Philips

Philips launches e-commerce platform for dental professionals

Philips announced it will be moving its online store for Dental Professional customers to a new in-house e-commerce platform. The company hopes the convenient access to its portal will help practices manage, optimise and grow their business.

Thanks to this new business to business platform, customers will be able to navigate through their Philips account and look at details from purchase right the way through every stage to post purchase.  They will also be able to benefit from exclusive promotions and access to marketing materials, but also gain from a more streamlined approach with order management tools, returns management, account management and invoicing, all available through the portal.

Customers will also be able to take advantage of a number of additional features including real time availability, fast ordering, and commonly ordered items which can be placed directly into their shopping cart, or they repeat a previous order.

Beside the personalised customer dashboard which will help practices review stock availability, track recent orders, download marketing content and view their financial information, a dedicated customer support hotline will remain available to help with any questions customers might have, either by phone or via a web form.

Account data will migrate to the new platform without customers having to do anything, for their convenience and ease.

Philips Oral Healthcare introduces new Sonicare in-practice trial kit

Philips Oral Healthcare is constantly innovating to evolve its oral care solutions to make its Sonicare range more accessible to a wider range of patients, and its stated ambition is that one in ten consumers’ daily routine is elevated by a Philips Sonicare toothbrush.

Whether at the start of an improved oral hygiene journey or looking for ways to upgrade from a manual approach, professional recommendation is a significant trigger for millions of dental patients. However, professionals need the right tools to be able to offer their patients a proactive as opposed to a reactive approach to transitioning to a powered brush.  To help with this goal Philips has introduced an in-practice Sonicare trial unit which allows patients to experience the unique sonic toothbrush feeling, risk free, as part of their appointment and take away a free brush head.

The new in-practice trial kit includes everything dental professionals need to help patients experience a new level of clean, coach them and address possible concerns they may have – and all this without the pressure of the patient having to make a purchase there and then.

The Sonicare starter kit which contains one ProtectiveClean 4700 power handle, 60 premium brush heads (30x plaque and 30x gum), 60 handle sleeves, 60 brush head bags, and 1 charger base, along with disinfection advice. This provides dental professionals with a tool to allow them to initiate a proactive conversation about manual-to-power toothbrush conversion.

The Sonicare ProtectiveClean toothbrush features all the core elements which make the Sonicare brush so effective – but one of its primary attractions is its variable intensity settings which makes it so appealing for patients transitioning from a manual toothbrush. This allows dental professionals to show patients how to tune it up or down as they get used to the sonic sensation and to customise their brushing experience.  The slim handle design is also lightweight and easy to manoeuvre for patients who may only have used a manual brush. All Philips Sonicare brush heads are also recyclable through the company’s Terracycle scheme.

To find out more about the in practice trial kit and to sign up, please contact dental.sales.support@philips.com

Philips and Dentex join forces to upskill and empower Dental Hygienists and Therapists

Philips and Dentex have embarked on an initiative to help upskill the Dental Hygienists and Therapists who work for the 85 dental practices within the Dentex Group – the co-ownership dental group which has a reputation for increasing practice turnovers. 

Dr Rahul Doshi explains: “I joined Dentex in 2017 and my practice was one of the first acquisitions. I have since become Clinical Director for the group, focusing on mentoring and training for all clinical staff. We have quickly grown to 85 member practices, with a goal of adding to this to reach 100 by the end of the year. I was attracted by the partnership business model Dentex offers, because it meant that nobody would try to unnecessarily alter the way I was running my practice. As Principal dentists, after years of fine tuning our practices we naturally like it that way, so any organisation which wanted to come in and make changes, or curb my hard-won independence would not be of any interest to me. Many of my peers appear to feel the same way, as the growing numbers signing up to join Dentex attest.

Dentex offers practice owners support whilst respecting clinical freedom. That means that you can still choose the dental materials, dental laboratories and equipment you wish to use, you can retain your own branding and style of dentistry you enjoy, as well as the way you have set up all your appointments. That is not the purpose of the organisation.  Affiliating one’s practice with Dentex is all about achieving significant growth. The organisation supports practices with the elements which may be harder to master, such as marketing, compliance, operations and legal issues. This allows owners to relinquish some of the more onerous burdens of practising such as compliance, regulations and administration, freeing them up to focus on their clinical work and expanding their skillsets, whether that is to develop a network of practices, or spend more time with patients focusing on clinical work. We have had dentists who considered retiring and who are still running their practices because Dentex has considerably helped shift the scales in their work life balance.

