Good News Stories

Art at ADA House

Various restrictions were still in place coming out of lockdown, but the first Art at ADA House was still able to go ahead, with appropriate social distancing measures and mask wearing. There were some wonderful creations from the DIY pottery session, proving once again that dentists are a very artistic bunch!

July General Meeting

It was wonderful to see so many members at July’s General Meeting at ADA House – and what a full evening it was! The Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons unveiled an Honour Board, featuring their WA Regional Committee Chairpersons. We were honoured to reveal a tribute to former ADAWA CEO, President and Honorary Life Member, Dr Stuart Gairns. The photograph of an evening over Albany Harbour is a scene close to Stuart’s heart, and is now on display in the lecture theatre. Thank you to oral and maxillofacial surgeon Dr Ken Wan, who presented on Zygomatic implants for the severely atrophic, radiotherapied or resected maxilla. We look forward to seeing members at the next ADAWA General Meeting on September 8, where specialist endodontist Dr Gaurav Vasudeva will present Applications of CBCT in Endodontics.

Generous Blood Donations

During the June lockdown, we were heartened to hear from dentists, Drs Sam Cheung and Lisa Bowdin, who were donating blood and plasma.

Healthier Smiles Grants

Congratulations to the 2021 recipients of the Mars Wrigley Foundation and Australian Dental Health Foundation (ADHF) Healthier Smiles Community Service Grants program. This year, the Mars Wrigley Foundation has awarded approximately $111,000 in grant funding to 10 projects. Special mention goes to the WA recipients:

University of Western Australia: Smiling Signs Auslan Resource

This grant will help fund a publicly-available digital resource in Auslan (Australian Sign Language) to improve the standard of care for deaf patients.

University of Western Australia: Healthy Mouths, Brighter Smiles

Healthy Mouths, Brighter Smiles will host interactive sessions at schools to improve the oral health outcomes for children from low socio-economic areas.

Shalom House: Shalom House Dental Rehabilitation Program

The Dental Rehabilitation Program will deliver free screening, treatment and education to improve the dental health of residents at rehabilitation program, Shalom House.

Healing Smiles

Healing Smiles recently held their first meeting for their volunteers for this year. A speaker discussed trauma-informed care in the dental setting, specifically regarding survivors of family and domestic violence. The informative presentation gave many practical tips, most importantly from the patient’s perspective. The Healing Smiles team is looking for more general dentists to volunteer; if you’re interested, please email Dr Jacinta Vu, healingsmileswa@gmail.com UWA Dental School Teaching Clinic Renewal

The UWA Dental School Teaching Clinic Renewal event was a great success. Attendees were shown the new dental chairs in the teaching clinic and were introduced to the next new project, upgrading the Clinical Simulation Laboratory (OpTech).

Our country councillor goes north

ADAWA Country Councillor Dr Tim Crofts has been busy touring around the north west, meeting with local dentists along the way. His stops included Karratha, Newman, Port Hedland and Kalgoorlie.

ADHF Dental Rescue Day

The team from Diamond Smiles Dental in Carramar recently volunteered their time on a Sunday to hold their first Australian Dental Health Foundation Dental Rescue Day. Despite strong winds and heavy rain, they had a successful turn-out, treating eight grateful patients. In a wonderful show of community spirit, Dandelions WA donated thoughtful kindness kits to send home with each patient, and the local Knit and Natter group personally knitted beanies and mittens for the patients to take home as well.

Homeless Connect Rockingham

Dental Health Week was also Homelessness Week, so we were thrilled to be a part of an amazing day at Homeless Connect Rockingham on Tuesday August 3, hosted at Salvation Army Rockingham. The hardworking volunteer team, which included dentists Drs Jonathan Lo, Villas Menon, Sahara Saeedi and Femi Moradi, and dental assistants, Jane and Suzanne, treated 21 grateful patients. The day was made possible thanks to the combined efforts of Dental Health Services, Australian Dental Health Foundation and ADAWA. A huge thanks goes to sponsors Henry Schein Cares, Colgate and Wrigley’s. Thanks also to Coates Hire Kwinana for providing the hire of the generator. Special thanks also to Lisa Daw from Dental Health Services and Sandra Wood and Andrea Paterson from ADAWA.

Celebrating the Class of 1990

By Dr Tim Crofts

The class of 1990 and friends recently held a reunion at ADA House in Perth. Joining them on this special occasion was honoured guests Winthrop Professor Paul Abbott and Dr Jacky Castro. Also in attendance were Dr Brent Allan and Dr Jane Connor. Classmates in attendance were Dr Allison Kale, Dr Tim Crofts (ADAWA Country Councillor), Dr Joe Muscara, Dr Lisa Standing, Dr Fritz Heitz (Periodontist), Dr Jon Swain (Periodontist), Dr Chris Wholley (Orthodontist), Dr Denise Wilson (Orthodontist), Dr Ed Tay, Dr Gerry Wong and Dr Andrew Ziepe. Unable to attend but sorely missed were: Dr Dax Calder (Periodontist), Dr Winston Hee (OMFS in NSW), Dr Jenny Lee, Dr Noel Lobo (dec.), Drs Alessandra and Glen Liddelow (Prothodontist), Dr Hyun Mun, Dr Aun Oh, Dr Mindy Oxley-Long (QLD), Dr Mong Pham, Dr Clive Purcell (retired Oral Surgeon), Dr Ravi Sandhu, Dr Sivarajah Sathyendran (Singapore), Dr Tim Silbert (Endodontist), Dr Stuart Smith (retired), Dr Ralston Tennekoon (NZ), Dr Gavin Steinberg, Dr Geoff McGlaughlin, Dr Guido Darmago, Dr Vincent Lok, Helen Clune (now in a Monastery!). Classmates were tasked with sharing a lesson from dentistry, which included: • You can learn more at lunchtime at a CPD event than during the lectures. • Don’t put away the impression material until you know the impression has worked. • Treat all patients how you want to be treated. And if they are crazy, demanding and all together irrational, refer them to Dr Delcanho. • If a patient says they have trouble going numb, believe them! • Don’t be afraid to fire a bad patient. Life is too short.