Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures CPD Programme and Community Engagement Award

This programme encourages greater community engagement and is a great way to promote your practice whilst providing leadership opportunities for all team members to develop additional skills.

Each year an award is presented for the best practice entry as judged by the British Dental Association (BDA) and the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry (BASCD). The 2016 Community Engagement Award was presented to John G Plummer and Associates at the BDA British Dental Conference 2017. The team was represented by Jevneet Kular and Amrisha Ondhia, both associate Dentists at the practice.

Jevneet and Amrisha outlined their practice’s community engagement, sharing that the team had originally set up a 'Happy Smiles Club' within the practice to provide oral health education to children and their parents. They quickly realised the positive impact this was having from the feedback they received and realised the potential to expand the Happy Smiles Club beyond their patients’ families into the wider community. Using inspiration from the Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures Practice Pack and CPD Programme they approached various children's clubs, schools, nurseries and event organisers within many settings including Brownies and Rainbows. Through this engagement they reached children of all ages, ranging from one-year-olds to young adults.