During the pandemic, Dentex also offered additional guidance and support to members by providing education and ways to upskill with a series of webinars and resources to help our practices resume working faster and more effectively. However, there have been downsides to the pandemic for our practices too and there is a feeling that many Hygienists and Therapists may have been left behind in all this. So we wanted to help all team members to have similarly attractive opportunities to feel supported and to grow. To facilitate this, we are working with Philips Oral Healthcare on initiatives to help practices’ team members to expand their horizons and enhance their skills. Dentex doesn’t tell practice owners how they should run their teams, however the organisation is there to support and help with their practice growth.

We want to ignite the passion in all clinicians and team members equally by delivering quality education, mentoring and training, and as part of this we are partnering Philips to help us with this initiative. Philips is aligned to the values Dentex has of delivering excellence in education and shares our ethos of integrity, ethics, passion and collaboration, and that’s an exciting collaboration”.

Professional Marketing Manager for Philips Mel Pomphrett explains that “This project will mean that all the Dentex practices’ can avail themselves of Philips professional educators’ training for their Hygienists and Therapists to undertake Zoom chairside and home tooth whitening treatments. This will give them the requisite clinical proficiency, product knowledge and even the language to use, to ensure they have the confidence to treat and a fulfilling new set of skills to add to their scope of practice.”

Dr Doshi concludes: “Clinical staff who have greater access to training and development, often find new avenues to pursue, or that the path to special interest becomes clearer. Likewise support staff find their roles enhanced giving them greater responsibilities and allow them to grow into wider, more fulfilling jobs.

Dentex is proud to have had really positive results where practice turnovers are concerned and we are looking forward to continuing in that direction supporting more practice owners and their teams as a result of this initiative and others we are currently planning.”

For more information about Dentex, visit https://www.dentexhealth.co.uk/

For more information about Philips Zoom Whitening visit https://www.philips.co.uk/c-m-pe/dental-professionals

Philips announces partnership and support for Dental Partner’s new Training Academy

Dental Partners is an organisation of 63 high quality NHS/private practices across England. The organisation has successfully masterminded a consistent upward growth curve since 2017, having put together a strong and sustainable acquisition programme which is continuing.  

The organisation recently launched its own Training Academy to support its teams in meeting the core requirements of both the GDC and regulators, in addition to providing opportunities for the upskilling of all the members in their practice teams, further enhancing the quality of services the organisation is able to provide.  The Training Academy also seeks to ensure all members of its teams are conversant with the direction of the organisation and are aligned with agreed objectives in terms of development, clinical and operational standards and high quality patient care.

Health technology company Philips has been announced as one of two sponsors of the new Dental Partners Academy along with GSK. Philips will be providing Dental Partners with access to expert trainers and education in establishing both clinical and management excellence as well as product training in areas of its own expertise with particular reference to managing periodontal health and cosmetic procedures (tooth whitening).

In making the announcement Mel Pomphrett, Professional Marketing Manager for Philips, commented: “The working partnership we have just announced with Dental Partners is designed to be mutualistic – we much admire its ‘best place to work’ ethos, which echoes Philips’ – and want to foster that by helping the organisation to grow its Academy and imbue its culture of perpetual learning, growth and development right across the organisation.”

Ravi Rattan

Ravi Rattan, National Clinical Director at Dental Partners, explains more about the organisation, the new Training Academy and the valuable support Philips brings to the new initiative: “Shortly after joining Dental Partners, it was evident that the organisation had a very strong ethos towards training and education within its core values of ‘Best Place to Work.’ It also became apparent that there was a further thirst among all members of our committed dental teams for additional learning and education. This was the catalyst that led to the development of our Training Academy. The Academy provides a robust and sustainable platform to support our practice teams from upskilling our clinicians to enhancing the existing skills of wider practice team in practice based administration, management and customer care hence enhancing the patient experience.  

“The model of training, whilst currently limited by the Covid 19 restrictions, will shortly be based on a blended approach utilising digital interactions, web based learning coupled with face to face and hands on training. We are currently developing internal certificate programmes to support additional development of our teams within their scope of practice. This will ensure we are well positioned to react to hanging patient needs, demands and equally changes in the expectations and delivery of dental services both within the NHS and for our private patients.

