Dental health expert Professor Cynthia Pine has been awarded a prestigious medal in recognition of her research to improve children’s dental health.
Professor Pine was announced as the winner of the 2018 EW Borrow Memorial Award at the International Association for Dental Research’s meeting in London.
Sponsored by the Borrow Foundation, the award recognises her outstanding contribution to preventing tooth decay in children. Her work has aimed to reduce health inequalities and she has worked with disadvantaged communities nationally and internationally.
Her epidemiological research in the measurement of tooth decay in children has informed national and international quality standards and has helped develop interventions designed to help parents make sure children look after their teeth properly.
Among the studies she’s led, the BrightSmiles trial involved more than 400 families with children aged 12 months of age and tested the effects on tooth decay of three treatments, while the Dental RECUR study looked whether we can reduce the re-occurrence of tooth decay in children who have already had a primary (baby) tooth taken out before the age of seven.
She was also Principal Investigator for the trial Bedtime Brush and Read Together To Sleep (BBaRTS) which used a unique storybook approach to support behaviour change.
Professor Pine is Professor of Dental Public Health at Queen Mary University of London, Academic Lead for Dental Public Health at the Institute of Dentistry, Honorary Consultant in Dental Public Health at Barts Health NHS Trust, Honorary Academic Consultant in Dental Public Health for Public Health England, and Consultant in Dental Public Health at Salford Royal. She was the first woman to be appointed Dean of a dental school and was made a CBE in 2006.