British Orthodontic Society Honorary Patron, Roz McMullan, has been awarded the OBE for services to mental health and wellbeing in the dentistry profession. Roz is a former BDA President and was appointed Consultant Orthodontist in the WHSCT Altnagelvin, Tyrone County and Erne (later SWAH) hospitals, in 1991. She had an interest in treatment of children born with cleft lip and palate and established a cleft nurse liaison service to support the children and their families.

During her time working in Northern Ireland, 8 dentists took their own lives in a 12-month period, 3 of whom Roz knew well. With others, she decided to learn more about the causes and prevention of suicide and why there is such a high prevalence in the medical, dental and veterinary professions. After completing her stress awareness, suicide prevention and mental health first aid training, Roz set up and chaired a multi-agency group called “Probing Stress in Dentistry” which aims to raise the issue of stress and poor mental health prevention in the dental workplace and provide safe, confidential signposting to professional help. She also was a co-founder of the the Mental Health Wellness in Dentistry framework – https://mhwd.org/ and the collaboration which developed the signposting resource, Support for Dental Teams – www.supportfordentalteams.org.

Roz said, “It has all been quite a shock! When the envelope arrived, I thought it must be quite important as it had the words ‘Cabinet Office’ on it. After I opened it, I read the letter twice and it still didn’t fully sink in. I tried to stand up but sat back down immediately – it took me half an hour to fully calm down. Keeping it secret for all those weeks was tremendously difficult too – I have had to keep schtum at a family baptism, BOS Board meeting – even an unrelated trip to the palace with a nephew.

I really do feel honoured and humbled. This is an award on behalf of all those teams I have worked in – the clinical teams who allowed me to work on this ‘extracurricular activity’, the management teams at the Trust and SPPG for their support, the Northern Ireland Deanery and Public Health Agency and the teams at BOS, BDA, BDA Benevolent Fund, Dentists’ Health Support Trust, FDI, MHWD and MINDSET UK . They have all supported me throughout my work on mental health and suicide prevention and I thank them for it”.

BOS President, Robbie Lawson commented, “The British Orthodontic Society is delighted to learn that our Honorary Patron, Roz McMullan, has been awarded an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours for Services to Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Dentistry Profession in Northern Ireland.

Roz has worked tirelessly for decades as an Orthodontic Consultant, with the BDA and served in multiple roles in the BOS.  Her endeavours in supporting colleagues in difficulty is inspirational. The award of an OBE is fitting recognition of her dedication to the Profession”.