The Princess Royal toured the £78m facilities, meeting and talking to dental staff and students from QMUL and Barts Health NHS Trust – as well as surprising patients being cared for.
Among those who The Princess Royal met and chatted with on her tour of the facilities was young patient Rosanna Lucas. The 10 year old from Havering presented Her Royal Highness with a posy of flowers. When aged eight, Rosanna had four teeth removed by the hospital team.
After her tour, The Princess Royal unveiled a plaque to celebrate the occasion - the UK’s first new dental school and hospital to open in 40 years.
Following more than a decade of planning and construction, the brand new dental facilities are the most modern and technologically advanced in the UK, meaning a vastly improved patient experience for the 70,000 appointments that take place at the hospital each year and an enhanced educational environment for students.
The move to the five-storey premises, occupying an area equivalent to almost three football pitches, took place over a six week period in spring 2014.
People from Whitechapel, across London and beyond are referred to the Dental Hospital for a range of care including orthodontics, paediatric dentistry, restorative dentistry and oral and maxillofacial surgery.
Recently ranked the top dental school in the UK, QMUL trains around 400 dental students in the new facilities each year, making up an active part of the hospital’s clinical workforce. The new facilities have significantly improved the educational experience for dental students, providing access to cutting edge technology and training.
In addition, the hospital provides specialist trauma and cancer services, performing almost 4,000 operations per year working closely with colleagues at the nearby The Royal London Hospital.
Improving the dental health of the local community of Whitechapel, where the new building is located, and beyond is central to the aims of the new dental school and hospital.
In Tower Hamlets there are high rates of dental decay in children, affecting nearly half (46 per cent) of all five year old children - the highest rate of all the London boroughs. There is low uptake of dental services in both children and adults. The area also sees high rates of gum disease and rates of mouth, head and neck cancer in adults are above the national average.