News

Thank you to all of our members who took the time to vote in the recent Council election. The BSP is delighted to announce that Professor Francesco D'Aiuto was successful and has been appointed as "other member of Council". He will take up his position in January 2020 and we look forward to working with him. We would like to thank all of the other members who applied for the position and welcome them to apply again in the future.

It is with deep sadness that the British Society of Periodontology records the death of Dr Robert Genco. Professor Iain Chapple has kindly agreed to lead our tribute:

The BSPerio have produced a series of webinars which discuss and explain the need for the new classification.

The BSP are the owners of the copyright in the document entitled, “Implementing the 2017 Classification of Periodontal Diseases to Reach a Diagnosis in Clinical Practice”. As it is a copyrighted document, we own exclusive publishing rights. That copyright is protected under UK Law. It has come to our attention that an unauthorised version of the copyrighted document has been circulated at a dental event. The version of the document does not feature the BSP QR link to our website. Furthermore, the logos of our Partner Sponsors, Oral-B and Johnson and Johnson have been replaced with two other company logos. This is an infringement of our rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The BSP has taken legal advice and immediate action to prevent this breach from continuing. The document can be used without permission in its original format, however, any editing of the document is prohibited. We would encourage all dental professionals to continue to download the BSP flowchart from our website: https://www.bsperio.org.uk/publications/index.php

• Cardiologists should be aware of the connection between gum disease and heart disease and encourage their patients to be screened for periodontitis • Patients with gum disease should manage their cardiovascular disease risk factors Madrid, Spain, 19 February 2019. Proper oral hygiene and regular visits to the dentist can support cardiovascular health. This, in a nutshell, is what dental and heart experts agreed today at a joint workshop in Madrid. Representatives from the European Federation of Periodontology (EFP) and the World Heart Federation (WHF) reviewed the evidence linking cardiovascular diseases and gum disease (periodontitis) to prepare joint recommendations for health professionals and patients.

There have been some interesting developments in dentistry and periodontology already this year. We have seen the release of the NHS Long Term Plan and more coverage of issues related to diet and caries, periodontal diseases and systemic disease, and NHS availability. Although it was very disappointing to see that periodontal disease was not mentioned in the NHS plan it was good to see that there was an emphasis on prevention and for the delivery of care to vulnerable groups. We are continuing to try to work to promote improved periodontal care provision for all, with associated health benefits and improved quality of life. This month sees the Joint Workshop on Periodontology and Cardiovascular disease being held in Spain by EFP and the World Heart Federation – there is representation from the UK, and this may help broaden the awareness of research findings on this relationship to professionals and the public.

We are pleased to share with you two documents received from the Office of the Chief Dental Officer, England: • A summary of the NHS England Long Term Plan, which sets out some of the key areas where they see the value of the continued integration of oral health in general health pathways. • An update on the Starting Well Core initiative which was identified in the Long Term Plan as an initiative which supports broader health development and contributes to a strong start in life for children.

Establishing good oral hygiene habits early in a child’s life will help to prevent tooth decay and gum disease in the future. As part of last year’s Gum Health Awareness Day campaign, the BSP focused on raising awareness of the importance of gum health in childhood. Our campaign ‘A lifetime of smiling’ reinforced the message that it is never too early to develop good oral hygiene habits. We produced a range of educational materials that are available on our website as pdf downloads: https://www.bsperio.org.uk/patients/gumhealthday2018/index.html We are also proud to promote the excellent work that has been done through a collaboration between Oral-B and the University of Leeds, in creating the Strong Teeth Children’s Toolkit. The Strong Teeth support package and resources have been developed to help the dental team provide effective oral health advice to parents and their young children. Through their joint working, Oral-B and the University of Leeds, led by Dr Peter Day, engaged with dental teams, parents and children from various backgrounds and communities, to develop the resources. In addition, they used psychological theory and research to develop evidence-based materials, in order to maximise the chance that parents of young children will adopt the advice and establish protective home-based oral health habits for life. It is their hope that the resulting Strong Teeth resources, training manual and videos will help dental professionals to have effective oral care conversations with parents of young children and support the wider campaign aim of achieving a decay free childhood for children in the UK. We have made the resource available to view and download on the Professionals, Publications page of our website: https://www.bsperio.org.uk/publications/index.php If you would like a Strong Teeth toolkit for your practice, please contact the Oral-B customer support team: customerservice@dentalcare.co.uk (0870 242 1850)

The BSPerio have produced a series of webinars which discuss and explain the need for the new classification.