The Dentistry Awards 2014

Dentistry AwardsThe Dentistry Awards 2014 at the Athena, Leicester proved the perfect occasion to celebrate the very finest in UK dentistry.

With over 30 winners announced and more than 600 guests in attendance, the Dentistry Awards proved why it is the leading awards ceremony in the UK.

A drinks reception greeted guests to the Manhatten-themed evening, along with canapés and a delicious three-course dinner.

Smilelign, one of the sponsors for the event, added a touch of fun to the meal providing comedy teeth and asking people to take a picture of themselves at the Dentistry Awards wearing the teeth and post it on Twitter using the hashtag #smilelign.

Costech, another sponsor of the Dentistry Awards, also provided mints on all the tables for after the meal.

Compère for the night was Rugby World Cup winning, Dancing On Ice star, Kyran Bracken, who kicked off a packed ceremony with all the finalists being named and the winners awarded on stage.

The Dentistry Awards kept its unique style, awarding the leading dentists and practices in each region around the country before awarding the overall UK winners.

Denplan, one of the sponsors of the night, proivided champagne to the winners of awards on the night.

Dentaid was the charity supporting this year’s awards and it ran a charity raffle to win an iPad mini, whilst raising funds for essential charity work.

Gemma Taylor (centre), winner of Dentaid’s iPad mini competition, with Mark Inman (left), Dentaid trustee and Luc Wade, marketing director of Peloton Accountancy
Gemma Taylor (centre), winner of Dentaid’s iPad mini competition, with Mark Inman (left), Dentaid trustee and Luc Wade, marketing director of Peloton Accountancy

The winner of the raffle was a clearly delighted Gemma Taylor and the collection raised an impressive £885.

Speaking after the event Dentaid expressed how grateful it was to be the charity partner of the awards.

Jacqueline James, participation manager, said: ‘It was a wonderful opportunity for us to highlight our work improving oral health conditions in some of the world’s poorest countries.

‘We were able to show the guests a short video highlighting Dentaid’s recent work in east Timor.

‘During this initiative a Dentaid volunteer team provided training for 60 dental therapy students and equipped them with portable dental equipment; giving them all the tools to provide vital, pain-relieving dental care to their communities.

‘The Dentistry Awards guests dug deep in their pockets for the Dentaid raffle and the chance to win an iPad mini, kindly donated by Peloton Accountancy.

‘All funds raised on the night will be used to continue Dentaid’s support of oral health initiatives in needy communities around the world, like east Timor.’

Find out who the winners of the Dentistry Awards were and follow the night in pictures below.

To view the whole list of winners please click here.


Dentistry AwardsWINNER Best Practice North West 2014

Name: Steve Lomas (centre right)

Practice: The Old Surgery Dental Practice

DM: How do you feel to have won?

Steve Lomas: Absolutely thrilled. We have put together the most amazing team over the last 16 years and this award belongs to every single one of them.

DM: How did you hear about The Dentistry Awards?

Steve Lomas: Dentistry magazine is a high profile publication. We know about the Dentistry Awards and we want to be a part of it and we’ve come out with three awards tonight. We are thrilled beyond belief.

DM: Are these awards important for the profession?

Steve Lomas: Massively important for the industry. There’s so much negative publicity surrounding dentistry and it’s great to go out there and let the public know that we are good and we can do it really really well.


Dentistry Awards

WINNER  Best Patient Care 2014

Name: Jamil Ahmad

Practice: Seven Dental Nottingham

DM: How do you feel?

Jamil Ahmad: We are very pleased; the whole team works extremely hard and deserves it. It’s fantastic.

DM: What made you apply?

Jamil Ahmad: It was some of the comments back from the patients. We give good dental care.

DM: Do you think these awards are good for the profession?

Jamil Ahmad: I think they’re extremely good. I think they acknowledge all the hard work that the professionals are putting into it.


