About Tracey

Tracey qualified as a Dental Hygienist from the University Dental Hospital, Cardiff in 1992 and returned in 2008. She obtained a Certificate in Education and has worked as a Tutor at UCL Eastman Dental Hospital and with Cardiff University. Predominantly she has had a rewarding vocation in Special Care Dentistry, starting at a specialist A.I.D.S centre in London and at The Royal Hospital for Neuro disability, Putney, where she supervised student Dental Hygienists for outreach placement. She gained experience in Oncology at The Royal Marsden Hospital, Fulham and contributed to RCS National guidelines for Oral care. She has worked for the charity Marie Curie, End of life care and, in addition, continues to work in primary GDP and secondary care with Specialist Periodontists. Building on her experience, Tracey has created a training program and oral care assessment tool (CCORA) that may assist in the prevention of Ventilator Associated Pneumonia during critical illness.

She is grateful to the many Dentists and Dental Nurses who have valued her contribution within their teams. Her supervisors for the QI project in Critical Care are Prof Matt Wise, Consultant UHW, and Prof Mike Lewis, Emeritus Professor, Cardiff University. Their work has been supported from an Award from The Oral and Dental Research Trust.

About Joyce

Joyce worked in special needs education before she started as a dental hygienist. She met her husband, who was a dentist, and that gave her some insight into how a dental practice works. She took on more and more management tasks until she heard about the dental hygiene program. She took the plunge and graduated three years later. She combined this with caring for a newborn baby, so it was a challenge.

She graduated with the first batch of dental hygienists. That was quite a special feeling. They were all pioneers in their profession and the field was not yet adapted to their arrival. Out of necessity, they founded their professional association together with a few students from Ghent and Leuven. They did this because they felt it was important to represent the interests of their professional group. They felt it was necessary not to be represented by a dental association. They wanted to be able to organize their own continuing education courses specifically aimed at dental hygienists. This is how BBM – Belgian Professional Association for Dental Hygienists – came into their life. Joyce is a board member since 2019.

They moved their clinical practice from a two-chair practice to a larger group practice with six chairs, where various dental hygienists and dentists work together. During all the clinical work, Joyce felt the call to teach again. She wanted to see how she could combine her clinical work with teaching. So she started working for UCLL as a clinical internship supervisor at UZ Leuven.

She found this work extremely rewarding and enjoyed helping students to develop. Over the years, she also became an internship coordinator and lecturer, teaching students about all the legal regulations governing their profession. This tied in very closely with her duties at the professional association, where she mainly performed political and policy-related tasks.

At the beginning of this academic year, Joyce became the program director for their bachelor's program in Dental Hygiene. What she thought was fantastic was having a dental professional at the head of the program. It gives her a lot of energy and she is ready to further develop their wonderful profession, train students, and continue to strive at the political level for a better climate, with more focus on prevention and valuable integration of dental hygienists within the dental field, as well as better cooperation with other (healthcare) professions.

About Anouk

Anouk graduated as a dental hygienist from the HAN University of Applied Sciences in 2020. After graduation, she began working in a practice specialized in periodontology and implantology, where her interest and expertise in this field continued to grow. Alongside her clinical work, she pursued a Master’s degree in Clinical Health Sciences at Utrecht University, which she completed in 2023. During her studies, she developed a passion for education and subsequently started working as a lecturer in Dental Hygiene at the HAN University of Applied Sciences. Currently, Anouk combines her roles as a lecturer and dental hygienist with a PhD trajectory within the Periodontology section at the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA). Her research focuses on clinical questions about products and procedures for the non-surgical treatment of periodontitis.

About Peggy

Dr. Peggy van Spreuwel is a dental hygienist and postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. She obtained her PhD in Dental Public Health from the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA) with research that introduced a new approach to early prevention by integrating dental hygienists within public child health services. Her work demonstrates how practice-based research can drive innovation and policy change to make preventive oral healthcare accessible from the eruption of the first tooth. Her research focuses on promoting equity in oral health, data-driven decision-making, and (inter)professional collaboration during the early years of life. By connecting research, policy, practice, and education, she contributes to a caries-free generation, with dental hygienists playing a key role in preventive care.

About Emily

Emily Gumina is a dental hygienist passionate about happy, healthy smiles. Her dental journey began in 1995 as a dental assistant in Canada before she went on to complete her studies at the University of Manitoba. During her studies, she took part in a humanitarian dental project in Bolivia, where she and her colleagues provided much needed dental care to underserved communities, an experience that deeply shaped her values and the way she cares for her patients.

Emily moved from Canada to Switzerland in 2003, working first in several areas of German-speaking Switzerland. In 2012, she found her home in beautiful Ticino, the Italian-speaking part of the country, where she instantly fell in love with the culture, the people, and the sunshine.

In 2021, thanks to the new law recognizing the autonomy of dental hygienists, she proudly opened her own independent practice in Magadino, her dream come true.

Beyond her practice, Emily has served on the Global Dental Hygiene Advisory Committee for Oral-B and is currently working in Professional Oral Health for GABA Switzerland. Just recently she began her second term as Vice President of the Ticino section of Swiss Dental Hygienists, an honour that allows her to continue supporting and promoting the profession with pride and passion.

For Emily, dental hygiene is more than a profession, it’s about kindness, connection, and helping every patient feel truly cared for and confident in their smile.

About Emma

Emma has worked in Dentistry for nearly 30 years, firstly as a Dental Nurse, then went on to graduate from the University of Sheffield in 2001 with a Diploma in Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy. Emma obtained a BSc in Dental Studies for dental care professionals from the University of Central Lancashire in 2015. Emma began her career in academia in 2004, which saw her return to the University of Sheffield as a clinical tutor on the Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy programme. Emma became the Programme Director for Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy in 2010 and has other responsibilities, such as admissions tutor and deputy director for education at the School of Clinical Dentistry. In January 2025, Emma was promoted to Professor in Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy, making Emma the first Professor in this field in the UK. In addition, Emma has undertaken a number of roles with the British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy (BSDHT), one of which has been the Tutor representative for the last 11 years.