Over 80 Foundation Dentists currently working in practices across the South West gathered together at the Manor House Hotel in February 2024 for a two-day conference organised by Smile Together with Health Education England (HEE) Workforce Training & Education.
David Lee, Associate Dean for Dental and Therapy Foundation Training, opened the conference and introduced the first speaker, Smile Together’s Managing Director Jonathan Bouwer-Davies who is also Chair of the South West Urgent Care Managed Clinical Network (MCN). Jonathan’s presentation on the dental landscape had evolved somewhat that morning with the Government publishing their NHS Dentistry Recovery Plan! This plan featured our use of a mobile dental unit to treat patients who traditionally struggle to access the NHS dental care they urgently need – in this case, fishermen and their families through our Smiles at Sea initiative.
In turn this generated significant media attention and we were delighted to host ITV Westcountry reporter Jacqueline Bird who interviewed both Jonathan and some Foundation Dentists – so alongside an ‘on the spot’ update on the dental landscape delegates gained first-hand experience on how a television crew operated!
Recognising the importance of building your peer-to-peer dental network, the rest of the day was dedicated to sports and activities in the hotel, with delegates able to participate in everything from bowling and curling to relaxing in the Hydrospa, followed by dinner together and an evening of live music entertainment in the bar.
After breakfast on day two, we reconvened in the conference room and enjoyed some outstanding presentations from a range of guest speakers who had very kindly agreed to contribute to the event. A massive thanks to:
- Sebastian Stracey, Associate at Humphrey and Co Accountants, who outlined those important initial financial considerations when starting out as an Associate Dentist (and who had also generously part-funded the wine for dinner that evening, alongside Smile Together)
- Reena Patel, Dental Public Health Consultant, who explained how to maximise postgraduate career development opportunities in dentistry, giving inspirational examples from her own career. Reena also invited one of the Foundation Dentists to share her experience of providing dental care to those experiencing homelessness
- Christina Worle, Dentist and Dental Strategy Clinical Lead for NHS Gloucestershire, who outlined the role of trauma-informed care and how a trauma-informed approach is essential in helping to deliver high quality dental care to those suffering multiple disadvantage including homelessness
- Matthew Jerreat, Consultant in Restorative Dentistry at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, Honorary Associate Professor of Clinical Education with Plymouth University and Local Dental Network (LDN) Chair, who delivered an informative and entertaining talk on treatment planning
- Alison Cane, Outreach Manager, and Natalie Peary, Outreach Dental Therapist with Smile Together outlined our delivery of dentistry with purpose, in line with our mission of tackling oral health inequality, and who showed our impact film 2023
- Gerry Gallacher, qualified dentist and osteopath, who presented on ‘Care of Self’ with a focus on understanding musculoskeletal problems in dentists, how to stay physically healthy and avoid dentistry-related chronic injuries – which saw some entertaining audience participation in some of the exercises he set us!
Every Foundation Dentist stayed for the duration and received a Smile Together goody bag full of useful information about dentistry careers in Cornwall including inspirational postcards showcasing many of those colleagues who feature on the Inside Track section of our website. As a certified B Corporation, we kept things as environmentally friendly as possible, so other content was on screens or recyclable USB sticks. Delegates were encouraged to travel by train, so we had our hybrid vehicle on stand-by with a driver to transport them from and to the railway station and the nearby Ashbury Hotel if they were staying there overnight.
Everyone was entered into our prize draw and thank you to Tracy Wilson, our Head of Marketing and Communications, for announcing the winners and adding more context about dental careers with Smile Together in beautiful Cornwall. Congratulations to our winners:
- Charlotte Story for winning the top prize of £250 towards her next dental conference or course
- Siti-Sarah Khairuddin who headed home with a hamper of delicious Cornish goodies
- Victoria Hillson who won a bottle of Camel Valley sparkling wine
- Mavis Loterh who won a bottle of Tarquins Blue Gin
All in all the conference was a huge success, generating comments such as:
“Thank you so much for arranging the conference, it was really fun and I learnt a lot… The topics were interesting and the speakers were really good. It’s good to hear about what’s going on in dentistry and what opportunities are available in the south west.”
“Absolutely fantastic, so glad it was held and I got to bond with old and new friends. I now feel I have more friends within my profession.”
This will undoubtedly help to retain some of these wonderful dentists in the region, ideally to work with us here in Cornwall, and therefore planning has already commenced for next year’s conference!
