The DentAlliance consists of four prestigious dental schools which bring their world-leading expertise to the collaboration and will work together to enhance professional practice in dentistry.
The programme aims to deliver global insights into contemporary trends in clinical dentistry and provide future perspectives into the field. It presents a series of engaging content, practical case studies, hands-on training, and clinical insights from various industry experts.
DentAlliance Symposium Offers Insights on Enhancing Oral Health
Panelists and representations from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, King’s College London, University of Melbourne
and the National University of Singapore at the online Symposium.
Dental Deans and representatives from the Adams School of Dentistry (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill); the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences (King’s College London); the Melbourne Dental School (University of Melbourne); and the Faculty of Dentistry (National University of Singapore) came together to present the DentAlliance achievements and plans at an online symposium held on Tuesday, 18 October 2022.
The symposium provided participants the opportunity to learn more about the various Working Groups within the DentAlliance and find out how they could build collaborations by taking part in upcoming projects and activities.
The event started with a welcome address by Professor Michael Escudier, Executive Dean at the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences at King’s College London, who summarised the mission of the DentAlliance.
“The DentAlliance members are committed to make a difference through a collaborative effort to pursue particularly complex problems in the field of oral health, that not only address population health issues locally but more widely around the world – uniquely and including those who are underserved and the vulnerable,” he shared.
Professor Alastair Sloan, Head of School at the Melbourne Dental School, University of Melbourne then presented an overview of DentAlliance activities to date before Chairs from the respective Working Groups – Education, Continuing Professional Development, Research and Innovation, and Addressing Global Inequalities – shared the objectives of each Work Group, initiatives that have been introduced so far and upcoming programmes.
NUS Faculty of Dentistry Acting Dean Professor Wong Mun Loke presented on the developments of the Education Working Group.
Participants also gained the opportunity to post questions to representatives from the four dental schools during a panel discussion before NUS Faculty of Dentistry Acting Dean Professor Wong Mun Loke concluded the webinar by highlighting how public health issues has evolved and how the DentAlliance strives to work together to transform the field of dentistry amidst rapid changes.
“Over the last two years, we have been faced with a myriad of changes – changes in population demographics, emergence of public health threats as we have seen through the COVID-19 pandemic, the evolution of new innovations in education or clinical care, the advancement of technology, the use of big data to manage health and more… Amidst these changes, we need to rethink, reimage and reposition dentistry for the future whether it is in terms of education, research or clinical care… The power of collaboration, as exhibited through DentAlliance, cannot be underestimated and this network which we are all a part of will allow us to tap on the various areas of excellence that we each possess and transform these into meaningful partnerships that will make a difference in dentistry,” said Prof Wong.
More than 100 participants attended the event.