The Private Dentistry Awards winners – Angela Auluck and Dev Patel

Multiple award winners Angela Auluck and Dev Patel, of The Dental RoomsMultiple award-winners Angela Auluck and Dev Patel, of The Dental Rooms, talk about why winning meant so much to them and their practice.

How does it feel to have won?

We are absolutely delighted to have won these incredible awards. The team are over the moon and incredibly proud of the wins. We entered for seven categories hoping to win at least one (best design and hopefully best referral practice) and actually came away with five beautiful trophies.

It really was an amazing night for us all and we’re all still on cloud nine. Winning the Practice of the Year 2019 was the icing on the cake! We really were grateful and it was nice to have this acknowledgement at the Private Dentistry Awards.

Did you enjoy the awards evening?

The awards evening was fabulous, the Oscars of private dentistry! Glitz and glamour was the order of the evening. We had seven rounds of intense nervous build up! However, to gather the team five times to stand on the big stage together was phenomenal. For Dev and I, it was an exceptionally special stage – the very same one we got married on 20 years ago!

Why did you choose to enter the awards?

We have spent 14 years building the Dental Rooms into the well-established and successful business that it is today. We debated long and hard if we should enter the Private Dentistry Awards for some time.

Once our glass box renovations were complete, we felt that we had something special to showcase. To be a part of the Private Dentistry Awards has given us an opportunity to consider how far we’ve come and where we are going next.

What do you think the awards are doing to the standards within the profession?

The awards provide a benchmark to aspire to. When one decides to go for an award, you are putting everything about your practice out there to be judged and scrutinised. It really makes one look carefully at everything we do and how we do it. It makes one think about our own clinical and non-clinical standards, service levels, team culture and development, management and operations. It allows one time to judge yourself before allowing others to judge you!

Why do you think you won?

This is a really difficult question to answer. Since our inception our mission has remained unchanged. To be ‘committed to provide the highest quality of dental care based on sound scientific evidence in a caring and friendly atmosphere by a dedicated specialist team’ and our team can be proud of one thing –a shared determination to be the best.

Building a practice, team and business and getting it right, takes a lot of time and experience. Great practices are not built overnight. We are passionate about what we do and have finally worked out how to build a team with shared goals and visions.

At the start of 2019 we gave the team our vision meeting and told them we had one goal. To be the best dental practice in the UK! We still can’t believe we have achieved this. But it goes to show what happens when goals are set and plans are made!

David Houston, chairman of the judges, put it well: ‘Our overall Practice of the Year winner is a fitting example of a practice which epitomises all that the judges believe a 21st century dental surgery should aspire to be.

‘The judges were impressed by the quality of the care provision, business acumen, stunning design and the desire for internal review and continual improvement.

‘The whole panel were inspired by the drive, enthusiasm and commitment to excellence evident throughout the whole organisation. They work as a cohesive team and as such, this is truly a joint triumph tonight.

‘This entry can rightly be regarded as an inspiration to the profession and a practice against which to benchmark all others.’

Have you noticed a difference in patient numbers/in the practice since winning the award?

Winning the awards has been equally exciting for our existing patients as well as potentially new patients. It does help potential patients to feel confident in choosing the Dental Rooms. This is most definitely reflected in our new patient numbers.

The awards have opened so many doors for us. It’s a great networking tool and through it we made some fabulous connections and friends!

Will you be entering the awards again this year?

That’s like asking Federer if he’ll be back to defend his title – it would be rude not too!

Anything else you’d like to add?

Despite all of the wonderful developments and a truly incredible year, we will always strive for more. This year is all about the wellbeing of our team, which is now even more pertinent during these times.

Our ethos this year is ‘a happy and well team equals happy and well patients’ and we wish the same for every dental team.


For more information about the Private Dentistry Awards and to sign up for this year, visit www.theprivatedentistryawards.com.

Follow Dentistry.co.uk on Instagram to keep up with all the latest dental news and trends.

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