Student-led oral health education for the homeless community of East London

Within the BDS curriculum, dental public health and the importance of social responsibility is clearly emphasised though often in a didactic manner, without practical application. Preventative concepts are taught and relayed to individual patients being treated within a dental school. The impact of oral disease on general health within disadvantaged communities is a problem commonly addressed by healthcare professionals. Part of this responsibility should be shared with and experienced by the next generation of dental practitioners through health education outreach programmes within the undergraduate curriculum. Not only will this benefit recipients within disadvantaged populations such as the homeless, but it will also develop and encourage a philosophy of social responsibility throughout the future careers of undergraduate dental and hygiene/therapy students. To explore the feasibility of achieving this objective, we devised an oral health awareness programme to address the needs of 'hard to reach' homeless people within the communities served by the Community Dental Service of Tower Hamlets, City and Hackney, London.