An Isle of Wight dental practice has teamed up with Vectis Youth Rugby Club to protect young players’ smiles – and is now giving another Island club, school or organisation the chance to benefit from the same initiative.
Wight Clinic Dental Practice has provided professionally made, custom-fitting gum shields for Vectis Youth Rugby Club’s Under-13s as part of a new community partnership.
Following the success of the project, the practice has launched a competition to find another Isle of Wight group to receive its own community gum-shield project.
The initiative was developed to make high-quality mouth protection more accessible to families with children taking part in contact sports.
Professionally fitted gum shields can offer greater comfort and protection than many cheaper, off-the-shelf alternatives, but the cost can prove a barrier for some families.
To help tackle this, Dr Jo Thompson, Dr Darko Ilioski and Dr Mika Ilioski volunteered their time to set up a pop-up dental clinic alongside the rugby pitch.
There, impressions were taken of the young players’ teeth so that individually fitted gum shields could be produced.
The project was delivered in collaboration with Island Dental Laboratory, which produced the custom gum shields in return for a donation towards material costs only.
The dentists donated their clinical time and materials, while the laboratory team contributed its expertise.
The result was a set of individually made gum shields designed specifically for the young rugby players.
Wight Clinic says preventing dental injuries is particularly important in children’s contact sport, with injuries potentially proving painful, disruptive, costly and having lifelong consequences.
The partnership also highlighted the work of volunteers at Vectis Youth Rugby Club, who give their time to provide young Islanders with opportunities to play rugby, develop their skills and become part of a team.
Now another Island organisation is being invited to benefit.
Wight Clinic is offering one Isle of Wight club, school, sports team or other organisation the chance to receive the same gum-shield project.
There will be no charge for the dentists’ clinical time and materials or the laboratory technician’s time, with families instead asked to make a suggested donation towards the laboratory material costs.
To enter, Islanders should visit the Wight Clinic Dental Practice Facebook page, like and share the competition post and comment with the name of the club, school, team or organisation you would like to nominate.
The Wight Clinic hopes the competition will raise awareness of the importance of protecting children’s teeth during sport while giving another local organisation access to professionally made mouth protection.