“Our goal is that any joining practice, as well as all 62 existing ones, can fully benefit from the added value of our own Academy. Dental Partners will continually be adding more courses and offerings, so we are exploring the introduction of implant and orthodontic specialist groups and bringing focused training for them. I hope that these clear educational pathways and internal support will add considerably to the efficacy of our treatment offerings and the developmental growth of every team member.”

“At Dental Partners, we pride ourselves on ‘best place to work’ and there are various pillars associated with that. There is natural synergy between “Best place to work” and ‘Best place to learn’ and we have a vast internal knowledge and skills we can draw on, as well as an established and growing network. However, we feel that partnering with other organisations which can give us access to further external expertise and resources, adds a valuable dimension to what we are developing.  We have been actively involved with Ivoclar, Biohorizons and Invisalign, which have all worked with us on a number of initiatives.

“We feel particularly fortunate to have now formally connected with Philips to support the Academy and are privileged to be able to access their vast resources.  Having approached several organisations to explore the potential of partnership it was important to understand their ethos around education, learning and development and Philips appeared completely aligned with our culture of developmental opportunities and clinical excellence.  They appeared the most proactive company from the onset and we see them supporting the Academy with educational development programmes, speakers and materials for all members of the team – with an element of product promotion when it is aligned with our agreed educational requirements.

“The upskilling of the clinicians and of the wider team is now an integral part of the dental world and continually enhancing the patient journey and experience is very much part of today’s world. It was particularly appealing to us that Philips was keen to co-develop educational and practice management courses to address these aspects with us and recognised the same goals that we were aiming to achieve.

“Today’s practice teams needs to move away from “one size fits all” in terms of patient care. We have to recognise and adapt to the varying and changing requirements of patients and work differently in meeting the needs of different generations both in terms of clinical care and service provision.   

“We are looking at providing education and training, making our courses more engaging, and provide an exciting framework for growth – personal and organisational. Dental Partners and Philips are fully committed to making this difference whenever possible and for the long term.”  

Whilst Emma Haywood, Head of Compliance at Dental Partners, who is supporting the operational side of the Academy said: “Not only will our Training Academy help all our practice team meet their core GDC regulatory and statutory requirements for verifiable CPD and external requirements, but provide a unique and welcomed opportunity for professional development and increasing their knowledge base within a quality assured arena”.

Additionally Neil Lloyd, CEO of Dental Partners, said: “We welcome the development of our Training Academy under the leadership of Ravi Rattan our National Clinical Director who has considerable experience in training and education having lectured and provided education in the UK and Europe. The Training Academy provides an invaluable platform for the further development of all members of our teams to promote practice development and organisational excellence culminating in high quality care for our patients.”

Mel Pomphrett of Philips concludes, “As the name suggests Dental Partners embraces the concept of collaboration, and Philips welcomes the alliance we have struck to further elevate standards within the profession and the quality and safety of treatments from which patients in the UK will undoubtedly benefit.”

For more information please visit https://www.philips.co.uk/c-m-pe/dental-professionals and  https://dentalpartners.co.uk/.

Philips launches new All-in-One brushhead

Philips newly launched premium, multi-facted brushhead is designed to brush away plaque, remove stains and care for gums in ways not possible with a manual toothbrush. The angled bristles of the All-in-One brushhead help remove up to 20 times more plaque1, whilst providing flex to compensate for any excess pressure exerted by the brusher. The triangular tips can remove up to 100 percent more stains in less than two days2 and the longer bristles provide a deep clean for gums, which as a result, ensures the gingiva is up to 15 times healthier.

This is Philips’ all-time best brushhead, which achieves its best clinical results. According to Dental Hygienist Anna Middleton who has had the opportunity to trial it ahead of the launch: “’The All-in-One is by far the best electric brushhead I have ever used. The unique bristle design provides an extremely gentle yet thorough clean. In fact, my teeth have never felt cleaner.”

Dr Alif Moosajee echoes her findings: “I’ve been using Sonicare for 18 years now. I first came across the brush as a dental student and the difference in the way my mouth felt after using it when compared which a manual toothbrush was something I can never forget. My mouth had never felt cleaner and I was so happy that I have never moved away from using a Sonicare.

“I didn’t realise I could experience that marked improvement again but since using the new All-in-One brushhead my mouth feels so much cleaner than it did before. I really feel that this represents the pinnacle in what we should be recommending for our patients – setting them up for success and having an optimal clean every day, not just every 6 months when they come to see us!”

