Laura Cuschieri

T he Malta Association of Dental Students (MADS) is a non-profit student organisation aimed to represent dental students, promote oral health knowledge and awareness, as well as enriching community dentistry competence amongst dentistry students. This is achieved during several events organized and set up by its members. Events include the World Oral Health Day, Smoke-free Smile for Life and the US Embassy Health Festival.

One of the MADS aims is to embed certain values, when it comes to oral health, to the younger generation, and educate them with the most entertaining and interactive ways possible. This is achieved during several school visits in which games and other activities related to dentistry are set up with a view to aid the comprehension of the concept of oral health and hygiene. Prevention is better than cure, hence MADS strives to create a bridge between health care professionals and the public, along the idea of a well maintained healthy lifestyle. In fact, MADS had collaborated with MMSA during several health awareness events for that particular collective aim. This includes the World Diabetes Day and MMSA Health Fest which were a huge success. Another important annual event is Science and the City, in which MADS sets up a stand with several interesting and appealing demonstrations and games.

MADS doesn’t focus only on local knowledge, as it is an active member of EDSA (European Dental Student Association) and IADS (International Association for Dental Students). Annually, members of the organization attend a conference in which Malta and MADS are promoted along with the organisation’s work. MADS also started organizing an educational summer camp, which was held for the first time in September 2014. Students from several European universities attended the weeklong event and provided good feedback, so much so that MADS is collaborating once again with EDSA to set up the Malta EDSA Summer Camp 2015 this September. MADS continues to strengthen its collaboration with other local student organisations to help promote its message amongst a wider spectrum of people.