Looking at oral care through a sensory lens at The Female Dentist

On Saturday 19 September, BuddiesForLife® founder Sian Ellingworth will be speaking at Force is Female North of England, hosted by The Female Dentist at Cottons Hotel in Knutsford.

Sian is delighted to be part of an event built around three simple but important principles:

Empower. Support. Connect.

The Female Dentist has created a community specifically for women working across dentistry, with a focus on empowerment, collaboration, inclusivity, continuous learning and wellbeing. Its aim is to give women in the profession opportunities to connect, share experiences, learn from one another and build confidence in their careers.

Those values resonate strongly with Sian, particularly the emphasis on learning from different experiences and bringing new perspectives into dentistry.

What does oral care actually feel like?

Sian’s presentation, Oral care through a sensory lens: Understanding sensory sensitivity in everyday dentistry, begins with a very personal question.

What does brushing actually feel like for the person experiencing it?

For Sian, that question began at home.

Brushing had become a daily negotiation with her child. Mint toothpaste was described as “spicy”. Different toothpastes were bought, tried and rejected. At that stage, Sian did not know her child was autistic. She simply knew that something about the brushing experience felt genuinely unbearable.

The turning point came when the focus shifted from trying to secure cooperation to trying to understand the experience.

That curiosity eventually led to the creation of Buddies, followed by Senses and the wider BuddiesForLife® approach to sensory-inclusive oral care.

But Sian’s talk is not simply about products or about autism.

It is about encouraging dental professionals to consider the sensory experience that sits behind oral care.

Taste, texture, touch, sound and light

Oral care is intensely sensory.

A strong mint flavour may feel overwhelming. Foam can feel uncomfortable. Toothbrush bristles or dental instruments may feel unbearable. The sound and vibration of equipment can travel through the head. Bright lights, close physical proximity and uncertainty about what is going to happen next can all add to the experience.

Importantly, there is no single sensory profile.

Someone may experience one sensation more intensely, another less noticeably, and their tolerance may change depending on stress, tiredness, health or the environment.

That is why one of the central messages of Sian’s presentation is simple:

Ask, because a diagnosis cannot describe an individual sensory profile.

Small adjustments can make a significant difference

Sian will also explore how sensory awareness can translate into practical changes within a dental appointment.

Before an appointment, that may mean asking what the person finds difficult, what helps them, how they prefer information to be communicated and what they would like to happen if they need a pause.

During treatment, it might mean using clear, direct language and explaining sensations before they happen.

Rather than saying, “This won’t hurt”, a clinician might say:

“I’m going to touch your lower lip with a mirror. It may feel cold.”

Agreeing a stop signal and showing that it will genuinely be respected can also give someone greater control and predictability.

And after the appointment, recording the details of what actually helped can make the next visit easier.

“Needs 8–10 seconds to process information” is far more useful than simply recording “autistic”.

The underlying principle is that comfort, predictability and control can help create the conditions for better care.

Extending sensory awareness beyond the surgery

The same thinking applies to everyday brushing at home.

Taste, foam, texture, toothbrush softness, grip, sequencing and familiarity can all affect whether someone is able or willing to brush.

Understanding those factors can help dental professionals give oral-care advice that is not only clinically appropriate, but realistic for the individual receiving it.

Sian’s hope is not that every dentist becomes a sensory specialist.

It is that asking one additional question becomes routine:

What does oral care feel like for this person?

Why The Female Dentist matters

That spirit of curiosity, collaboration and shared learning is also why Sian is particularly pleased to be speaking at a Female Dentist event.

The Female Dentist was created as a supportive community for women across the dental profession, recognising both the professional ambitions and the personal demands that can shape a career in dentistry.

Its work brings together education, networking, mentorship, professional development and opportunities for women to learn from one another and build leadership confidence.

For Sian, events such as Force is Female also create something else that matters enormously: the opportunity to bring together people who see the same problem from different perspectives.

Dentists, researchers, care professionals, educators, businesses and people with lived experience may each see a different part of an oral-care challenge. Bringing those perspectives together can help create better questions, better solutions and ultimately better experiences for the people receiving care.

That thinking is also behind the Oral Care Innovation Network Sian is beginning to develop, with the aim of connecting dentistry with care, education, research and lived experience to explore practical oral-care problems, test useful ideas and improve routes into practice.

Visitors to Force is Female will be able to speak to Sian during the event, experience the BuddiesForLife® products through their own senses and share the oral-care challenges they are seeing in their own work.

Force is Female North of England takes place on Saturday 19 September 2026 at Cottons Hotel, Knutsford.

For Sian, it is an opportunity not only to share the story that started with one rejected tube of toothpaste, but to encourage a wider conversation about how understanding what oral care feels like can help make dentistry more inclusive, more individual and more effective.