All for one and one for all

The new All-in-One brushhead has been designed to provide complete care, helping Sonicare users to achieve cleaner, whiter teeth and healthier gums more effectively. Happily the brushhead fits every Sonicare toothbrush, so patients can upgrade their brushing efficiency without changing their brush.

A brushead dual pack is available for sale in dental practices for £9.99 and has a recommended retail price of £29.99 For more information please contact dental.sales.support@philips.com.

How mentoring has helped Dental Hygienist Anne Powders bring her toothbrushing and handwashing project in disadvantaged communities closer to reality

It was little Masiko who sat on the old wooden bench in the mud-walled classroom with her eyes fixed in a steady gaze as she watched me show the children how to brush. It was her tattered princess dress, her hair decorated with colourful beads, her curious soft eyes that instantly triggered that set of emotions I will never forget. It is that sense of achievement that you have made a difference to them which gives me desire to do more for the children every time, and when you leave, you excitedly plan that next trip because you know it will be so rewarding and so valuable.

My name is Anne Powders and I am a dental hygienist working in the UK. I grew up in India and my passion for the East is as strong as ever. I have volunteered and travelled with the charity Dentaid to encourage improved oral health in disadvantaged communities in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Morocco.

As a dental community, our work is so important, not only for the oral health promotion but for the general health and wellbeing of people. Three quarters of the world’s children suffer the pain of tooth decay and WHO recognises it as a pandemic. Oral diseases affect nearly 3.5 billion people and more than 530 million children suffer dental caries in primary dentition. We clearly have a lot to do.

I am excited to be involved in a new project for Uganda, a low-income sub-Saharan country with widespread poverty. The dentist to population ratio is 1: 158,000 – 39% of whom are based in the capital Kampala. Oral health services are considered a low priority and the population experience an uneven distribution in Uganda. Yet tooth decay and pain disrupts and restricts attendance at school, with a study showing that toothbrushing alone can reduce absenteeism by 27%.

At times I have felt completely overwhelmed by the extent of dental need in young children. There is so much pain, pain from the rampant caries and baby-bottle tooth decay. Chewing on sugar cane, pacified by the sweet sugar syrups and drinking Cola all contribute to the extensive carious lesions in so many young children’s mouths. Volunteering is exhilarating, challenging, overwhelming, desperate.

Teams of Dentaid volunteers give their time, energy and money to work hard in dental clinics in rural Uganda each year. The focus is on acute pain relief as well as on prevention and oral health education. They work with a small team of local dentists and health assistants to make this possible, and at the end of the challenging day move on to another desperate community.

What if we could design and help implement a dental health project that could be run and supported locally? What if we could create a project that was sustainable, that the local health workers could own as theirs? What if we could target young children in the primary schools and support them with daily toothbrushing and handwashing in a preventative way? I had so many ideas but was struggling as to how to implement them. Thankfully Victoria Wilson, hygienist and founder of the Smile Revolution platform and training courses, is helping me bring this Ugandan oral health promotion project to fruition, and I am grateful that Philips Oral Healthcare has sponsored this mentorship. I am delighted that they see the potential in me and in this vision.

Toowa in Uganda is where we are planning to run a pilot project for the preventive programme. It is an impoverished, rural, low income area, with a high proportion of women and children. We want to empower people to improve their oral health sustainably with daily toothbrushing and handwashing education courses at the core of a programme for improved dental health and wellbeing in Toowa primary school.

Victoria helped me channel all my energy and passion into the project, taught me how to organise and target support and sponsorship, and has given me the tools to make the project a successful venture, in the hope that it can be rolled out to other primary schools in the area at a later stage once the model has been proven.

With the support of Dentaid I am producing innovative content to support toothbrushing and handwashing skills which can be taught and implemented in developing countries as well as empowering teachers and children to improve their oral health and healthy living. It is at an early stage but I am convinced that we are heading the right direction.

I want to thank you Dentaid, Victoria Wilson and Philips for giving me the means to achieve this.

Philips launches at home recycling incentive

Following the introduction of its Dental Care Recycling Programme, Philips launches a new at home initiative

From now until the 30th of April, Philips and TerraCycle’s Dental Care Recycling Programme encourages patients to take charge of their own dental waste in order to help keep their community safe. Patients can head to the Philips online shop (https://www.philips.co.uk/shop/UK), complete the label request form, and TerraCycle will send them a free shipping label. Once they’ve safely packaged up their waste, they can arrange for UPS to come and pick up their package from their home address and take them to be recycled. As an encouragement to participate Philips is offering patients 10% off Philips Sonicare brush heads.

