DT News - UK - Glaswegians attempt Guinness record with world’s largest smile

Dental Tribune International

Wed. 14 June 2017

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GLASGOW, UK: Contrary to common belief, research suggests that people in Glasgow are among those in Britain who smile the most. This surprising finding was recently underlined by students and staff of the University of Glasgow who joined pupils and teachers from the area last Friday in an attempt to set a new Guinness record by forming the world’s biggest smile.

The event brought together over 1,000 participants at the Scottish Event Campus, formerly the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, in an effort to raise awareness of oral health. Participants wore red and white ponchos in order to form the lips and teeth of a giant smile.

The attempt is currently awaiting verification for recognition as a Guinness World Record. If successful, it will join records like the world’s largest smiley formed by people in Manila in the Philippines in 2015.

According to the head of the University of Glasgow dental school Prof. Jeremy Bagg, the event successfully highlighted the important message of maintaining oral health. “The event has been a huge amount of fun to organise and our sincere thanks go to all of the many partners and organisations involved who helped to make this happen. I am delighted that we were able to achieve our aim of assembling 1000 participants in the shape of a big smile as Glasgow’s contribution to National Smile Month and I sincerely hope that Guinness World Records will verify this as the world’s biggest smile,” he said.

Congratulating the organisers on their achievement, Head of the Evidence for Action Team at NHS Health Scotland and consultant in dental public health Dr Colwyn Jones warned that, while oral health has improved throughout Scotland through programmes like Childsmile, children living in poorer areas are still more likely to suffer from dental caries.

“Events like the one organised today allow us to remind people that tooth decay is almost entirely preventable,” he said.

Organised by the university’s School of Dentistry, the Guinness World Record attempt received support by the city of Glasgow, NHS Scotland and the British Endodontic Society, among others. It was part of this year’s National Smile Month, which is run by oral health charity the Oral Health Foundation in London and took place from 15 May to 15 June with plenty of activities centring on oral health throughout the country.

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