Changemakers NCL

16/11/2020

What is normal?
Average angles can differ greatly between different ethnic groups.

For example, the average SNA angle for Caucasians is 81 degrees, for Afro-Caribbean is 88
Understanding that “normal” can vary between ethnicities is key to being a well-rounded practitioner!

08/07/2020

Posted • ✨ ℕ𝕠𝕥 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕙𝕪 𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕚𝕧𝕒 𝕚𝕤 𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕜!✨
🦷Healthy gums come in a range of colors from light pink to dark brown plus many shades in between! The color of our gums is partially based on the amount of melanin produced in our gingival tissues. In the 1st picture, check out just a few beautiful shades that our gingival tissues can come in! 🦷
🦷Before COVID, a patient asked why she had darker gums & not pink gums like on toothpaste commercials. Her question broke my heart - her gums & teeth are healthy & beautiful! Questions like this demonstrate why it is SO important to educate about condition descriptions + include cases that are inclusive of ALL races not only in terms of gingival health but in ALL aspects of dentistry. Doing this is vital for empowering patients & vital to helping us be better clinicians. 🦷
🌟Understanding what “healthy” looks like is critical for being able to describe & diagnosis disease. In addition to healthy gingiva ranging from pink to dark brown, healthy gums have:
1.Knife edge margins 🔪
2. Filled interproximal spaces
3. Scalloped contours 🦪
4.Firm tissue
5. Well demarcated mucogingival junction 🗺
6. No bleeding
Remember to keep your gums happy & healthy - brush & floss your teeth at home! 😊🌟

03/07/2020

03/07/2020

Posted • .yh HOW CAN I RESPOND TO RACISM AS A HEALTHCARE WORKER/STUDENT?

I’m sure (or I hope) we are aware now about the stats surrounding racism within the NHS. ‘s post on this detailed this wonderfully. If you haven’t seen it please do check it out.
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This is so far from perfect, but I wanted to make a few notes on this topic because I felt I never gave it much thought in the past - I never felt brave to report incidents and challenging others on it - I’m also open to hearing what sort of support is out there for black healthcare students (I know there’s ) but as far as for NHS black staff......I’m stumped to be very honest.

Please comment if you have any experiences on how you’ve handled racism or suggestions if you feel I outlined anything wrongly - and if you know of any organisations that support black NHS staff and students. ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

28/06/2020

Posted • “Racism is a public health issue because it kills people” - Fiona Godlee, Editor in Chief, The BMJ.

Health and healthcare is not free of racism.

On June 2nd, PHE published their report ‘Disparities in the risk and outcomes from COVID-19’ confirming largely what we knew already, the BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) community are more likely to be infected and die of COVID-19. The initial report failed to answer two key questions: WHY? And WHAT can we do about it?

A follow up review from PHE ‘Beyond the Data: Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on BAME Communities’ published June 16 aimed to answer these questions.

The report summarises that the unequal impact of COVID-19 on BAME communities may be explained by a number of factors ranging from social and economic inequalities, racism, discrimination and stigma, occupational risk, inequalities in the prevalence of conditions that increase the severity of disease.

However what was clear from this report, was lives have been lost because of historical racism and poorer experiences of healthcare or at work may meaning that individuals in BAME groups are less likely to seek care when needed or as NHS staff are less likely to speak up when they have concerns about Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) or risk. For many BAME groups lack of trust of NHS services and health care treatment resulted in their reluctance to seek care on a timely basis and fear of diagnosis and death from COVID-19 means BAME groups are less likely to get tested and present early for treatment and care.

Quoting the stakeholders in the report “COVID-19 did not create health inequalities, but rather the pandemic exposed and exacerbated longstanding inequalities affecting BAME groups in the UK”.
This is not just representative of our patients but our NHS workforce - the people who kept our healthcare system running during this pandemic.

Take time to read the above, and the linked resources, have a think and start a discussion. Change the culture in your workplace, in your town. Save lives. Be an anti-racist.

12/06/2020

‪At the moment we can see the inequality that exists and want to address this for our fellow students, colleagues, patients, friends and family. We are campaigning for justice because ‬
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‪Credit: ‬Twitter @ Newcastle University

10/06/2020

It is time for change. In light of the global Black Lives Matter movement, we have come together as a group of like-minded students to drive social change and equality. Because all lives can’t matter until black lives matter.
✊🏾