Items that can be recycled include: electric toothbrush heads and covers, electric flosser nozzles, flossing sticks, interdental brushes, and dental floss containers, from all brands. All waste collected as part of this programme will be shipped to the TerraCycle material recovery facility where it will be sorted and stored, ready to be recycled into new products.

To find out more about the programme and to sign up, please visit:

https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/philips-uk and https://www.philips.co.uk/a-w/about/dental-recycling-scheme.html

Philips hosts The Oral Health Promotion Incubator roundtable and three lectures at the BDIA Virtual Showcase

On Tuesday 23rd March, hygienist and founder of The Smile Revolution, Victoria Wilson will facilitate a roundtable debate at the BDIA Virtual Showcase highlighting the scope of an Oral Health Promotion Incubator. The objective of the participatory round table event is to stimulate a conversation about developing opportunities in oral health promotion, pushing delegates to think creatively and explore new and untapped scope within their roles as dental professionals. This roundtable discussion is aimed at every dental professional who wishes to have a greater impact on oral health improvements by coming up with new initiatives in the practice and the wider community.

During the roundtable discussion Victoria will focus on the current challenges within oral health promotion and engage with participants to explore opportunities to help overcome their existing challenges. As she commented: “I have observed many positive changes in the people who participate in the Smile Revolution courses I run, and the initiatives they develop have the scope to bring about real change, as well as enhancing their careers and the teams of which these dental professionals are part.”

She adds: “The key message I hope to convey is that there is huge scope to develop an imaginative approach to oral health promotion, and there are more opportunities than you might think for dental professionals to tap into. I will be concluding the roundtable with some practical tips to help delegate explore oral health promotional opportunities further – from making projects financially viable to making them sustainable for the long term.”

Victoria will be joined by Preetee Hylton, a graduate from one of Smile Revolutions’ Oral Health Incubator courses, along with Laura McClune from Philips Oral Healthcare. Philips has supported Victoria Wilson’s Smile Revolution courses throughout 2020 and into 2021 by providing sponsored places. It is just one of the of reinforcing its ongoing support to dental professionals and help drive leadership in dentistry through innovation in oral health promotion.

It is also sponsoring this event and encourages BDIA Showcase delegates to register fast for the roundtable as the session can only accept a maximum of 30 places.

Philips is also hosting three lectures during the BDIA Virtual Showcase. Delegates are invited to join Dr Alif Moosajee on Tuesday 23rd March as he explores the traits of being a good dentist and business owner. Dental Hygienist and serial oral health entrepreneur Megan Fairhall will be lecturing on Wednesday 24th on the theme of health and wellness as a precursor to the launch of her first podcast series on the same subject, which is also sponsored by Philips. Whilst on 26th March Melanie Pomphrett will be speaking about the ‘Zoom Boom’ and how the whole dental team can optimise tooth whitening in practice using the Zooom Whitening systems.

To register for the roundtable or any of the three lectures at the BDIA Showcase please visit https://ondemand.dentalshowcase.com.

Philips offers the chance to win a sponsored place on next Smile Revolution course

Victoria Wilson, Dental Therapist and creator of the Smile Revolution podcast series, is once again set to run her highly acclaimed 5-week programme entitled ‘Launch your own oral health promotional project/business’, starting on Monday 25th January.

In addition, Philips Oral Healthcare is offering one dental professional the chance to win a place on the course – worth £1,000 – as a way of reinforcing its ongoing support to Dental Professionals. To enter the competition, visit https://form.jotform.com/210077355323045.

“Staying true to my interests and aspirations as a dental professional is something that I can honestly say I have stuck to through and through,” Victoria comments. “At times it has not been easy, as I have carved an atypical career pathway, yet I continue to be true to everything that underpins me personally. In the 5 week course I deliver entitled ‘How to launch and oral health promotional project / business’, I share everything that has supported me as a professional in building my existing career pathway, for others to build additional career pathways in oral health promotion to. Philips are kindly fully funding a place on the next 5-week course starting on the 25th January.”

Some of the delegates from Victoria’s previous courses have shared their feedback to encourage their peers to sign up:

  • “Victoria seems to have this ability to unlock the door to personal and professional excellence. The course is well delivered and very interactive – she is a great mentor! I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience too.”
  • “I always look forward to the online sessions, and it is not just a matter of learning and absorbing information; I am excited to learn about the other delegates’ projects and enjoyed seeing their progress as well!”
  • “It was brilliant. Victoria makes me want to go out and achieve so much”.
  • “Informative, interactive, engaging”.

