It is with regret that we inform you of the passing of Dr. Vincent Bluett, a founding member of the Irish Society of Dentistry for Children. Dr. Bluett passed away on January 18th.

Dr. Bluett was the dearly loved husband of the late Claire (nee Kilgrew) and loving father of Laura, Jean and the late David.

His funeral took place on Tuesday 22nd January, at St Columba’s Church, Douglas, Cork with burial at St. John’s Cemetery, Ballinrea. Family flowers only please, donations if desired to Marymount Hospice.

The ISDC committee wish to extend their sincere condolences to all bereaved by Dr. Bluett’s death and to recognise his huge contribution to the Irish Society of Dentistry for Children and the field of dentistry.

May he rest in peace.

Yours sincerely,
ISDC Committee

The Irish Society for Disability and Oral Health are presenting the second in their free ISDH Winter Webinars series:

Tooth Brushing for People with Disabilities

• 8pm Tuesday Jan 29th (Dublin time)
• Register here (free)

This Webinar is delivered by our very own expert on Oral Health Promotion for people with disabilities: Assistant Professor Caoimhin Mac Giolla Phadraig. Kev is based in Trinity College Dublin. He will talk to the ISDH community about how to make tooth brushing easy for this population. This is an amazing opportunity for our community to learn from the best.

After the webinar, it is expected that participants will:
* Understand how to plan and initiate oral health resource development
* Identify the correct oral hygiene advice for their range of patients with disabilities
* Instruct their patients in evidence based oral hygiene techniques
* Direct patients towards online resources to improve brushing

It is with regret that we inform you of the passing of Dr. Chris Collins. The Irish Society of Dentistry for Children wishes to extend its sincere sympathies to his family and friends and to record its appreciation of the service he offered the society and the dental profession. Dr. Collins passed away peacefully at Bantry General Hospital after a short illness.

Chris was a founding member of the Irish Society of Dentistry for Children in 1971 and he played an important role in its early development. Chris qualified from the Cork Dental School & Hospital in 1953. He served as a public dental officer for a number of years during which he was recruited to be one of the clinical examiners in the National Pre-Fluoridation Baseline Surveys of Children and Adolescents in Ireland (a co-founder of the ISDC, Dr Vincent Bluett, was one of the 8 clinical examiners recruited for this survey).

The high levels of dental caries in which Chris saw during these early years engendered in him a lifelong interest in preventive, paediatric and public health dentistry. No doubt explained by these interests, Chris moved to London and Manchester to undergo specialist training in these subjects under international experts, Profs Geoffrey Slack, Gerry Winter and Phil Holloway, all international experts. He was appointed Head of the newly formed Preventive and Paediatric Dentistry Department in Cork University Hospital in 1966. At the same time he established the Department of Health funded studies on the effectiveness of fluoride in the prevention of dental caries. Subsequently he was awarded the fellowship of the RCSI. He ran specialist private practices in Cork from the mid 70s.

His interest in preventive dentistry and in improving the oral health of the population inevitably led to Chris taking an active interest in the affairs of the Irish Dental Association. He was elected President in 1978; his skill and experience as a distinguished actor was a clear asset when he championed the development of services for the disadvantaged. Chris maintained his interest in the ISDC throughout his life. At a recent meeting with him he expressed pride that the society continues to prosper promoting the oral health of children.

Denis O’Mullane and Tim Holland
Founding members of ISDC

The training is in the management of anxious children. This day course is run by UK medical practitioners, most often anaesthetists, to improve the approach to children about to undergo medical procedures. This course was in Belfast last year, where Irish paediatric dentists and students attended and highly recommended the course to others.

Our Annual Scientific Meeting ‘Staying Alive: The Pulp in Trauma and Caries’ took place on Thursday May 12th 2016 in Finnstown Castle Hotel. The meeting was a huge success with over 130 delegates. Renowned international speakers Dr Dennis J McTigue, DDS, MS, Professor of Paediatric Dentistry Ohio State University, Dr James Coll, Clinical Professor at the University of Maryland Dental School and Dr N. Sue Seale, Regent’s Professor, Department of Paediatric Dentistry, Baylor College of Dentistry, Texas kept delegates enthralled and entertained with their informative presentations on the management of the pulp following trauma, protection of the pulp following caries in primary teeth and avoiding pulpal exposure in deep carious lesions in primary teeth respectively.

Dr N Sue Seale, Dr A O’Connell, Dr J Coll

The O’Mullane Competition presentations covered an array of topics including pit & fissure sealants, ‘Lift the lip’ screenings, caries distribution, rights compliance dentistry and third molars. All presentations were well delivered and informative. The competition was close but a winner was decided upon. Congratulations to Dr P James who was the 2016 O’Mullane winner. Her presentation was entitled ‘A Sad Tale – Frequency Distribution of Dental Caries in 11-13 Year Olds’.

Dr McTigue, Dr A O’Connell, Prof O’Mullane

Congratulations to all of those who prepared a poster presentation.
The ISDC would like to give a special thanks to Professor O’Mullane for his continued and generous support of the ISDC. The ISDC would also like to thank our speakers, competition entrants, poster presenters, sponsors and delegates. We hope to see you all in 2017.

Our ‘Hands-on Stainless Steel Crown course was held on June 30th 2016 in Dublin. It was taught by Drs Rona Leith and Evelyn Crowley. There were over 30 participants. The course was co-sponsored by the ISDC and 3M. Given the success of this course additional courses will be planned during the coming year.