The charity – Dental Trauma UK – has been set up to help improve the care and treatment options for patients following traumatic dental injuries.
Too many people are losing teeth unnecessarily after dental trauma, mainly because they are unaware of basic preventative steps to take in the aftermath of dental injury, such as re-implanting it, or putting it in milk and seeing a dentist urgently.
Dental Trauma UK will work to raise awareness among the general public, but also those who are often ‘first on the scene’ when dental injury occurs – including teachers, youth workers, paramedics, police, and sports coaches.
The charity will also collect research information on the number, causes and types of traumatic dental injuries throughout the UK as well as provide specialist support and advice to dental professionals to disseminate best practice in this area.
Serpil Djemal, consultant in restorative dentistry at King’s College Hospital, London, and founder of Dental Trauma UK, said: “More teeth can be saved if we can better educate the public about what to do in the immediate aftermath of dental trauma injury. Patients are still losing teeth, or undergoing expensive reconstructive work, unnecessarily, and we can prevent this from happening through better education and information campaigns. We are really excited about getting started.”
Further information about the charity’s aims and plans will be published on its new website shortly; http://www.dentaltrauma.co.uk/