Celebrating excellence in preventive oral care with the 2024 Smile Awards
FDI celebrates outstanding oral care initiatives for underserved communities. Discover the winning projects from Chile and Croatia for 2024.
At the 2024 Smile Grant Award ceremony, held during FDI’s General Assembly in Istanbul, Türkiye, FDI President Dr Greg Chadwick proudly presented this year’s awards to recipients from Chile and Croatia. These winners were recognized for their exceptional commitment to promoting preventive oral care within their communities.
The Smile Grant, sponsored by Colgate, celebrates innovative and sustainable projects by FDI member national dental associations (NDAs) aimed at raising awareness and improving oral health through community outreach initiatives. FDI extends heartfelt congratulations to the winners for their exemplary work in advancing oral health awareness at the local level.
Read on to discover more about the impactful 2024 winning projects:
Smiles for life: improving children's oral health in Chile
The College of Dental Surgeons of Chile was honoured with a Smile Award for their outstanding project, Smiles for Life. This initiative is a community-based oral health intervention designed to provide preventive dental care in vulnerable schools. By bringing dental services closer to children, their families, and the entire school community, the programme offers a sustainable and scalable approach to preventive oral care. It is built on three key pillars: education, dental treatment, and follow-up tailored to individual risk.
The project is supported by the local Chilean organization Fundación Sonrisas, whose representatives joined the College of Dental Surgeons of Chile to receive the certificate at the ceremony.
Promoting oral health in Croatia: a model for national change
The Croatian Dental Society received a Smile Award for their remarkable project, Oral Health Promotion Model Implementation in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. After assessing the state of oral health in Croatia, the society recognized a significant public health issue: despite positive examples from both local and neighbouring countries, the oral health of children in Croatia had been neglected for many years. To address this, a dedicated group of local advocates launched an initiative aimed at highlighting the problem, demonstrating the effectiveness of preventive measures, and advocating for their implementation on a national scale.
The project is supported by the Faculty of Dental Medicine from the University of Rijeka, contributing to its impactful implementation.
These award-winning projects demonstrate the power of community-based initiatives in promoting oral health. By providing dental care to underserved populations and raising awareness about preventive practices, the College of Dental Surgeons of Chile and the Croatian Dental Society are leading the way in creating a healthier future for their communities.