At the end of August 2017, the Dental section of the Slovenian Medical Association received a »Smile Award« at the general assembly of the World Dental Federation (FDI) in Madrid, the highest recognition of this organization.

The prize was awarded to the Slovene dentistry programme for the »Let's have clean teeth« project, which runs through Slovenian elementary schools. This competition has been in existence since 1979 and, along with the remaining preventive activities in Slovenia, caused a drastic drop in tooth decay among Slovene schoolchildren.

This year, the programme was honoured and awarded as the most innovative preventive programme for maintaining healthy teeth among children.

More than 100 members of the World Dental Organization have entered the competition and four countries were shortlisted; Austria, Argentina, Israel and Slovenia.