Roehampton project to promote gum health in children reaches successful conclusion
- Monday, November 15, 2021
An innovative research project entitled Gardening and Gums which aims to improve gum health among primary school children, concludes this month following two successful on-campus workshops run over the summer. Led by Dr Melissa Jogie (pictured left) of Roehampton's School of Education and funded by a £5,000 grant from the Church of England, the project set out to understand how learning about gum disease and oral care in a non-clinical environment might help reduce the anxiety associated with dental appointments, and at the same time increase awareness of better gum and dental care. Over 100 children aged between 5 and 12 signed up to take part in the Gardening and Gums workshops, with 17 Roehampton student volunteers helping Dr Jogie run the activities which included foraging in the garden and using vegetables for brushing practice.
The project featured Dr Jumoke Adeyemi, Senior Clinical Lecturer in Periodontology from the University of Liverpool, who ran workshop sessions educating parents in the local community about gum care, and the higher susceptibility to gum disease of people from BME backgrounds. While parents were in these sessions, their children were working with student volunteers out on the Growhampton campus plots. The RSU Growhampton team are supportive facilitators of these oral care health intervention projects. Gardening and Gums illuminated the richness of the community, especially local families from the Alton estate, working in partnership with student volunteers from across the university.
The video below shows shows how much fun the children had on their visit to Roehampton, and how the project got them thinking about better tooth and gum care. Any primary schools wishing to take part in Dr Jogie's forthcoming reseach activity - The Potato Teeth Project - should email her for more details.