Dentistry Awards

WINNER Best Patient Care North West and Overall

Name: Pam Coates (third from the left)

Practice: Waterside Dental Care

DM: How do you feel?

Pam Coates: Speechless. Thrilled to bits. I’m just so proud of all the staff – it’s wonderful.

DM: How did you find out about the Dentistry awards?

Pam Coates: I asked over emails and we thought ‘we’ve worked hard at this’ and it’s a way of just rewarding everybody. Everybody passes the baton, which is taken through every stage, so this is a way to say thank you to everybody and also thank you to the patients for their trust in us.

DM: Are these awards good for the profession?

Pam Coates: Definitely. It makes you re-evaluate how your practice is doing. The enthusiasm within the industry is great and the awards give everyone a chance to shine. To get dolled up and enjoy a night out with your team is fantastic.


Dentistry Awards

WINNER Best Practice Midlands

Name: Polly Bhambra

Practice: Treetops Dental Surgery

DM: How do you feel?

Polly Bhambra: Very excited. Really pleased. Really happy. To get independent recognition for the work that we’ve done is incredible.

DM: How did you find out about the Dentistry awards?

Polly Bhambra: We heard about the awards through FMC’s Dentistry magazine.

DM: Will you be entering the awards next year?

Polly Bhambra: I like both the team and individual awards so next year I’ll be putting people forward for best team member.


Dentistry Awards

WINNER  Best Patient Care Midlands

Name: Lindsey Edwards

Practice: The Priors Dental Practice

DM: How does it feel to win the award?

Lindsey Edwards: It’s amazing, this category means a lot to us. We’ve spent the last two years really improving our systems for patient care. So to pick up the award, it’s awesome.

We’ve been coming and entering the awards for about a decade now, so we’ve got quite a long-standing award history. This patient care one is really special, this year we’ve worked really hard.

DM: Are you enjoying the night?

Lindsey Edwards: Yes, I’m here with the Practice Plan clan downstairs. I’ve just seen Lloyd the photographer, we know him from the events. It’s really nice, everybody’s enjoying themselves and celebrating, it’s brilliant.

DM: Why do you think you won?

Lindsey Edwards: I’ve just been asked that by somebody else, I guess the judges look at the entry and judge it on merit. I did say to the lady that asked me, our patient testimonials were really excellent and very honest. I think my team members contributed to the entry, which gave more perspective than just my own and the other winners. Also, we talked about our treatment care coordinator and how we’ve changed the roles in the practice to be able to deliver better patient care. So it’s not necessarily any magic system that we’ve innovated, it’s just using people for the right job and moving things on for the patients.

DM: Will you be sharing this award with your patients?

Lindsey Edwards: We will, we’ll probably put it pride of place. We’re also going to make sure we get in the local papers. I think people reading this will then gravitate towards a business that can deliver better patient care.

DM: Why are the Dentistry Awards special?

Lindsey Edwards: As with all the dental awards, they’re all quite different in their aims and objectives. This one I like because it splits the categories down more effectively than some of the others where you feel a bit more bunched in. This one has separate regional categories, which is good for the smaller practices and it covers various different aspects of team, patient care and the practice itself.

This is always an event that is on the calendar, to say ‘Yes we’re going to submit for that one’, we know it’s a good event and it’s well attended.


Dentistry AwardsWINNER Best Team London, Best Patient Care London, Best Practice London, Best Team UK, Best Practice UK

Name: Reena Ahluwalia (centre right)

Practice: Covent Garden Dental Practice

DM: How does it feel to walk away with the clean sweep?

Reena Ahluwalia: Amazing, delighted, elated, stunned. What can I say, we’re so happy.

DM: Are you enjoying the night?

Reena Ahluwalia: Yes, it has been a lovely night, fun with a great atmosphere, all of our peers are here. The table arrangements were brilliant.

DM: Why do you think you won all these awards?

Reena Ahluwalia: I think we look at our ethos, which is basically our patients come first. So our philosophy is that the patient is the beginning of everything, everything stems from that.

