The ADEE GSK Advancement of Dentistry in Society Scholarship was introduced in 2018 to assist in enabling dental schools to embed the concept of dentistry in society as a core competence of graduating dentists and a key element of the dental undergraduate curriculum.
It is hoped that this will in turn enable greater graduate consciousness of the importance of such topics as defined within the Dentistry in Society Domain of the Graduating European Dentist.
Following evaluation of applications in the summer of 2019, The ADEE Scholarship Committee granted two scholarship awards at the awards celebration evening on board the Stern & Kreis riverboat cruiser MS Mark Brandenburg, Berlin on Thursday 22nd August.
Each award of €2,500 will enable the recipient organisations to further advance their work in this growing area of academic and social importance.
The two projects recognised are:
King’s College London Faculty of Dentistry
King’s College London Faculty Of Dentistry, Oral And Craniofacial Sciences for a project entitled "Salter Day". Areas of London have some of the poorest oral health in the UK in particular, the neighbouring Boroughs to KCL Faculty campuses and partner NHS Trusts. To support volunteering opportunities that serves KCL local community needs, promote oral and systemic health and provide additional service learning opportunities for undergraduates the project proposes holding a "Salter" day, based on the values held by Guy’s alumnus and Bermondsey resident Dr. Alfred Salter (1873 -1945) who pioneered a free health service before the NHS in KCL local neighbourhood and together with his wife Ada, (the first woman mayor of London and President of the National Gardens guild) increased public health awareness and advocated the benefit of the open green spaces in the city.
Salter Day will enable the students within KCL’s Clinical humanities module organise a day named after Dr. Salter who was an alumnus of Guy’s Hospital who in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s provided free health care and health promotion to the under privileged in South London. KCL wish to engage the students further in this altruistic approach by getting the students to work in teams and present ways in which they can improve society. The top five “pitches” given to the whole year group will each be awarded €500 to use in their project. Thus the €2500 will enable five projects to be seed funded. The aim is for this to be student self or co-created with staff and will cover the term “Dentistry in Society” in the widest sense. Pictured are members of the King's College London team receiving the 2019 Scholarship from Dr. Mounir Atassi GSK, ADEE Scholarship Committee Chair Dr. Ronald Gortor and ADEE President Prof. Stepanie Tubert Jeannin.
The Dublin Dental University Hospital
The Dublin Dental University Hospital, Trinity College Dublin for its project which aims to investigate Irish General Nurses’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour around infant oral health visits; firstly through survey data and secondly through interviews. Participants will be recruited with assistance from key individuals in the Irish nursing profession. From a teaching and learning perspective, this study aims to help students appreciate the value of a multidisciplinary, whole health, common risk factor approach to dental disease. While other jurisdictions around the world may have looked at these areas, this research is novel in the Republic of Ireland. Our findings will provide insight into the educational needs of nurses to support oral health promotion efforts by dental professionals.
The scholarship will support the advancement of dentistry in society through the development, production and distribution of resources created to meet educational needs identified by nurses through the student research. Of importance, nurses in Ireland engage with very young children and families far earlier and with greater regularity than dental professionals, and therefore are well-positioned to promote good oral health practices before dental disease begins. Pictured are members of the Dublin Dental University Hospital team receiving the 2019 Scholarship from from Dr Mounir Atassi GSK, ADEE Scholarship Committee Chair Dr Ronald Gortor and ADEE President Prof Stepanie Tubert Jeannin.
