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For their first face-to-face CPD event of 2024, the British Mountain Medicine Society (BMMS) and UCLan's Centre For Mountain Medicine (CMM) thought they'd try something a little different. In the past they'd concentrated on multi day conferences made up of talks, workshops and outdoor activities, but this time they wanted to try something smaller and more interactive. In the end, their choice of presenter was a "no brainer" - Burj Langdana has a first class reputation for delivering practical "hands on" events that provide audiences with the skills needed to manage dental and facial trauma in the remote environment. Here's organiser Jeremy Windsor with more about the day...

Whenever I organise something - whether it's a webinar. study day or even a conference, there's always a moment of doubt. It's usually between the first advertisements on social media and the first bookings coming in. Whilst there's a 0 in the column beside the number of attendees you do wonder if you've done right thing! But when you've got Burj Langdana booked then it's not really a problem. Within a couple of days, bookings were coming in through email and What's App. I even received a handwritten letter requesting a place. Within a week we had all 20 places booked!

To keep costs down (just £70 for BMMS members) we opted to use the Hathersage Memorial Hall and source our packed lunches from the nearby Pool Cafe. Whilst it lacked the glamour of a conference centre and in house catering, it did the job and we could offer a brilliant day at an affordable price. This meant that we had a really broad audience - young and old - some working in healthcare but many from other walks of life who were simply keen to learn more.

Burj in action!

Anyway, let's get on with the day itself. The set up was pretty simple - Burj together with his team of helpers dedicated the morning to dental trauma. We learnt about local anaesthesia and how this can be used to numb the teeth. It came as a surprise to many of us that the molars needed special attention. Unlike other teeth, these are embedded in hard bone and local infiltration just doesn't hit the spot. Instead, a nerve block is required and thanks to a combination of videos, models and "hands on" exposure we were able to get stuck in. More followed - inserting filings, extracting teeth and oral suturing. Burj's computer software had a very useful function that allowed him to magnify the images and video clips with his laser pointer - this really helped bring to life what we were being taught. So too, did his brilliant turn of phrase - at one point when we were looking for landmarks for a local anaesthetic block we were urged to, "admire each others valleys". Later when repairing a damaged tooth we were told, "don't touch the root, don't look at the root, don't even speak to the root...". One attendee subsequently wrote,

"A charismatic, entertaining speaker who is able to relate to participants. Very good overall, especially mixture of theory and practical exercises. Enjoyed!"

Burj overseeing the wiring of a jaw model

And so the day progressed. Short, quick fire breaks gave us enough time to enjoy a drink and a biscuit or two, but pretty quickly we were back at it. Thanks to the hands on nature of the day and Burj's infectious enthusiasm, this didn't feel like a hardship and our energy levels stayed high throughout.

If the first half of the day passed quickly then the afternoon flew by! The focus was on facial trauma and Burj covered bony and soft tissue injury management in considerable detail. The emphasis was firmly placed upon what could be done with limited experience. Nevertheless Jaws were wired, dislocations were reduced and wounds dressed. For the first time I got my hands on an Israeli Bandage as well as an ITClamp, a Celox haemostatic dressing and a Xtract SR stretcher. "Where else could I get access to all this?" I often found myself thinking. 

A video of the day can be found here. In just over a minute it captures perfectly what a brilliant day we all had. Why not take a look?

Feedback from the day was brilliant - 4.9/5 Organisation, 4.6/5 Venue, 4.8/5 Catering and 4.9/5 Educational Value (mean scores from 20 completed feedback forms).

We have further events planned - keep an eye on future blog postings for further information.

Here's one last piece of feedback from an attendee that sums up the day...

"By far the single most informative CPD day I have done to date. Excellently run and I look forward to attending again. Thank you!"

Thanks to Denzil Broadhurst, Tim Halsey, Chris Smith, Alun Thomas and most of all, Burj Langdana for making the day such a success!

Thanks also to all those who attended - Jamie Archer, James Bridger, John Carr, Andy Clark, Tessa Coulson, Ross Edwards, Simon Fear, Jamie Goodhart, John Gorman, Vicki Hau, Simon Scott Hayward, David Hillebrandt,  Jez Hunter, Paul Lewis, Alistair Morris, Tom Odbert, Lizzie Rigg, Simon Shevlin, Chris Sloan, Ged O'Sullivan, Denis Ustuner and Dan Walker.

British Mountain Medicine Society (BMMS) members received a £20 discount when they booked a place on the Dental and Trauma Day. 

More information about joining the BMMS can be found here.

For more about the University of Central Lancashire's Diploma in Mountain Medicine (DiMM) take a look at this.