Ben Atkins

13/10/2026

Mouth Cancer Action Month is just around the corner.

This is a campaign that has always been incredibly important to me and to everyone at the Oral Health Foundation.

Like with so many things in healthcare, we cannot always stop horrible things from happening.

But we can make sure we have the right processes in place when they do.
That means making sure patients know what to look out for, that dental teams are confident having those conversations, that suspicious changes are picked up early, and that there are clear pathways in place for referral and support.

Early detection is crucial, but so is everything that sits around it.

The Oral Health Foundation has put together its 2026 Mouth Cancer Action Month campaign pack to help practices raise awareness, start conversations and encourage self-examination throughout November.

Sometimes something as simple as a poster in the waiting room, a leaflet or a quick conversation can prompt somebody to act on something they may otherwise have ignored.

If you work in dentistry, please get involved if you can.

You can find the 2026 campaign resources here:
https://buff.ly/WRTLR5R

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Make a bigger impact this Mouth Cancer Action Month and save 20%. This November for Mouth Cancer Action Month, our Campaign Pack brings together

09/10/2026

Some more footage from the Prevolution Health fireside chat at last year's The Dentistry Show London, with Professor Tim Newton and Professor Iain Chapple.

This is such a good real-world example of what skill mix can look like.

Iain talks about a national study aiming to test 10,000 patients for diabetes. In just five months, around 1,800 patients had already been tested, with the majority of that work being delivered by dental nurses, supported by hygiene teams.

Dental nurses have the skills to deliver meaningful preventive and screening interventions. Patients trust them, they are good at it, and when we properly embrace the whole dental team, we can deliver care far more effectively.

But Iain also makes the crucial point: if we want prevention to work at scale, it has to be properly supported and funded.

Otherwise, we end up training teams to work preventively, while the system around them continues to reward activity and procedures rather than health and wellbeing.

That is the tension we need to solve.

If we are serious about prevention, access and making better use of the whole dental team, skill mix has to be part of the answer, but the funding model has to enable it.

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07/10/2026

LinkedIn has kindly reminded me that I’ve now completed 13 years with the Oral Health Foundation.

Although that only tells half the story… I was bothering them long before that. 😁

I joined the Board of Trustees in 2013, but my relationship with the Foundation goes back much further. Digging out some of these old Smile Week photos and articles from the early 2000s was quite a reminder.

Less grey hair. Same obsession with prevention.

Over the years there have been school visits, National Smile Month campaigns, media interviews, board meetings, public health work and more conversations about teeth than I could ever count.

And I’ve loved it.

One of the biggest things the Foundation has given me is the opportunity to keep learning. To meet some brilliant people, hear different perspectives and, most importantly, keep finding better ways of communicating oral health to the public.

A huge part of that journey was alongside Dr Nigel Carter. His leadership and commitment to improving oral health shaped the Foundation for so many years, and he is hugely missed.

The reason I still believe so strongly in the Oral Health Foundation is pretty simple.
Good oral health information needs to reach beyond the dental practice.

Campaigns such as National Smile Month and the upcoming Mouth Cancer Action Month take important messages and put them in front of millions of people in a way that is practical, understandable and useful.

I’ve been incredibly lucky to represent the Foundation across TV, radio, schools, events and plenty of other places over the years.

13 years as a trustee.

Quite a few more years hanging around before that.

And still very proud to be involved.

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01/10/2026

Some more Iceland photos have landed! And they're epic!

So awesome to go through these now it’s been a little while since I got back.

The scenery was unreal, the people were brilliant and the whole experience was something I feel incredibly lucky to have done.

And yes… oral hygiene standards were maintained throughout thanks to my Philips Sonicare 😁🪥

Massive thanks again to Rat Race Adventures for putting on such a great event.

And a big shoutout to Leo Francis for these brilliant photos.

Already thinking about what might be next…

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26/09/2026

Last year at the The Dentistry Show London, I had the privilege of hosting a fireside chat with Professor Iain Chapple and Professor Tim Newton through my role as Clinical Director at Prevolution Health.

We covered lots of different aspects of managing high-risk patients, but one point Tim made has really stuck with me.

Giving people information does not automatically change behaviour.

We can explain the risks, demonstrate the right techniques and give patients all the advice in the world.

And of course, education is hugely important. It is absolutely our responsibility as dental professionals.

But for many higher-risk patients, education alone may not be enough to drive meaningful change.

That is where we need to think more broadly about prevention.

Behaviour change support, professionally led interventions, adjunctive therapies and new technologies can all play a role in helping patients reduce their risk and manage their oral health more effectively.

The aim shouldn’t simply be to keep repeating the same message.

It should be to give patients the right support around them to make prevention easier and more achievable.

What do you think?

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22/09/2026

One of the simplest things we can do in dentistry is make it easier for patients to understand what we’re asking them to do.

We talk a lot about prevention, behaviour change and helping people look after their oral health at home.

But that only works if the information we give people is clear, simple and easy to come back to once they’ve left the surgery.

