SMILES ALL ROUND WITH DENTAL CARE EXTENSION

Fiona Davidson, the Practice Principal, has been the Official Dentist of Scottish Rugby for over a decade, delivering general and emergency dental care, as well as the provision of custom-made mouthguards.

Davidson and her team at SmilePlus have been an integral part of the match-day medical team for Edinburgh and Scotland since 2007, with today’s news confirming the partnership will extend to 2024.

The practice has also recently supported HITIQ Technology carrying out digital scans for its custom-made mouthguards which integrate impact sensors to assist in research looking at player training and matchday demands.

Reflecting on the partnership, Fiona Davidson said: “It’s a huge privilege to continue to work with a fantastic medical team, led by Dr James Robson, on match days and throughout the season.

“Currently I’m very much part of the medical team on match days and one of the four dentists who are trained to do ‘Scrumcaps’ which is Scottish Rugby’s level three World Rugby pitch side training for medics.”

Fiona has experienced an ever-expanding role throughout her time working with Scottish Rugby, given advances in both the sport and her own expertise: “We realised we weren’t just treating teeth, we could contribute much more.” she added.

SmilePlus has also played a continual role in educating and highlighting the importance of custom-fit mouthguards in the grassroots game. Fiona said: “We don’t see many dental injuries because they do wear mouthguards, it does seem to make an awful lot of difference to players getting trauma and damage to their mouths and their teeth.

“We’re continuously educating players at all levels, regarding the prevention of dental disease and prevention of dental injury. We’d much rather prevent than fix.

“And from that, these players have become role models for promoting good dental practices to the general public, in particular children. When children see players protecting their teeth on the pitch and going to the dentist regularly, they want to do the same.”

Fiona says she is privileged to work alongside some great colleagues in rugby, adding: “I would say we have probably one of the best medical set-ups in sport in the world. Dr James leads an incredible team and I’m in awe of the lot of them. It’s a privilege to play a part of that team and we are continually looking to see what else we can do to support the medical team as we continually look to do more.”

Dr James Robson said: “Along with my colleagues in the Scottish Rugby medical support team I know first-hand how committed Fiona is to supporting our teams, players and the sport more widely in Scotland.

“The experience SmilePlus has built up with Scottish Rugby has enabled us to provide important mouth and dental advice to our professional and international players and their recent involvement in the work with HITIQ demonstrates how important that work will continue to be in the future.”