Even on a normal day, the day to day pressures of working in practice can be challenging enough. Busy schedules, complex cases and challenging patients can all add up to a testing environment. If we factor in that we are all trying to find out what ‘normal ‘now looks like, then the challenge can seem even greater. It takes a special kind of person to attempt a transformation of how we deliver dental hygiene care to patients during such times – but that is just what Fiona Perry has taken on with her new initiative ‘Flying Smiles’.

Fiona works in a rural setting, and after over 30 year of practice, many of her patients were fast approaching their more senior years. As Fiona was treating them, she would regularly joke that there would be no-one to care for their teeth if they couldn’t trek from their homes in the distant countryside to attend her clinics. Although spoken in jest, an idea was planted in her head, which was later to fully blossom into the Flying Smiles initiative.

As well as being in practice as a Hygienist, Fiona was at the time Secretary of the Scottish Regional BSDHT group (she is now Acting Chair). She organised a lecture given by Dementia Scotland, and the group were  moved by the video (produced for Health England). Soon after The Scotland Oral Health Improvement Plan  gave the written evidence that change was needed.

Obviously, such extensive changes can’t happen overnight, especially with someone like Fiona who puts patient care at the heart of everything she does. It took over a year of meticulous planning and close collaboration with HIS (the Scottish version of the CQC) before Flying Smiles was ready to launch in March 2020 – and Scotland had it’s first 100% domiciliary Dental Hygiene service.

The appeal of Flying Smiles is clear for patients where travel to the practice is difficult - dental hygiene at home, no public transport, no public waiting rooms or long waits between appointments. As the patients are treated in situ, and with Fiona’s rigorous cleaning and sanitation between clients, risks of cross infection are greatly reduced.  Regular contact can be an issue where significant distances are involved, so Fiona has also introduced online oral hygiene instruction for patients, so they can get the best information, advice and guidance from the comfort of their own home.

Fiona’s initial ambitions for Flying Smiles were simple, but admirable:

• To help dentistry become more sustainable
• To share her experiences and assist other hygienists to work independently.
• To have HIS (CQC) review their charges and expectations (such as carrying full emergency kit) for independent Dental Hygienists.

If you would like more information, follow Fiona on Flying Smiles Facebook or find out more on flyingsmiles website.