And we don’t always need to reinvent the wheel.

The Oral Health Foundation has a whole catalogue of patient information leaflets and resources covering common oral health topics that practices and dental professionals can use with their patients. These resources are something patients can take away and refer back to after leaving the dental chair.

For me, this is exactly what good patient communication should look like.

Explain it simply in the surgery.

Give people something clear to take away.

Reinforce the message again later.

It doesn’t need a huge new initiative, an expensive system or hours of extra work for the team.

Sometimes it is just about making better use of the resources that already exist.

If you work in practice, have a look through the catalogue and see whether there is anything useful for your patients:

https://buff.ly/zZP1clY

Small things like this can make prevention much easier to communicate consistently.

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18/09/2026

One thing I don’t think we talk about enough in dentistry is the importance of having people in your life who have absolutely nothing to do with dentistry.

I touched on this when I joined Dr Rana Al-Falaki and Dr Bhavin Patel on the NAIL IT Podcast.

Some of the people I’m closest to have completely different careers. When we’re together, dentistry barely gets mentioned.

And I think that’s incredibly valuable.

Dentistry can become all-consuming if we let it. Patients, practices, teams, regulation, targets, new ideas, the next project… there is always something else to think about.

So having people around you who don’t care about any of that can be a brilliant way of keeping some perspective.

People who know you as a friend, a parent, a partner or simply as you — rather than by your job title.

Those relationships keep us grounded. They remind us that our career can be a very important part of our lives without needing to become our entire identity.

In the clip I described my closest friends as being “good for my soul”, and I still think that sums it up pretty well.

For anyone working in a profession that can easily follow you home at the end of the day, I think protecting those relationships really matters.

Who are the people in your life who keep you grounded?

The full episode is available here - https://buff.ly/R45V6si

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15/09/2026

How healthy are the nation’s teeth?

Really enjoyed joining Mike Dilke on the Relaxback UK Show.

We covered quite a bit in 25 minutes - from NHS dental access and oral health inequalities, to fluoride, why people are keeping their teeth for longer, and the growing understanding of just how closely oral health is linked to the rest of the body.

Prevention is crucial.

For most of us, that starts with the basics: brushing properly twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste, cleaning between the teeth and reducing sugar.
But risk is different for everyone.

For patients at higher risk of disease, support from the dental team - including additional preventive advice, adjunctive products and appropriate preventive interventions or therapies - can make a real difference too.

The important thing is identifying that risk early and preventing disease wherever we can, rather than waiting until somebody is in pain.

Thanks Mike for having me on. A really enjoyable conversation.

Have a listen here 🎧
https://buff.ly/t0OWSuw

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11/09/2026

Really great to see the launch of the mydentist Foundation getting such fantastic coverage.

Backed by a £1 million commitment, the Foundation has been created to help tackle oral health inequalities, support underserved communities and create new opportunities for people to build careers within dentistry.

And one of the things I particularly love is seeing organisations working together to make that happen.

As part of its first major initiative, mydentist is partnering with Dentaid The Dental Charity, with £250,000 being committed towards a new mobile dental unit helping take care directly into communities.

Dentaid is an awesome organisation that has been doing incredible work for years, reaching people who can often struggle to access traditional dental services.

That kind of collaboration is exactly what we need more of.

Taking oral health beyond the walls of the dental practice. Meeting people where they are. Combining prevention, outreach and access in a practical way that can genuinely make a difference.

It’s brilliant to see progressive organisations investing in new ways of tackling oral health inequalities, and even better to see those plans starting to turn into action.

Very proud to support the Foundation as part of its Ambassador Board, and excited to see what comes next.

You can read more here:
https://buff.ly/yQw1IzI

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08/09/2026

One of the biggest challenges in dentistry is behaviour change.

We can explain the right brushing technique, show patients where they’re missing and give them all the advice in the world…

But most of the work still happens at home, when we’re not there.

That’s why I find some of the newer technology in home oral care interesting.

Dentistry recently covered the launch of the new Philips Sonicare brush, which uses on-device AI and real-time personalised guidance to help show where someone has missed, whether they’re using too much pressure and how complete their clean has been.

For me, that’s where the value is.

Not because AI replaces the dental professional, but because it can reinforce the advice we give and provide feedback at the exact moment somebody is brushing.

As I said in the piece, behaviour change is one of the biggest challenges in dentistry.

If technology can help make good technique easier to understand, support better habits and give people more confidence in managing their oral health at home, that can only be a positive thing.

I also like seeing useful technology gradually filter down through wider product ranges, rather than remaining something only available at the very top end.

Ultimately, the technology is just a tool.

The goal is still the same: helping people prevent disease and take more ownership of their oral health.

Great to contribute to the Dentistry piece alongside some brilliant colleagues.

You can read the article here:
https://buff.ly/bIvkSww

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Philips’ new AI toothbrush uses real-time personalised guidance to help patients improve their brushing technique.