Press Releases
NOW Let's Cook - 1st February 2012
BOS launches ‘brace-friendly’ recipe booklet featuring nutritional guidanceOne of the activities of the 2011 National Orthodontic Week campaign was a recipe competition which encouraged people to submit their favourite brace friendly recipes. Now a collection of recipes has been compiled into a booklet featuring twenty six of the winning dishes.
Every recipe has been analysed by Juliet Reeves, who is Clinical Director of Perio-Nutrition, which offers nutritional advice specifically tailored for dental patients. Juliette is an expanded-duties dental hygienist and trained nutritionist with over thirty year’s experience. She qualified from Birmingham Dental Hospital in 1981 and studied nutrition with Patrick Holford and Kate Neil at The Institute for Optimum Nutrition, gaining qualifications in Optimum Nutrition Education with further study in Nutritional Biochemistry. Download the entire release here ...
NOW that’s what I call an encore - 1st December 2010
The British Orthodontic Society’s second National Orthodontic Week was between 22 and 28 February 2011 and the launch took place on the first evening of the campaign at the V & A Museum of Childhood *. This was followed by a week long event at the Museum during half term, when the gallery was visited by over 2,000 people a day. During the week members of the public were able to ‘Meet an Orthodontist’ and find out more about orthodontic treatment.
The focus for NOW 2011 was young people and during the campaign the BOS aimed to highlight the problems of dealing with protruding teeth. Two young winners of its annual Against the Odds, who both had to overcome seemingly insurmountable problems related to their protruding teeth, were acting as figure heads for the campaign and their success stories inspired others to seek help.
A short NOW film was produced which featured interviews with these young orthodontic patients, and other young people who have had their lives changed by orthodontic treatment, and also featured interviews with orthodontists who explained the issues and benefits of orthodontic treatment.
To graphically illustrate the problems of protruding teeth the BOS had commissioned the building of two life-size Lego heads showing mouths ‘before’ and ‘after’ orthodontic treatment, and these were unveiled at the launch and were on display at the Museum of Childhood during NOW. A competition was held during the event to encourage visitors to guess the number of Lego bricks it took to build both faces.
A survey was conducted by YouGov which canvassed the public about their attitudes towards protruding teeth and produced some interesting statistics, which was released at the launch event. In addition a series of national and local radio and press interviews was carried out at the launch of the campaign and these provided journalists with the news angle on which to base their articles.
The NOW website – www.nowsmile.org - was refreshed and a range of new initiatives were developed to encourage an even greater number of visitors. A range of 20 NOW branded products was produced which featured the NOW logo and these were available for dental professionals to order on line to give to their patients. A percentage of the profits from sales of these items was donated to the BOS Foundation which funds research into future orthodontic treatment.
The site also features a free NOW poster/flyer which can be downloaded from the website along with free downloadable press releases, patient information leaflets and logos for use in their own local campaigns. There are also sections designed to give dental professionals ideas for running their own NOW initiative with illustrations of successful campaigns which were conducted in 2010 including a number of inventive charity events; one practice for example, installed a static exercise bike and during NOW week practice members cycled the distance from Lands End to John O’Groats. Other creative ideas included handing out NOW branded water bottles at railway stations, displays at shopping centres, a patient art competition and exhibition, and a wide variety of fancy dress events, all of which were designed to engage with, and educate the public about the benefits of orthodontic treatment.
Competition lovers were drawn to the recipe challenge on the site which was designed to encourage people to come up with delicious brace friendly dishes. The best selection was featured as downloadable fact sheets on the NOW website and was intended that these formed the basis for a brace-friendly recipe leaflet available on this site.
For patients the NOW website features a Find Orthodontic Treatment section which links them to the main BOS site and allows anyone interested to find the contact details of their nearest orthodontists.
For more information about how you can participate in the 2011 National Orthodontic Week visit www.nowsmile.org.
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* The NOW launch is by invitation only and a ballot is currently being conducted to allow BOS members interested in attending the V & A Museum of Childhood on the evening of 22 February to enter their details
Issued on behalf of the BOS by Positive Communications. For press invitations to the launch, interviews, more information and images please contact:
Tracy Posner on 020 8566 8811 tracyposner@postivecomm.com or
Catherine Domanski on 07738 287764 catherine.domanski@positivecomm.com or
Ann Wright on 020 7353 8680 ann.wright@bos.org.uk
