On a hot summers Saturday in late June, hundred compettitve, enthusiasitic and sporty dentists hovered around Whitechapel road and boarded on a coach to take them to Chislehursts sports ground.

On arrival, the sun beamed down on the pitch and the mercury on the thermometer climbed to 26⁰C.  Everyone got into their coloured team kits and began to warm up for the day’s events.

First up, was the girl’s football match. Team ‘Acid Etch’ (third year dentists) v the second years. Handshakes were exchanged and then the match began. Acid etch took an early lead in the first half and then the second years leveled late on in the game with the final score 1-1. Injuries however played a part with a bruised eye involved but all was played in good spirit and the girls mutually opted for no penalty shoot outs and therefore everyone was a winner.

Next up were the boy’s matches. Looks were exchanged, team spirit was high and there were a flurry of spectacular goals. Sultan’s team played the winners of the students in a thrilling finale, which could have gone either way, but with the latter getting the better of the staff and going home with the victory trophy.

After a breathtaking morning of play, the games were on hold for a five star barbecue created by the dentsoc team. Vaishali and Jason delivered mouth-watering burgers to all the hungry sports participants and spectators.

In the afternoon the men in white including Adele and Dr Friel battled it out on the cricket ground. Runs were scurried through, catches were held and the stumps were hit in a scintillating match with the highlight being Rahul’s catch and Divian’s match winning stroke play.

Alongside the competitive sports play, there were those who preferred  to  soak up the sun and get a tan, have a bounce on the bouncing castle or brush up on their rounder’s skills.

The climax of the day was with the leaving speech of Judith Walker, who will be greatly and deeply missed by us all. There was a cake in her honour and it was cut and shared amongst us.

This year’s sports day was a great success and had the highest attendance ever! We eagerly await the next one!!

Fehmida Merali

Bowling competition; yet another great event held by Barts and the London Dentsoc committee.

Londons Trocadero didn’t know what hit them when dental students from various years turned up full of team spirit and eager to don the very fetching bowling shoes.

After the first ‘warm-up’ game things became more serious with the competition heating up, tensions rising, pins flying everywhere.

Manual dexterity was completely lost while students transformed into lean mean bowling machines. Keen to lay their hands on the latest electric toothbrush from Oral B for the top scorer- but most importantly for the grandeur of laiming the title of Barts and the Londons bowling champion 2008. This went to Luke Thorley from lane2 who scored an impressive 136! Lane 2 were also the overall winners of the competition winning £70 and taking home the coveted champions trophy! Lane 1 were awarded ‘fun land’ vouchers for coming a close second. In a strange twist of events lane 3 also took home a surprise ‘unlucky’ trophy for coming last!

   

Even though the students are back in clinics, militant training for next years tournament has already commenced!

A big thank you to Oral B, DDU and Dental Protection who sponsored this fun-filled event!

Vaishali Patel

 

600 students, 13 Pubs and only one night; it could only be the Dental Beer Race. This year the streets of Whitechapel were once again stunned by the creativity of the fancy dress costumes produced by the students from Barts and the London. The fabulous array of costumes delved from hand made Transformer outfits to ‘Barbie’s in a box’. An amazing effort was made by all the students.

 

The DentSoc team provided each student with a list of pubs in the race. The race began at the student union Griffin Bar, and continued along Mile End Road until the students reached Wetherspoons, where a ‘U-turn’ was made in order to head back towards the Griffin Bar. Members from the society and volunteers were located at the bars to stamp and verify attendance. The bars and pubs involved were very welcoming and their humble nature was much appreciated. At each ‘stop’ the avid racers quenched their thirst; some for pleasure, others for the mighty crown of the winners of the Dental Beer Race. In the end it was a dead heat between the ‘Hooters’ and the ‘Tampons’.

 

An amazing 10m Viking Vessel was made by a group of students which ‘sailed’ gently along the usual ‘25’ bus route, providing an alternative transport route which may be considered by Boris Johnson in the near future! In this epic race the Cave women finally met the Flinestones, the Indian Policemen met the Convicts, and the Grooms finally met their Brides.

 

The spectacular costumes came in all shapes and sizes such as the monster Berries to the human shaped ‘Henry’ the vacuum cleaner, this is just to name a small number of fancy dress outfits. By the evening, the streets of Whitechapel had been transformed into a fanatical carnival atmosphere which continued into the early hours of the next morning. All the proceeds of the event which massed to a final of £2,200 was donated to RAG (Raise and Give to Charity).

