Prince George's Pammy Pawar is this year's Canadian Dental Hygienist Association's Dental Hygeinist Hero.
Now in its second year, the award, which is also sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Inc.,recognizes one "extraordinary dental hygienist who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to enhance oral health in the community."
Pawar, who works in the office of Dr. Walter Payne and Dr. Robert Malcolm, was instrumental in organizing last April's national dental hygiene week events in Prince George.
Also involved were Wendy Male, who nominated Pawar for the award, Leslie Battersby, Shelby Watson and Cindy Lewis.
The aim was to reach out to all age groups and to that end, they gave presentations to pre-school children, gave a lunch-hour information session at Prince George secondary school, donated oral health care packages to new mothers for their newborns and a $250 donation to a local geriatric outreach program and they set up a mall display with dental literature and samples of oral aids
"It was fun but it was a lot of work," Pawar said.
Pawar, who received $1,500 and will be featured in the next CDHA magazine, has been a dental hygienist since 2001 after graduating from College of New Caledonia.
Good dental health is important to general health.
"It's been related to diabetes, low birth weight, even heart conditions," Pawar said.
