The British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry (BASCD) held an awards ceremony at their autumn scientific meeting last month.
Albert Yeung, NHS Lanarkshire’s consultant in dental public health, took over the role of the president of BASCD in June 2022.
BASCD are keen to encourage researchers in the field of population oral health. To support this, BASCD offer four awards including the Keith Woods Essay Competition and the BASCD-Borrow Foundation Early Career Poster Award.
All the prizes were presented during the BASCD meeting held on 10 November 2022. Due to the London tube strike, the event was moved to a virtual platform. The theme of the conference was A Place to Call Home: Rescue or Repair. It explored the provision of dental care for asylum seekers, refugees and looked-after children.
During the conference, BASCD President Albert Yeung wore the Ukraine flag bow tie to express solidarity with those people affected by the conflict in Ukraine. He also put on the poppy as a show of support for the Armed Forces community.
Albert said: “The standard of the entries this year was so high that the judging panel had difficulty to decide on the winners. It was a shame not able to present the awards in person at a virtual event.”
Ellie Macintosh (pictured receiving her award with Albert), a recent graduate of dental therapy and hygiene from the Peninsula Dental School, was the winner of the Keith Woods essay competition. The title for the essay in 2022 was: The oral health of refugees and the mobilisation of oral health care services to meet their needs.
This competition was open to any undergraduate from dentistry, dental therapy, dental hygiene or dental nursing student registered at a dental school in the UK and is designed to foster the interest of the next generation of dental professionals in public health dentistry.
The BASCD-Borrow Foundation Early Career Poster Award was sponsored by The Borrow Foundation which is actively engaged in promoting oral health and disease prevention.
The poster prize was open to BASCD members from academic and non-academic institutions in their early careers, e.g. undergraduates, clinical fellows, trainees and those undertaking Masters and PhD degrees. This includes dentists, dental care professionals and any other groups with an interest in public health.
K Julia Hurry of Queen Mary University in London was the winner of this award on the topic of Barriers and dental care pathways for children looked after in the UK.