The winner of the Philips sponsored place when the course ran late last year was dental nurse Jo Dawson. Her story can be found here.

The course is designed to help dental professionals plan the launch of an oral health promotion venture.

Philips already understands that oral health promotion can take many forms and some clinicians wish to vary their working life outside of surgery. The company is therefore keen to be supporting Smile Revolution’s oral health promotion course in recognition of the way it will form a new and exciting part of a dental professional’s development.  Philips see this as a huge opportunity for dentists, hygienists and therapists to increase their skills, with the ultimate aim of improving the public’s oral health, by developing innovative outreach projects.  By becoming more versatile, and exploring and uncovering other opportunities the clinician has the potential of making an impact beyond the traditional clinical setting.

Victoria Wilson commented: “Philips has already supported us on numerous occasions. From the very beginning, the company has been so invested in dental professionals’ education and it is reassuring that decades later, the company is still providing an amazing level of support. I am so grateful that the company believes in my vision and can see the potential impact of this course for dental professionals. It is hugely encouraging.  Members of the Philips education team recently appeared on a podcast on Smile Revolution highlighting the need to develop transferrable skills and how important it is to seize as many opportunities as possible to be able to give yourself the flexibility of a different career pathway. They spoke of the trials and errors they may have to go through, and about confidence to get to the stage they have now reached, and this message is exactly what I am trying to convey in this course”.

What will I learn as a part of this course?

Over a 5-week period, delegates will be set specific tasks to work towards, and they will be asked to put together a viable sustainable business module drawing on the elements which they will have discussed throughout the course. At the end of the five weeks, they will have learnt how to create a business proposal and will be ready to launch their project. A mentoring element will also be added at the end of the 5 weeks, again as part of the Philips sponsorship package.

Delegates’ projects could be anything they wish it to be. There may be an opportunity to develop a project under the umbrella of the dental practice, with the dentist and practice owner collaborating, if they want to come on board.  Alternatively, it could be a scheme within their community using the clinic at the hub.  Or it could be a totally separate venture outside the clinical setting. The sky is the limit as to the number of opportunities to uncover, and maybe it is about unleashing the potential of delegates who may not have the confidence to take that leap of faith. The Smile Revolution course is designed to empower individuals and help them find new solutions to excel in existing areas and new ones.

Competition and prize

To enter the competition, visit https://form.jotform.com/210077355323045
 
 
Victoria is also running a Q&A Zoom session on Wednesday 20th at 7pm if you would like to find out more about the course. Register for the Zoom by completing your details here: https://dentalpathway.hubspotpagebuilder.com/smile-revolution-victoria-wilson

Philips launches Dental Care Recycling Programme; encourages dental professionals to establish a recycling point at their practice

Every year millions of dental care products end up in landfill and incineration across the UK. To help reduce this, Royal Philips and Terracycle have teamed up to pilot a Dental Care Recycling Programme. The national scheme aims to invite dental professionals to sign up, becoming a place that patients can dispose of their dental waste in an environmentally friendly way. Collecting and recycling these items through The Philips Dental Care Recycling Programme diverts waste from landfill and incineration whilst enabling dental practices to raise money for charitable organisations.

This scheme allows dental professionals the ability to help patients to dispose of waste in an environmentally friendly way, when registered patients next visit their practice. Items that can be recycled include: electric toothbrush heads and covers, electric flosser nozzles, flossing sticks, interdental brushes, and dental floss containers, from all brands. Dental practices can participate by setting up a free TerraCycle account and submitting a request to receive a recycling collection box. Patients can then drop off their used dental care items in the collection box when they next attend an appointment. When the collection box is full, the dental practice can log into their TerraCycle account and request a pre-paid shipping label to send back the collected used dental care products to be recycled. The programme offers 100 TerraCycle points for each kilogram of dental care products sent. However, the points will only be awarded if the parcel reaches the minimum weight of 2 kilograms. The points can be redeemed as financial donations to a charity or school of choice.

All waste collected as part of this programme will be shipped to the TerraCycle warehouse where it will be recycled into new products. This programme already has nearly 200 locations signed up to the scheme and Philips welcomes further dental practices to participate.

To find out more about the programme and to sign up, please visit:

https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/philips-uk

https://www.philips.co.uk/a-w/about/dental-recycling-scheme.html