PAST PRESIDENTS
Have a read of what our past president's got up to in their year of presidency and what the Dental Society has achieved over time.
Nima Kazempour
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Matthew Billington
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Thomas Hayes-Powell
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Arjun J Varma
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A video created by our wonderful President - Arjun for the DentSoc Committee of 2017-18!
Balraj Singh Sohal
Dental Society Presidency Term 2016/17
Student President - Balraj Singh Sohal
Staff President - Dr Helena Lewis-Greene
Our committee’s efforts in the year 2016/17 went above and beyond expectations. A collective effort allowed us to launch a number of special initiatives and projects all of which are summarised below.
Dental Society Composite Course
We established the first-ever Dental Society composite course. A free of charge, hands on 3 hour course for our students to learn and practice some of the latest techniques (layering, tints and using the latest equipment) in producing aesthetic class IV anterior composites. Our students were taught in a step by step fashion (live demonstrations and videos) by Dr Subir Banerji and Dr Shamir Mehta, course leads of the Aesthetics MSc programme.
We established the first-ever Dental Society composite course. A free of charge, hands on 3 hour course for our students to learn and practice some of the latest techniques (layering, tints and using the latest equipment) in producing aesthetic class IV anterior composites. Our students were taught in a step by step fashion (live demonstrations and videos) by Dr Subir Banerji and Dr Shamir Mehta, course leads of the Aesthetics MSc programme.
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King’s Connect Partnership
Mentoring within Dentistry is incredibly important and highly sought after. For this reason, it was a priority for the Dental Society to team up with King’s Connect, a mentoring platform from the Alumni Office. King’s Connect is an online platform that pairs students to likeminded mentors in a chosen field or profession. Our partnership included raising awareness of the scheme so more dental students would get involved. Our efforts increased the dental student activity on the King’s Connect platform from 19 students in 2015 (the year prior to our partnership) to 137 students in 2016! |
Dental Society Tutorials
To further our academic contribution to our students, this year DentSoc partnered up with Dr Tom Bereznicki, a final year PDC teacher at KCH Denmark Hill. Dr Tom led a series of 6 tutorials focusing on the common topics students struggled with on clinic - to mention a few he covered “avoiding occlusally related failure”, “factors to consider when selecting the ideal crown cement” and important concepts in crown, bridge and implant work. These tutorials were piloted this year and due to the incredible feedback received the Dental Society will be running them again! |
Dental Society Widening Participation Programme
This year to further our contribution to the local community, DentSoc launched a new initiative supported by Dr Lyndon Cabot, Dr Jonathan Turner and Kirsty McLaren. The widening participation programme offers our dental students the opportunity to visit non-selective state schools and share advice on applying to dental school. We can share tips on how to improve a personal statement, how best to prepare for the UKCAT, what dental school is really like and ultimately answer any questions these prospective students have. We launched this scheme in November 2016 and have visited over 50 state schools in a 5 month period!
This year to further our contribution to the local community, DentSoc launched a new initiative supported by Dr Lyndon Cabot, Dr Jonathan Turner and Kirsty McLaren. The widening participation programme offers our dental students the opportunity to visit non-selective state schools and share advice on applying to dental school. We can share tips on how to improve a personal statement, how best to prepare for the UKCAT, what dental school is really like and ultimately answer any questions these prospective students have. We launched this scheme in November 2016 and have visited over 50 state schools in a 5 month period!
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DentEd
To broaden our academic contribution and student support system the Dental Society launched a new scheme called DentEd. DentEd, short for Dental Society Education, is a peer academic mentoring scheme. It allows students to access high achieving and academic dental student colleagues who are willing to offer their time to explain particular topics other students are struggling with or even just be revision buddies. We have formed a group of “DentEd mentors” who are our database of teachers so when we receive an enquiry from students on a particular subject area, our “DentEd teacher” who is available will help with their teaching. |
ADEE/ADEA Conference
This year King’s College London was selected to host the annual ADEE/ADEA conference on Guy’s Campus. The Dental Society teamed up with the ADEE/ADEA organising team to offer an extra set of hands at the conference. The roles of our student ambassadors included directing delegates around the campus and London Bridge area and being on call at all times throughout the day to ensure the smooth running of the conference. For our contribution throughout the 3 day conference the ADEE allowed us to sit in and listen to the lectures and generously donated €1000. The Dental Society chose to put this donation into our Dental Society Endowment Fund.
This year King’s College London was selected to host the annual ADEE/ADEA conference on Guy’s Campus. The Dental Society teamed up with the ADEE/ADEA organising team to offer an extra set of hands at the conference. The roles of our student ambassadors included directing delegates around the campus and London Bridge area and being on call at all times throughout the day to ensure the smooth running of the conference. For our contribution throughout the 3 day conference the ADEE allowed us to sit in and listen to the lectures and generously donated €1000. The Dental Society chose to put this donation into our Dental Society Endowment Fund.
BDJ Event
As writing articles and publishing in journals is becoming increasingly popular amongst dental students, the Dental Society invited Dr Stephen Hancocks OBE (Chief Editor of the British Dental Journal) and Ruth Doherty from the BDJ Team to give tips on how to get published in the BDJ. Hopefully this will be the beginning of an annual BDJ Team and Dental Society event.
As writing articles and publishing in journals is becoming increasingly popular amongst dental students, the Dental Society invited Dr Stephen Hancocks OBE (Chief Editor of the British Dental Journal) and Ruth Doherty from the BDJ Team to give tips on how to get published in the BDJ. Hopefully this will be the beginning of an annual BDJ Team and Dental Society event.
King’s College Health Partners Sierra Leone Project Event
To support our KCL Dental Alumni committee, the Dental Society hosted a student and staff lecture focused on the King’s Dental mission for providing sustainable dental care in Sierra Leone. Professor Stephen Challacombe and Professor Jenny Gallagher spoke to our BDS students and informed them of the plans King’s has for Sierra Leone and the opportunity to get involved with the work there - for instance on electives. We had over 70 students attend the talk.