DM: Why are these awards so important to you?

Reena Ahluwalia: I think it’s recognition, it’s important for our patients to understand that we’ve been recognised by our peers, so they can have confidence in the service we’re providing.

Aida Mujan (centre): It’s also very important for our staff. We look after our staff to ensure they look after our patients. So this is also recognition of the team, it reinforces that we’re on the righttrack. We try to be innovative whenever we can, the team gets together regularly to evaluate what we’re doing, what we can do better. Rather than copy what the practice is doing next door.


Dentistry Awards

WINNER Best Team Midlands

Name: Leanne Denning (second in from the right)

Practice: Station House Dental Practice

DM: How does it feel to win the award?

Leanne Denning: Amazing, we were so shocked. It was a great feeling.

DM: Are you enjoying the night?

Leanne Denning: Yes, it’s been a brilliant night so far, we’ve had such a good time. It’s been nice to meet everybody and see everyone we haven’t seen for a while, it’s been lovely.

DM: Why do you think you won?

Leanne Denning: We’ve got the community spirit. We’ve been out there, we’ve seen everybody else do different things. Our practice owner, Dr Basra, has been an absolute inspiration to us, he makes us go out and do community things, everything for the community.


Dentistry Awards

WINNER Best Patient Care Scotland, Best Practice Scotland

Name: David Sime (centre)

Practice: Visage Lifestyle Clinic

DM: Why do you think you won?

David Sime: Patient Care is the good one, I only joined the clinic a year ago and the patient care is second to none, it makes my job incredibly easy. It’s not just the dentistry and the amazing work we all do, it’s the reception manager and the entire team who welcome the patients when they arrive.

That and the sheer quality of the work delivered. Again it makes it so easy for me when the quality of the work is so outstanding and people keep coming back.

DM: Why are these awards important to you?

David Sime: As far as I’m concerned, of all the awards that are available in dentistry, this is the one that seems to make the most difference. This is the one that we really wanted. Best Practice is fantastic I know that this means a great deal to everybody in the team.


Dentistry Awards

WINNER Best Team North West

Name: Michael Best (centre back)

Practice: Bateman and Best Dental Practice

DM: Why do you think you won?

Michael Best: I think the reason we won is because we’ve got such a diverse mix of people. We’ve got six dentists, two therapists and four student therapists. There’s a lot of emphasis on training dentists and therapists here to better themselves.

DM: Why did you enter the awards?

Michael Best: Just for some recognition really. We’ve always felt that we’re a really good practice so we wanted some recognition for it.

DM: Will you let your patients know you won?

Michael Best: Yes, we will be putting the signs up.


Dentistry Awards

WINNER Overall Outstanding Team Member, Most Outstanding Team Member West

Name: Joanne Dickinson

Practice: The Old Surgery Dental Practice

DM: What does winning this award mean to you?

Joanne Dickinson: It means everything to me. Over the last few years I’ve worked really hard on various projects to try and improve patients’ oral health and education of newly qualified dental hygienists and therapist.

I also believe very strongly that dental professionals should be more involved in smoking cessation and supporting the patients, so I’ve spent a lot of time working within the profession to try and promote this. To be acknowledged means the world to me.

DM: Have you enjoyed the evening?

Joanne Dickinson: Yes! It’s so nice being out with your dental colleagues, so much of your time is taken up with work and family it really is nice spending time with them. To see the pleasure on my bosses face when I won this award was lovely. I have got the two greatest bosses in the world; they really are incredibly supportive.

DM: Will you be entering next year?

Joanne Dickinson: Yes we will. We’ve all said that you shouldn’t really stop. The awards help you to self reflect on the things that you’ve achieved and on what you need to improve on.


Dentistry Awards

WINNER Overall Best Young Dentist, Best Young Dentist South 2014

Name: Richard Field (right)

Practice: Advance Dental Clinic

DM: What does winning this award mean to you?

