As a Boston Dentist who is committed to full body wellness, Dr. Jill Smith is constantly educating her patients towards pursuing healthier lifestyles. One focus of Dental Health & Wellness Boston is treating the dental consequences of those struggling with eating disorder such as bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating. This is why Dr. Smith is excited to partner with Eating for Life Alliance in an attempt to further the education of those at risk of such dangerous and personal disorders. Eating for Life Alliance (ELA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing educational resources to colleges nationwide on the prevention and treatment of eating disorders.
Dr. Smith recently had a chance to ask Eating for Life Alliance CEO and co-founder Dawn Hynes some questions:
Dr. Smith: How did ELA get started?
Dawn Hynes: On a professional level, we have years of experience providing eating disorder treatment, consultation, and advocacy. Our personal investment comes from Whitney’s [Whitney Post, President and co-founder] history of an eating disorder that started in college; in the absence of proper recognition and treatment, this disorder continued for almost two decades. I worked as a volunteer for a suicide hotline, and saw that a huge percentage of those calling were local college students dealing with an eating disorder. These experiences resulted in ELA’s leadership to commit to being part of the solution, by working to support college students with these issues.
Dr. Jill Smith: How did you decide on the name for your organization?
Dawn Hynes: The name Eating For Life Alliance was chosen purposely for its positive focus – ideally we would all be eating and thinking about our bodies in a way that supports life, not its destruction. We are professionally and personally invested in bringing about a real and lasting change to eating and body image pathology.
Dr. Smith: What is ELA currently focusing on developing within ELA?
Dawn Hynes: We are working on raising funds for ELA. We just finished up several outreach events through eating disorder awareness week. We have many projects we are currently working on, including a webinar series, educational videos for college providers, and expanding our social media reach.
Dr. Smith: What does ELA hope to accomplish?
Dawn Hynes:In short, we want to help college students live lives free of the debilitating influence of eating disorders. We hope to provide valuable information from leading experts to college students, their families, and university staff on prevention and treatment. Our hope is that by providing this information, we can be part of the movement of professionals working to get people into effective treatment programs soon after a disorder presents itself – which will offer the highest probability of lasting recovery. We also want to help create campuses equipped to prevent eating disorders through awareness and education efforts.
We commend Dawn Hayes and Whitney Post on their success and efforts toward such a worthwhile cause. Eating disorders are very common in college aged people and early intervention is so important to treatment and limiting the far reaching health effects from these disorders. When it comes to the dental effects of eating disorders, hydrochloric acid from the stomach will, over time, wear away at the enamel of your teeth. Dental Health & Wellness Boston works with patients to make sure their teeth are protected during this fragile time, and Dr. Smith ensures that patients are provided the best dental recovery plan possible to reclaim their smiles.
Request a free consultation today to talk with us about your situation and what your treatment plan might look like. When talking to our compassionate staff, you can be assured that anything you share will be kept confidential.