It's here again!

From the 16th May to the 16th June, National Smile Month is back! This year, wouldn’t it be fantastic if we, as dental nurses, can not only get involved ourselves but can really encourage our practices to do the same? It would make a great team activity. 

It’s been a long time since I started working in the dental industry; 19 years, in fact! In that time, I have seen so many changes to the provision of dental care across the country. 

When I started dental nursing, we provided predominantly NHS funded treatment – this was when it was still ‘pay per item’ – with a few private patients. As I moved and joined other practices, this seemed to be the norm.

“The award is a recognition of the vision and perseverance of all those patients, carers and the many supporters who have sustained the vision I had for the charity from its inception and grown it over the years.  It is a big tribute to them. Without them, we would not have got this far. Sadly, some are no longer with us. God bless them. Congratulations to all”.

Dr Vinod Joshi - Founder, Mouth Cancer Foundation

Over the last few years, through social media in particular, I have become aware of a growing sense of frustration in the dental industry. People are feeling unheard and uncared for. They feel that they are giving their all to the ‘team’ but get little in return and have no job satisfaction. 

Oral health promotion is one of the fundamental responsibilities of the dental team; it’s an area I love!

Every single time I provide oral health information to a patient or a group, it scares me to see just how little many people know and understand about preventing oral diseases. But it delights me to see how useful I can be in educating them, answering questions and motivating people to take responsibility for their own mouths.