News

The BSP film, The Sound of Periodontitis, has a whole new audience now there is a version with Russian subtitles. It joins a series of others that are subtitled in Spanish, Croatian and French. Estonian and Polish are also in the pipeline. The demand for the film in a number of languages reflects its power in conveying the perio patient perspective of life with this condition.

This film sums up our recent gum health awareness campaign and makes us proud to have achieved so much this year with the help of our partners and supporters - oh and the general public too!

We approve wholeheartedly of this article in Monday's Guardian - it's a well-balanced piece AND it mentions our BSP President Phil Ower!

An interesting article appeared in today's Telegraph looking at the links between brushing your teeth and heart conditions. Here is the BSP's take on this...

EFP Masterclinic 3 - 4 March 2017 Mediterranean Conference Centre, Malta For full details please click here

A recent review paper about to be published in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology by a group of investigators from Amsterdam found that toothbrushing alone may be as effective as toothbrushing with toothpaste in terms of plaque removal. This is not unexpected since the mechanical action of toothbrushing has for centuries been known to be an effective means of removing dental plaque and food debris. However, there is more to it than this. Plaque removal alone is only part of the toothbrushing process. Dental professionals encourage the use of toothpaste as it carries a whole range of active ingredients which protect the teeth and gums: fluorides to strengthen the teeth against the ravages of dental decay agents which reduce tooth sensitivity anti-bacterial agents which kill bacteria in plaque In addition to these benefits, for which there is abundant evidence, toothpaste use can help with: stain removal breath freshening making the mouth feel cleaner and healthier The paper is an interesting review of the available evidence and a useful addition to the scientific literature on oral hygiene habits but it does not mean that toothpaste is a waste of time and money. The British Society of Periodontology advises that toothbrushing should include the use of toothpaste as it has multiple actions and benefits which were not investigated in this review. Reference: Valkenburg, C., Slot D.E., Bakker E., Van der Weijden F. (2016) Does dentifrice use help to remove plaque? A systematic review. Journal of Clinical Periodontology (in press); doi: 10.1111/jcpe.12615

Mouthcards given out to the public, as part of our #howsyoursmile gum health awareness campaign, have made it to Australia! Two members of (BSP president-elect) Ian Needleman’s specialist dental team handed out hundreds of mouthcards to the public in London’s West End this summer. By complete chance, one of the recipients was Debbie Waalkens, wife of Dr Chris Waalkens – past-president of the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Periodontists! Our gum health awareness campaign has been a huge success reaching 4-5 million people across the world, predominantly through the use of social media.

To bring our 2016 public awareness campaign competition to a close we nominated a second winner of our selfie #howsyoursmile supporters. Chosen at random was Michelle Morris, a teaching assistant from Liverpool who was delighted to win £1000 worth of Apple vouchers. Here is Michelle and her nieces and nephews sporting the mouthcards we used to support our campaign. Well done Michelle!

The much anticipated Good Practitioner's Guide to Periodontology has been launched this week in London. It is a completely revised version of its predecessor, The Young Practitioner's Guide to Periodontology, taking on board comments and suggestions made over the intervening 5 years. Not least its name: For "Young" now read "Good"! The revised text addresses changes in research and clinical practice. It is available to download in PDF format (see Publications) and also in digital and interactive format (also available under Publications). This exciting addition has been made possible by Fiona Clark of Atlas Education and a BSP member, an expert in the field of e-learning. This third version of the Guide aims to be a helpful companion to the dental team in clinical practice following on from the undoubted success of its two previous versions.