Andy DaveyLinzi is a vibrant community dentist with a passion for targeting inequality and promoting oral health improvement in vulnerable groups.
Dr Linzi Maybin is a Yorkshire-based community dentist, the founder of the Happy Teeth dental outreach programme and our VITA network lead dentist. Our VITA Network Media & Comms Assistant Andy Davey took the opportunity to chat with Linzi about her background and what inspires her work.
Linzi grew up in Ballymena, a town in Northern Ireland but then relocated to Bradford when she was 16 years old, “I’m proud to say Bradford is now my home!”.
Linzi’s life motto is to ‘sprinkle glitter’’. She expanded on this by saying, “That’s glitter of joy, happiness, positivity or as simple as the gift of a smile to brighten up someone’s day. We can all positively impact other people’s lives by sprinkling glitter of kindness. My daily mission is to squeeze the most out of life because I know too well how precious the gift of life is”.
When Linzi turned 18, she endured a life-changing moment when her brother was admitted to intensive care as the result of a car fire. She can recall going to the hospital and seeing him “bandaged from head to toe on a life support machine”.
Continuing, Linzi shared, “I specifically remember the compassion in a doctor’s eyes when my brother passed away in the days that followed. There are no words to describe how amazing the NHS was in supporting me and my family in hospital in the most difficult and tragic of circumstances”.
The loss of her brother became a pivotal moment in Linzi’s life and a moment where she believes ‘beauty came from ashes’ saying, “I was desperate to turn the trauma and loss into something positive by helping others and using my brother as my inspiration “‘Beauty from ashes’ is when a positive learning has come from trauma and for me when my brother passed away this became an awakening moment where I wanted to turn the loss into something positive by helping others. Psychologists call this ‘post traumatic growth’ which is when positive changes are experienced as the result of adversity in life.”
This positive mindset seemed to manifest itself in another pivotal moment of her life—the decision to become a dentist. This career path appealed to Linzi because of a multitude of factors. Linzi explained, “it was a combination of liking biology, art and wanting to help people practically. So, to be able to learn about the body and use creative skills to recreate someone’s smile seemed like the correct career choice for me.”
Linzi has a wide array of qualifications that she has acquired over her years in education including BChD(Hons), MFDS, PGCert in Medical Education. It was during this time that a seed was planted that would later root itself in many of her future endeavours. Linzi said that in dental school, “I had one 30 minute lecture on the management of patients with special educational needs, and I had no lectures on modern slavery or human trafficking. I am keen to change this and improve the education of our trainee dentists.”
Currently, Linzi is a community dentist treating patients with complex medical needs, learning disabilities, physical disabilities and patients who have been affected by homelessness and the refugee crisis. She has a particular focus on children and young people and Linzi said “Looking back, my passion for helping young people ignited when someone stepped forward and helped me when I was a young person. I was from a single-parent low-income family and as a teenager, I could never have imagined I could be a dentist. But someone took the time to reach out, believe in me and raise my aspirations. It’s something I will never forget, and I am incredibly grateful. So, to now be working as a dentist in Bradford, I’m keen to promote local talent and social justice. Linzi is extremely passionate about her career and takes extreme pride in her work. “Being a community dentist is fantastic, every day is very different. My week currently ranges from theatre sessions, school visits, clinics and providing happy gas!”
Linzi’s vision for the ‘Happy Teeth’ dental outreach programme for underserved children and young people (including survivors of human trafficking) began in 2018 and later materialised in 2019. She said “I had done a lot of school work as a youth worker, so I had connections to the schools. If I’m honest initially it was difficult to set up, I felt like I was pioneering it alone, but my passion made me determined to make the dream a reality. I piloted the project for Health Education England (HEE) in Yorkshire and Humber and then expanded to 6 other schools within the first 10 months. HEE have been incredible cheerleaders and always believed in the project-I am entirely grateful for them.”
Happy Teeth is now an award-nominated community organisation. Linzi shared “I am extremely proud that Happy Teeth outreach was shortlisted for the National Diversity Award. It is great recognition for the incredible work which the volunteer dentists have been responsible for over the past two years. To be shortlisted out of 64,000 nominations was truly incredible!”
Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking is amongst Linzi’s many causes that she is passionate about. “From my first year of dental school, I started raising awareness of human trafficking charities. During my time at university, I did small things like raise money for these charities through student cake sales and clothes swaps. But I wasn’t sure what else I could do as a dental student. I never thought dentistry was relevant to modern slavery until I qualified as a dentist; then I learned about trauma-informed care and personally encountered patients who had been affected by modern slavery and human trafficking (MSHT) in my job. It was then I linked these passions together.”
In 2020 Linzi became a member of the VITA network when she had a conversation with Dr Laura Wood a paediatrician and member of the VITA Network. Saying “We had an instant connection and a mutual passion about wanting to help with the health response to MSHT.”
Speaking more in-depth on VITA Linzi said “The VITA network has allowed me to be connected with like-minded individuals. These health and social care professionals are passionate about using healthcare to help people who have been affected by MSHT. The network has opened my eyes up to how you can influence policies with the Home Office and the importance of having a collaborative integrated approach with health and social care for tackling MSHT.”
Linzi ended our chat with inspiring words for not only future dentists but anyone from humble beginnings looking to make a difference in the world. She said “You can make a difference right now where you are at and that includes in your workplace, at Uni and in your circle of influence. Looking back, I didn’t realise the passion I had as a dental student to raise awareness of MSHT through cake sales would now become my purpose where I am now the lead dentist for VITA. So, my advice to anyone is: do not despise small beginnings because everything works together for good.”
For more information on the Happy Teeth outreach programme please see: