Dental Public Health Engagement Project 2024

Eagles Wings Trust is a Dundee-based Christian charity providing acceptance and advice to those experiencing homelessness and addiction. The charity runs a soup kitchen four nights a week, provides supplies and has a drop-in café session for those in need of a listening ear or advice. As part of our fourth year Dental Public Health project, we were lucky to have the opportunity to work with Eagles Wings and carry out some oral health engagement activities.

Our group was grateful to be invited along to several of Eagles Wings’ lunchtime café sessions, which allowed us to get to know the amazing guests and volunteers. Over cuppas and lots of interesting conversations, we completed a detailed oral health needs assessment to gather all the information we needed to try and create well-informed engagement activities that would effectively address the oral health needs of this community. Mike and his fantastic team of volunteers welcomed us with open arms and gave us their insights into the needs of the guests and how best we could address them. We were so thankful to the guests for warmly accepting us into their space and opening up to us about their lived experiences. Over time we got to know the guests, and we felt so privileged to meet everyone and learn about their lives, interests and the hardships they have faced. They gave us insight into their experiences and were able to dispel some of our preconceived notions and misconceptions about their needs. We now better understood their opinions on oral health, barriers they faced in assessing dental care and what they would like the engagement activities to involve. Together we came up with a plan for five engagement activities which went as follows:

Session 1 – Oral health instruction...

Many of the guests felt they had neglected caring for their teeth, resulting in dental pain and dental phobia. They expressed that there was a lack of oral health education, and wanted some information on how best to care for their teeth and dentures. In order to address this, we decided to make interactive oral hygiene instruction the focus of the first activity.  

During this session, we brought in a large mouth model on which we demonstrated toothbrushing technique to the guests, and then the guests were able to practice using the models. We ensured that the session was interactive as this was a key priority identified during our initial conversations with the guests. In order to increase the longevity of the intervention, we also shared oral hygiene supplies and educational leaflets kindly donated by Haleon. 

Session 2 – When and how do I access a dentist?

An issue raised by some Eagles Wings guests was lack of knowledge of when, where or how to access dental care. Many people were unaware of what constituted a dental emergency and felt their issues were not severe enough to seek help. Our aim was to empower people to seek help if they had dental pain or any other dental emergencies.

On discussion with the staff and guests, we decided to create a visual aid that they could keep in the building would help make a difference for those who did not know where they could find dental care. We provided a poster which signposts to local dental services which has been displayed in the café. We also created a game of Dental Emergency Snap to initiate conversations about different emergency scenarios. After a… SNAP we would have a short discussion on what guests knew about the dental emergency, and supplemented additional information or clarified any misconceptions. Lots of people got involved and we all had lots of fun!

Session 3 – Breathe easy!

Many of the guests suffered from dental anxiety that deterred them from seeing a dentist regularly, and expressed they would like to learn some ways to cope with anxiety in a dental setting.

During this session, we shared some basic behavioral coping strategies for dental anxiety. We did a group walkthrough of square breathing and the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique. These techniques are easy to access and learn - they don’t require any equipment and can be done virtually anywhere at any time, and structured framework helps to use the technique in heightened emotional states. In the end it was a great way to connect with the group, and people who participated said that they would try to practice the techniques in their own time and then apply it to a stressful situation, whether dental related or otherwise.

Session 4 – If in doubt, get it checked out!

During our oral health needs assessment, we identified that among the group there were various risk factors for oral cancer present. In light of this, we wanted to spread awareness about mouth cancer with the guests and the importance of prevention and early detection.  

We encouraged guests to visit a dentist at least once a year, and talked about the benefits of reducing smoking and alcohol consumption. We also went around teaching guests how they could practice self-examinations for mouth cancer and put up posters around the café area from the ‘Let’s Talk About Mouth Cancer’ charity. 

We also designed a word search and tic tac toe game which had some key information on mouth cancer to reinforce our key learning points for the session with guests. Some of the guests took these home for their friends and family which helped to spread the message further.

Session 5 – Avulsion Advice... pick it, lick it, stick it!

From our initial visits at Eagle’s Wings, we discovered many of the guests had personal experiences, or knew someone who had suffered traumatic tooth loss. 

We delivered Dental Trauma UK's campaign of 'Save A Knocked Out Tooth’. We put up these posters on the walls of the café area and shared the catchy slogan of “pick it, lick it and stick it” with the guests. This visit was really well received, the guests found the slogan very amusing and memorable. Some of the guests were so tickled, they went around sharing the avulsion advice with everyone in the café. 

We were so happy to receive positive feedback from the guests and staff who said they enjoyed the experience and found the activities useful. We were proud to present our work to our year group and dental school staff, and hear about the fantastic work of our colleagues with other local services. Our experience will help us become more inclusive dental practitioners by giving us a better understanding of the complex barriers to oral health faced by those with experience of homelessness and addiction. It has emphasised how small interventions make a big difference – having a snowball effect in forming habits and building rapport.  This project also helped us develop our team working skills both within our group and outwith the dental school, and open communication has been pivotal in building a strong relationship between our group and the charity.

Overall, it was a fantastic experience and we were inspired by the stories and resilience of all those we had the chance to meet. We would like to extend our thanks to those who made this project possible – to Dundee Dental Hospital for the opportunity and support, to “Let’s Talk About Mouth Cancer” and Haleon for providing us with educational resources and supplies, and to the wonderful volunteers at Eagles Wings for all their help in planning and carrying out the activities. And of course, a massive thank you to the guests of Eagles Wings for their kindness and sincerity in welcoming us into their space, and sharing their thoughts and ideas with us and making this such a valuable and unforgettable experience.

We would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to one of the driving forces behind Eagles Wings, Tony Gibson, who sadly passed away last month. Tony’s enthusiasm, kindness, determination, drive and selflessness has helped to shape the lives of so many in Dundee. Without Tony this project would not have been successful and his legacy will live on forever.