Why entering dental awards helped me assess my business

Sulaman Anwar explains why dental awards take a whole different dimension when considered from a business perspective.

When people contemplate dental awards, what immediately springs to mind is the prestigious ceremonies, the teams coming together, the eventful nominations followed by photos of elated professionals posing with their trophies and plaques. From a business viewpoint, awards take a whole different dimension, which may not be appreciated at first sight.

Months prior to the awards, working on the entry makes you reflect on the many aspects of the business which could benefit from a lot more focus. We are all time poor and prioritising business development is not always realistic with a busy schedule, however keen and diligent you might be.

The awards entry exercise acts as a reminder that a step back might be required to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the practice, and that some priorities will need to be reset.

As the deadline got closer to our award submissions this year, we judiciously found the time to go through the entry criteria and key points which we hoped would position us and the practice as a viable contender. Interestingly though, the ‘business audit’ we conducted internally soon altered our view on winning an award – it became less of an ambition and more like the ‘icing on the cake’.

New purpose

Questions kept coming to our heads: Had enough time been spent articulating our ethos and values with our team? What were the roles and responsibilities of every team member? Were they well defined and were their respective personalities and individualities fully explored for both professional and personal growth? Was the practice ethos clear and was there room for improvement? Could the team make the patient journey more seamless, reassuring, and human? Were we doing enough to satisfy and indeed delight patients for them to become our ambassadors?

Working on the award entries unquestionably brought about a new purpose for me and my team. After 18 months growing our new practice, getting input from everyone has been invaluable to assess where we were and where we wanted to go.

Interestingly, teeth whitening came up as a treatment that we should also offer, as the team were increasingly getting enquiries from patients about it. This could not be more timely as Philips recently announced the relaunch of its Zoom! whitening with a B1 shade guarantee and new sustainable packaging. I am already using and recommending the Sonicare toothbrushes and the PowerFlosser (which I love), and I have been able to appreciate the company’s investment and support to the profession in my role as a Philips KOL.

With this Zoom! relaunch, Philips went the extra mile and reached out to dozens of leading practitioners to work on a comprehensive whitening guide (called the Playbook). This draws on their know-how to implement whitening to its full potential, and illustrates the dramatic profit increases practices can achieve by offering it to patients. With my team and Philips’ support, I am super confident that teeth whitening can make a new successful adjunct to the business.

Feeling recognised

As the practice’s bread and butter relies heavily on dentists’ referrals, it also made a lot of sense to approach them to see how we were performing and how we can improve our services too. I was very appreciative of feedback from referring dentists whose testimonials were so positive and some of which we were grateful to quote in our award entry. Their support, recognition and loyalty mean so much, and give us the confidence that we are doing a good job looking after their patients.

I am very proud to say that we won Practice of the Year for London at the Dentistry Awards 2025. Every member of my team made an indelible impact on the practice and helped achieve consistent clinical excellence for the benefit of our patients. I would not be here without them. The achievement unified the team as they felt part of the journey in a way that had not happened before. They also felt recognised not only by the practice and patients, but by winning, by the wider dental community.

Getting that seal of approval and recognition at the Awards was a wonderful feeling. From a business angle, having had our practice credentials put in the spotlight also generated significant specialist referrals, to our delight.

Again, a big thank you to my team at Serio Dental, and to the awards judges for recognising our qualities.  I would urge colleagues to consider entering awards, not only for the recognition, but for the process it takes you on to consider what makes you special and what more you can do to reach a new level of specialness.

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