A Note from our President…

I hope that you are all well and that as we head toward the much-cited “new normality” you are all managing to make positive steps in your personal and professional worlds. We are thinking of those who are currently not so well off elsewhere, and of course of those of you who may have loved ones in challenging situations abroad.

As always, the BSP continues to be extremely busy with its charitable work. In addition to planning our educational programme and future events, the BSP Team is currently preparing to celebrate Gum Health Day on 12th May. Our aim is to raise public awareness of the seriousness of gum disease, the health problems associated with it, and the importance of keeping our gums strong and healthy. Spearheaded by the European Federation of Periodontology (EFP), the slogan for this year’s campaign is ‘Gum diseases are preventable’. 

Our focus is to highlight some of the signs and symptoms of gum diseases - gingivitis, periodontitis, and peri-implantitis, that may be more apparent to many people. Bad breath and loose teeth can indicate gum disease, tooth sensitivity may be a consequence of periodontitis, and smoking is an important risk factor for gum diseases. Periodontitis is of paramount importance because it is a complex, chronic condition associated with serious systemic diseases.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are unable to hold public events and will instead focus on sharing resources via our website and running an active social media campaign. We are joined by other National Societies in our aim to make millions of people worldwide aware not only that gum diseases are serious, chronic, inflammatory conditions that may negatively affect overall health and quality of life, but also that they are preventable and treatable. The campaign advice is for people to visit their dental team.

The EFP has produced a set of short animations, together with posters, to promote the key messages. The EFP have used humour to highlight various oral-health problems and to encourage people to visit their dentist, hygienist or therapist. The 30-second videos have a common message, “Gum diseases are preventable”, and a simple call to action “Visit your dental team”. Each one focuses on a different factor that can be a sign of gum disease or can play a role in provoking it: bad breath, sensitive teeth and smoking.

The EFP videos will be released on 4th May. In the meantime, we shall continue to add information and resources about Gum Health Day to our website. We would encourage you to download the resources and share them in your practice waiting rooms and on your social media platforms. Let's join together in raising public awareness of gum disease and encouraging people to visit their dentist, hygienist or therapist.

View Gum Health Day resources HERE

Finally, we have also now established a clinical "Frequently Asked Questions" page on our website entitled, “Clinical FAQs”. We hope that this is useful to our members and shall continue to regularly update this page. (VIEW HERE)  Please do continue to get in touch with the Society if you have any issues, queries or concerns.