Richard Field: I’m still a bit shell shocked by it. For me I didn’t really find the passion for dentistry until I was in my fourth year and that’s when I went to London and met the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (BACD) guys and saw what could be done with dentistry. Since then, I don’t see dentistry as just a job. Winning this means the world because it validates all of the hard work and effort that I’ve put in and all the support my mentors have given me.

I knew there was an overall category but I just thought the south category was so big with such good people like Reena and Amit that it could have been anyone. They are all fantastic and great clinicians and to win against them has meant more.

DM: How has the night been for you?

Richard Field: It’s been a bit of a blur, but great fun.


Dentistry Awards

WINNER Best Young Dentist West

Name: Jesal Pankhania

Practice: Kenilworth Dental Practice

DM: How does it feel to win this award?

Jesal Pankhania: It feels really good. I feel like I’ve achieved something and it’s nice to be recognised by other dentists – my peer group. It’s great to be acknowledged and to have everyone in my team behind me. Without the team I wouldn’t have got the award.

DM: How have you found the evening?

Jesal Pankhania: It’s been fantastic, I came last year it was really good then as well. They’ve got some great acts. The food was great, the atmosphere was great, FMC put on a great evening.

DM: Are you going to enter into another category next year?

Jesal Pankhania: I think we’ll look at some of the other team members and try and raise their game as well. We’ve got some therapists, hygienists and nurses that could actually apply. There is also the category for Best Team, as well as Best Practice.


Dentistry Awards

WINNER Best Young Dentist North

Name: Mark Skimming (right)

Practice: Dentistry on the Square

DM: How does it feel to win this award?

Mark Skimming: It’s incredible! Not just for me, but for all the staff. The team is all about helping to improve young dentists’ techniques and the services they provide, making the patients happy.

DM: What have you enjoyed about the evening?

Mark Skimming: It’s been a fantastic event, the awards can only raise your standards. You are normally stuck inside your own four walls, but here you can see what goes on elsewhere and that can only raise your standard of care.

DM: Will you back next year?

Mark Skimming: Yes, without a shadow of a doubt, it’s a fantastic event. Everyone is happy – win or loose.


Dentistry Awards

WINNER Best Team Northern Ireland and Best Patient Care Northern Ireland

Name: Philip McLorinan (centre) and Debbie McLorinan (second in from the right)

Practice: Dunmurry Dental Practice

DM: What does winning the award mean to you?

Debbie McLorinan: It’s absolutely amazing. We’re so delighted to win. We won Best Team four years ago when we were a smaller team. Now we’ve extended and doubled the team, so to win best team again for the new team is brilliant. The win for Best Patient Care is brilliant, especially for the patients and all the different things that we do for the smoking cessation clinics.

DM: How have you found the dentistry awards?

Philip McLorinan: It’s been an absolutely fantastic night smiling form ear to ear. Great night and a great venue.

DM: Will you be back next year?

Philip McLorinan: I think we will get our finger out and go for it again next year.

Debbie McLorinan: We’d love a Northern Ireland team to win best overall UK. It has to be done some time.


Dentistry Awards

WINNER Best Team North East

Name: Vicki Crowley (second in from the right)

Practice: Farsley Dental

DM: What does this award mean to you?

Vicki Crowley: It means the world to us. We’ve worked so hard as a team and we aspire to be different and treat our patients the best that we can. Winning this award sums us up and we are really happy.

DM: How has the team found the event tonight?

Vicki Crowley: The team has really enjoyed tonight, it has definitely been the event of the year. We’ll be back again.


A big thank you goes out to the sponsors who made the night possible, including: Software of Excellence, Appenticeships, Cfast, Costech, DBG, Denplan, The Dental Directory, Ivoclar Vivadent, QED, Smilelign, Voco and Independent Seminars.

Dentistry Awards


For more information on entering the 2015 Dentistry Awards or to request an entry pack, call Leanna Ellis on 01923 851735 or visit www.dentistry.co.uk/awards.

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