Dental team receives award for community work
As part of National Smile Month, the Oral Health Foundation have honoured a team of oral health experts from Plymouth University Peninsula School of Dentistry and the Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise (PDSE) for its work in the local community.
The OHF decided to award the team with the prize as a result of the tireless work it has done within the local community, particularly regarding its work with adults with learning disabilities as part of its pioneering dental ambassador scheme – the first of its kind in the UK.
Through the dental ambassador scheme, 11 adults with learning disabilities across two cohorts, who are part of Plymouth People First, completed the dental ambassador training programme and are now able to spread oral health awareness even further thanks to the support project developed by the community engagement team at the PDSE.
Professor Liz Kay, trustee of the Oral Health Foundation, awarded the team its prize at the university. She noted that “As a trustee of the Oral Health Foundation and foundation dean of the Peninsula Dental School at Plymouth University, I am doubly pleased that our community engagement team has been recognised in this way. The team plays a hugely vital role in our innovative approach to training the dental professionals of the future, while at the same time helping us to address local oral health inequalities and need and raise awareness of achieving better oral health.”
CEO of the charity, Dr Nigel Carter OBE, stated that the OHF were “impressed by the team’s commitment to the pioneering dental ambassador scheme in Plymouth, which offers people with learning disabilities the understanding, awareness and confidence to encourage their peers to adopt better oral hygiene and make regular visits to the dentist.”
He went on to say that the team “truly encapsulated the key messaging and mood of National Smile Month by engaging with local groups in an interactive, effective and important way.”