 

This event was an ideal opportunity for the entire dental and medical school to relax, socialise and enjoy an event that represents the true ethos of Barts and the London: ‘Work hard, play hard’.

 

Vimal Patel

On Friday 11^th April the annual Dental Dinner was held at the Inner Temples, for the highly honoured gentry and ever so elegant ladies of Bart’s & The London Dental School. The evening began in full force with the arrival of the Dean, staff and of course students, however, not to be forgotten that it was preceded by the efforts of the DentSoc team, lead by Nikesh Patel as the President, who all kindly and whole heartedly spent a portion of their evening laying out hand written place cards and surprise chocolate parcels, compliments of the Dental Society, beside each placement.

A champagne reception allowed for polite mingling and precious photo moments while the dresses were still ruffled and the suits still crisp. It was a pleasant change from the somewhat bland and questionably unflattering white coats we were more often used to seeing each other in. The champagne reception was followed by entry into the grand hall. As a wonderful array of food was served, drinks flowed, speeches were delivered and a bittersweet but yet triumphant “5^th year most likely to…” awards were bestowed upon lucky victims! The staff  were most definitely not exempt from awards, as Professor Hector won best dressed male, Dr Patel as best non-clinical tutor and Dr Friel as best clinical tutor, just to name a few. I am sure all of whom will agree this was the highlight of their careers, adding to their accolade of awards and achievements. 

The tables were cleared aside and the evening was rounded off with music courtesy of a Dj allowing for many hidden talents to emerge! Well known fact that we have skilled hands, but evidently our feet were not that far off either! It was a memorable evening for all, whether it was the first time, or seeing off your 5^th annual Dental Dinner as part of a fond farewell to Bart’s & The London Dental School.

Mana Hendessi

Barts’ & The London Dental School held its first ever 5-aside Dental Football Tournament on 9th of April, with the participation of 12 teams. A large and loud crowd of spectators attended the event at the Mile End Leisure Park cheering for their chosen teams and enjoying the entertainment offered by the dentists, Ronaldinhos and Thierry Henrys. These guys are usually seen in scruffy lab coats at the London hospital giving quality care to patients but on this off chance you got to catch a glimpse of the teeth carers in football gear.
Beneath the spectacular sunlight on the day, the teams played 25 games in just 5 hours. There were acts of heartbreak and joy presented throughout the entire stages of the tournament. The competition saw lots of skilful play and tremendous enthusiasm from all players.
Eight teams qualified from the group stages. Eric Koy’s heroic goalkeeping performance saw Nick’s 3.6ers finish off Dharmesh's team on penalty shoot outs in the quarter finals. Monty put 4 goals past Stu's team to book his 3.4 team a mouth-watering semi-final clash with Kwok's 5th Yr team. Mo Akbar's team beat Saeid’s 2nd Yr hopefuls and Nick's 3.6ers in the quarter and semi finals respectively to book a place in the final.

After surviving the group of death, Monty's and Kwok's teams entertained the spectators with a magnificent semi final performance, which was nothing short of a Champions League Final football match. The match ended in a penalty shootout after the teams were held at 2-2 after extra time. Emotions were running high as Mo Akbar's and Kwok's teams got engaged in a fierce battle to become champions. It was then time for the 5th Years to score first but Mo Akbar's team put the tie on level shortly. The referee awarded Kwok's team a penalty for a ‘penalty area infringement’ two minutes from time. Kwok's team scored and deservedly won the £100 prize provided by Dental Protection. The 5th Yr dental finalists were luckier on the day and went through to the final of the 2008 B & L Dental Football Tournament.

Monty Bains’ 13 goals tally made him the Oral B goal scorer of the tournament and he was awarded with an Oral B Triumph Professional Care 9900 electric toothbrush whilst the best Female Player of the Tournament trophy was awarded to Ramona Rajikouma.

Congratulations to the Champions and well-done for everyone who helped out in making this event a huge success.

The tournament was not just a great sporting event for the school, but also gave the dentists the opportunity to put communication skills such as team work into action!


We will have a bigger tournament next year!!

Bryar Fattah


Event Organisers: Bryar Fattah, Saied Haghri