Dr Mick Allen, a consultant and specialist in special care dentistry, has joined Bodmin-based Smile Together Dental CIC as clinical director for quality assurance and patient safety.
A prominent and influential figure in south Wales, Dr Allen has been dental adviser to Cardiff and Vale University Health Board since 2016 and has been seconded to the Welsh Government to help reform general dental services.
Smile Together is a successful employee-owned CIC tackling oral health inequality by investing its profits back into patient care and Cornish communities.
Dental Director, Dr Jonathan Bouwer-Davis, said: “There are real challenges facing dentistry, both pre-Covid and in the wake of the pandemic, not just in Cornwall but across the whole country.
“A collaborative approach has to be the way forward, not least to share best practice and experience, and we’re therefore thrilled to have attracted a clinician of Mick’s calibre to support our work and join the Board of Smile Together. I have no doubt this will see us delivering an even higher standard of patient care alongside innovative policy and service improvement on behalf of our patients, our commissioners and our community.”
Dr Allen added: “I have a life-long affinity with Cornwall which shares similar challenges as South Wales – not least a post-industrial mining landscape resulting in areas of deprivation and poor general and oral health. I’ve seen first-hand the positive impact on children’s oral health through the All Wales ‘Design to Smile’ programme and, alongside my work with the Smile Together dental teams and delivery of patient care, I’m thrilled to be able to support the Brighter Smiles oral health education programme here in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.”
