental plaque can

15th June 2021 When we think about how we care for our mouth, it might be easy to think that there is little in common between our oral health and the environment – but that’s not quite true.  In addition to turning off the tap when brushing (which saves us a staggering 12 litres of water each time), there’s an important connection that applies to all of us – and it revolves around our toothbrush. Toothbrushes form a part of our daily routine.  Twice a day, morning and night, for two minutes, they help clean our teeth and keep our mouth fit and healthy.  Despite this, the shelf-life of a toothbrush is a relatively short one.  In theory, we should only use each one 180 times, for a total of six hours over a period of three months. It all means that in the UK, around 256 million toothbrushes are

Oral piercings are any piercings that are attached to, or in the mouth. This includes the tongue, lips, and cheeks. As the stud or ring is pierced to soft tissue, oral piercings pose a far greater risk to your health than those on other parts of the body.   This is because they are difficult to care for and are more prone to infection. Oral piercings are not considered safe and are not recommended. If you are still considering an oral piercing, it is important to lower the risks and help protect the health of your smile.  Treatment should take place in a sterilised environment and carried out by registered piercers. You can ask your local authority for a list of registered piercers as well as safe piercer associations. The health risks of oral piercings There are many risks associated with oral piercings.  It is important that you are aware of

Many sports pose a potential danger for your mouth when there is a chance of other people, or objects, coming into contact with it.  This is just as true for non-contact sports as it is for those sports that have contact. Looking after your mouth and oral health when playing sport is important.  The good news is that during this time, there are some easy and effective steps to help protect your teeth and gums and keep your smile safe. Common mouth injuries in sport Between 13% and 39% of all dental injuries in the UK are linked to accidents during sport and it also accounts for around 25% of children injuring or losing front teeth. Contact sports are increasingly popular which has resulted in a rise of traumatic dental injuries. Common sporting injuries that can put your mouth at risk include: Soft tissue injuries to lips and gums (cuts,

It’s almost the end of 2021 and a new year will soon begin. Looking back this past year, there’s so much that has happened. Specifically, in my life, I am very grateful for so much. Dr. Nguyen Dentistry is an interesting career – there are days where you have everything all set, everything seems to be smooth-sailing, and there are other days where Murphy’s law seems to be following you like a shadow chasing your own silhouette. In any event, there is never a dull moment in this profession. During the holidays, I want to give thanks to those who I am truly and sincerely happy to have in my life. Family/friends/loved ones: I would not be the person that I am today without my family and friends. The hugs, smiles, support, encouraging words and love that they have given me. They have been with me and helped me grow as

Hello everyone and welcome to my fundraising page.  I pledge to row 100 miles on my rowing machine during this years Mouth Cancer Action Month- November. I would love to raise £500 for Oral Health Foundation who are doing an amazing job in spreading the awareness and education around mouth cancer.  Mouth Cancer Action Month is the UK’s biggest charity campaign for mouth cancer awareness organised by Oral Health Foundation. So far the Oral Health Foundation has invested nearly £2 million on improving awareness and education around mouth cancer. This could not have happened without many donations they had received so far. Over the last year, 8,337 people in the UK were given the life-changing news that they have mouth cancer. Unfortunately, these numbers continue to rise while the disease claims more lives than cervical and testicular cancer combined! The more we know about mouth cancer, the better chance we

At Church Street Dental Practice our experienced dentists have a preventive approach towards Dental Treatment and want to provide the best possible care for our patients.  Early detection of mouth cancer is more important now than ever, according to the “The State of Mouth Cancer UK Report 2020/21”, 58% of mouth cancers appear on the tongue and tonsils and last year, 2,702 people in the UK lost their life to mouth cancer. We want to help support Mouth Cancer Action and the Oral Health Foundation this November and raise awareness to our patients and their loved ones! As serious as Mouth Cancer is, we want to inject a bit of fun into our Fundraising. We will be asking our patients at the practice to make a donation (you can leave your vote in the comments box if you donate online) to vote for either Dentists Dr Jas Jandu (he’s the

Mhari Coxon has been revealed as the new president of the Oral Health Foundation. Mhari has worked in dentistry from 1992-2010, with a portfolio of career progression across dental practices, associations, faculties, and hospital environments. Mhari remains a registered dental hygienist, moving to a second career in healthcare marketing in 2010, and is currently Healthcare and Prescription Marketing Strategy Lead for Northern Europe at Johnson & Johnson. Mhari is also a member at the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. With a longstanding passion for oral healthcare, Mhari was officially appointed on 6 December when the board of trustees met at the Royal Society of Public Health. Mhari believes the charity continues to have a key role helping to create healthier communities and reduce to harm caused by dental disease. Mhari says: “In the past two years, the way in which we view our

Dr. Simpson, middle, at her white coat ceremony. Let me start by saying, I hated dental school when I was in it. My father had been having some undetermined health problems, so when I moved to Boston to attend Tufts University School of Dentistry, in the back of my mind there was some ever-present apprehension about what was going on with him. My father was diagnosed with stage IV kidney cancer and initially given four months to live — two months into me starting dental school. So professionally, here I was in my first year of high-level graduate education almost a thousand miles from home, and personally, thinking my father was going to die. Fortunately, he lived for another two and a half years, but he did end up passing away three days after I took part 2 of the NBDE.  I think it’s fair to say, no one would