Trishala Lakhani, 24, a final year dental student at King’s College London, will be one of 40 women taking part in the 2020 Great Britain pageant in South Wales this July.

Along with her sisters Karishma and Rushali, she sourced unused PPE items from currently closed dental practices and raised £500 to purchase further equipment from distributors. After witnessing the surge in care home deaths, and after extensive research involving contacting local care homes, it became apparent that supplies were being rapidly depleted.

“Every single key worker - from NHS staff to council workers to supermarket staff, have been incredibly brave by risking their lives to facilitate the safety and wellbeing of the public. Hence, I felt by raising money and distributing PPE - this was truly the least I could do.”

In her final year of studying dentistry at King’s College London, Trishala has found it tough and challenging to continue her studies during the lockdown. But the support from King’s has helped her and her classmates continue the best they can. We have several online tutorials a week, ranging from primary dental care scenarios to orthodontic and paediatric tutorials.”

“The faculty has made every single effort to ensure we are still receiving the same standard of teaching as if we were on clinics.”

“None of us would have predicted that our final year would have taken this obscure turn, but the King’s College London Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences really have lived up to their renowned reputation and standards by implementing the best teaching for us, aiding our revision for our final year exams.”

The £500 raised will go towards PPE for key workers of all types, including supermarket staff, emergency services, council workers and TFL staff. Trishala is looking forward to the Miss Universe Great Britain pageant in July and hopes it will still go ahead as planned.