Dental Deans and academics from four leading universities came together on 18 October to celebrate the DentAlliance’s activities to date and vision for the future, marking the second anniversary of this global partnership.

To an international audience, the DentAlliance Online Symposium demonstrated the progress made in the partnership’s mission to making a difference in the fields of oral, dental, and craniofacial health that especially addresses the needs of underserved and vulnerable populations. Participants in the symposium learned more about the four active workstreams: Education, Research & Innovation, Addressing Global Inequalities, and Continuing Professional Development.

The symposium outlined how participants could engage in upcoming projects and activities. Also presenting was a representative from Hu Freidy Group, a global leader in instrumentation, who talked about the synergy between the two organisations and discussed the exciting possibilities the industry partnership with DentAlliance brings.

Established in 2020, the DentAlliance is a global strategic partnership between the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences at King’s College London, the Adams School of Dentistry at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Melbourne Dental School at The University of Melbourne, and National University of Singapore Faculty of Dentistry.

These partners work collaboratively to inspire, educate and train tomorrow’s professional leaders, researchers and practitioners. The partnership seeks to transform education delivery and curriculum development, and address major research challenges in oral and craniofacial health sciences on a global stage.

Innovative practices that have the potential to impact institutions, the profession, and global health that could not be pursued effectively by one institution alone are collectively pursued by the DentAlliance partners. This was echoed in NUS Faculty of Dentistry Acting Dean Professor Wong Mun Loke’s closing symposium address, as he underlined how ‘the power of collaboration, as exhibited through DentAlliance, cannot be underestimated and this network which we are all a part of will allow us to tap on the various areas of excellence that we each possess and transform these into meaningful partnerships that will make a difference in dentistry.’

A video of the event can be found here, and more details on DentAlliance’s activities can be found on their website.