COMMUNITY champions who go out of their way to promote good toothbrushing, a dental practice that takes oral health messages out into schools, and a dentist who has set up clinics for people experiencing homelessness are among the winners at this year’s Smile Awards.
Last week (7 July) the awards highlighted the efforts dental practices, nurseries, schools, organisations and individuals have taken in improving the oral health of children, young people and families in Leicester.
Delivered by Leicester City Council’s Healthy Teeth, Happy Smiles! public health team, the Smile Awards received more than 60 nominations. Shortlisted candidates were invited to a ceremony at City Hall in Leicester, where the winners were announced.
Winners include Viyan Ismail, who works at the Wesley Hall Community Centre in Spinney Hills. Viyan won the community champion award for adults, for her work using early years sessions to promote oral health with parents and carers and normalise discussions around dental hygiene.
Anna Barratt, from Rowlatts Mead Primary Academy, won the community champion award for children, in recognition of her leadership and motivation in delivering and promoting a supervised toothbrushing programme at the school.
Brookview Dental won the dental practice award for their work visiting schools throughout Leicester to deliver age-appropriate oral health advice. And Kiddycare Parkview Day Nursery won the early years award for involving families in oral health promotion through Stop the Bottle events, ‘Big Cook, Little Cook’ sessions and supervised toothbrushing.
The school award went to Taylor Road Primary School, honouring their enthusiastic adoption of supervised toothbrushing as well as their promotion of oral health within the community, while the ‘above and beyond’ award went to Laura Newcome of Crown Hills Community College for her efforts to embed oral health in the school’s health and wellbeing framework, promoting healthy habits not only with students but with families as well.
Dentist Dr Bharat Mehta was also recognised with a special award for his work with The Bridge, Homelessness to Hope charity. He was honoured for his extraordinary work to address inequalities in access to dental care, setting up, delivering and inspiring others to hold dental clinics for people experiencing homelessness.
Jo Grizzell, from the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board explained, “Dr Mehta has not simply identified a need – he has responded with kindness, determination and sustained action.”
Cllr Vi Dempster, assistant city mayor responsible for public health, said: “The Smile Awards recognise the hard work and extraordinary commitment of professionals, community workers, schools and volunteers in Leicester who support people to improve their health and wellbeing. It’s an excellent opportunity to celebrate partnership working, with everyone working together with our public health team to support preventative health measures that can make a real difference to people at all stages of life.
“We’re very proud of initiatives like our supervised toothbrushing programme, which help children to develop healthy routines from a really young age. The Smile Awards gives us a chance to thank everyone whose efforts help to improve oral health in Leicester.”
For more information on oral health, visit leicester.gov.uk/get-oral-health-advice
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