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APPG hosts meeting on the oral health of disadvantaged groups

02 February 2010

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Dentistry this week held its final meeting before the General Election. The meeting in the House of Commons focused on the oral health of disadvantaged groups. An audience of cross-party MPs, Peers and stakeholders from across the dental profession heard about delivering dental care to the prison population and residents of care homes.

After an introduction by Charlotte Atkins, Labour MP for Staffordshire Moorlands and the Chair of the APPG for Dentistry, the meeting received presentations from three speakers. Judith Husband, BDA Executive Board Member and dentist at Bullingdon Community Prison, began by providing an insight into providing care in a prison and the unique challenges it presents to dentists and their teams. Gill Heyes, of the Residential Oral Care Sheffield Scheme, spoke about the pioneering work taking place in the city to deliver joined-up care to patients in residential care homes. This scheme has been heralded by the dental profession and was cited by the BDA’s Oral Health Inequalities paper as an example of best practice when it was published last year. Finally, senior dental nurse in Gloucester and President of the British Association of Dental Nurses, Sue Bruckel, highlighted her experience of providing care in prisons as well as the role that dental nurses and other dental care professionals can play in providing that care. A lively question and answer session with the MPs and Peers followed the speeches.

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