Meet the Team – Awesome Oral Health

The Raisin awareness advisory board

I am delighted to introduce my 6 esteemed colleagues who are very kindly and generously sharing their time and expertise to help take the Raisin Awareness project to the next level as part of the Raisin Awareness Advisory Board.

In 1992 Pam began working for British Association of Dental Nurses (then ABDSA), where she was a key figure in the campaign for statutory registration of dental nurses in the UK, which was implemented in 2006. As well as being BADN’s Chief Executive, Pam is Editor of the “British Dental Nurses’ Journal”. Pam also writes regular columns for “The Probe” and other dental publications and is on several editorial boards. Pam is also responsible for the organisation and management of all BADN events, including the annual National Dental Nursing Conference.

Pam was awarded the City & Guilds Licentiate in Management in 2005 and a Masters in Business Administration in 2007. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Association Management and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.

Pam was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award 2012 at The Dental Awards; and the Outstanding Contribution to Dental Nursing 2012 Award. She completed 25 years with the Association in August 2017.

Ingrid has over 36 years’ experience within the dental profession and currently works for {my}dentist as a Practice Manager in Hull. During her career she gained national recognition, winning the NOHPG Patron’s Prize for Innovation in 2012, Best Leader of Prevention in the Oral Health Awards 2018 and Practice Manager of the Year 2019 in the Dental Awards.

For many years Ingrid worked closely with local schools and was co-founder of the nationally recognised Teeth Team programme which was awarded the Outstanding Innovation Award by the BSPD in 2017.

In 2018 Ingrid’s lifelong commitment to improving the dental health of young people was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours when she was awarded an MBE, an honour she is incredibly proud of.

Ben is a trustee of the Oral Health Foundation and a general dental practitioner. His main drive is patient education. As a clinician, Ben is a former tutor at Manchester Dental Hospital and a Dentist with Specialist Interest (DWSI) in restorative dentistry. His practices have a number of separate NHS contracts that cater for the oral health needs of the hard-to-reach groups as well as the general population within the current NHS Dental Pilot. He has provided a mobile dental surgery in Tanzania and three of his team have undertaken voluntary work in that surgery.His expertise away from the surgery includes – press and Parliamentary representative for the BDA; Former Healthcare Commission adviser on dental complaints; Co-optee of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) Public Health Advisory Committee; Member the Periodontal steering group for the Department of Health (DoH), Chairman of Salford Local Dental Committee (LDC), Performance List Panel member for NHS England. Ambassador for Wrigley’s.

Melanie qualified as a Dental Hygienist in 2015 from the University of Essex and was named Best Hygienist 2020. She continues to be registered whilst also bringing her clinical expertise to the Colgate-Palmolive team as Professional Brand Manager (Northern Europe). Melanie completed an MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Dental Professional Practice) at the University of Kent in 2019, her research focused on the views of Dental Hygienists and Therapists on Direct Access, followed by a PGCert in Education in 2020. Melanie is also an ambassador for the BSDHT.

Simon is a dentist who has extensive experience running dental practices and teaching undergraduate and postgraduate dentists and therapists. Simon and the North Yorkshire Local Dental Network developed innovative prevention programmes in partnership with other stakeholders. The LDN won the BSPD’s Outstanding Innovation Award 2021 for the ‘In Practice Prevention’ (IPP) scheme that ensured thousands of children in the region accessed preventive treatment in a dental practice delivered by trained dental nurses. The IPP programme was targeted at deprived areas where oral health need is greatest and at children with the highest levels of disease. Simon is also the coordinator for the National Community Water Fluoridation Network with the aim of advocating and lobbying for fluoridation where oral health need and inequality is great. The Network has 18 dental organisations and one children’s charity within it’s growing structure.

Victoria began her journey as a Dental Therapist at the Eastman Dental
Hospital London in 2001, and completed her BSc in Oral Health Promotion with O’Hehir University in 2016. She has worked internationally as a speaker and clinically
in the UK and UAE.
She is the Founder and former President of the Emirates Dental Hygienist
Club and has been active within British
Association of Dental Therapists (BADT), and International Federation of
Dental Hygienists (IFDH).
Victoria founded the Smile Revolution,
and Smile Revolution Growth Hub, driving innovations in oral health
promotion and leadership through communities of dental professionals,
measuring the ongoing impact. Victoria produces the Smile Revolution
Podcast that has over 12,000 listeners around the world and is a dually
qualified yoga instructor running weekly yoga classes dedicated to supporting
the wellbeing of the dental profession.

Passionate about sharing our knowledge to make more smiles healthy

"I am both delighted and honoured to have been invited to become a member of the Raisin Awareness Advisory Board. This initiative is paramount in helping reduce the incidence of dental caries in young children and to improving their overall dental and general health. Reducing exposure to dried and processed fruit snacks, promoting healthier fresh food alternatives and the linking of local dental practices to local primary schools in areas of social deprivation is an excellent formula to reducing the inequalities in child dental health. Raisin Awareness has the potential to improve so many lives and the benefits of the campaign will be felt not only by the children but also their families and the communities in which they live."

" I support The Raisin Awareness project because it is so important that we adopt a broad systems approach to oral health improvement and prevention and importantly ensure oral health improvement messaging is evidence based, consistent and supported wherever possible"

"I have joined the Raisin Awareness Advisory Board because this is a great cause. Dried fruits are part of a healthy diet but as a snack, they are harmful to teeth. This is a message that needs to be conveyed to and parents and grandparents, schools and educators. An awareness of the dangers of snacking combined with good prevention will enable children to grow up cavity-free."

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