The best of UK dentistry was celebrated on the 7th December 2012. Over 600 guests attended the fabulous Dentistry Awards to honour and appreciate the nation’s greatest individuals working in the dentistry industry, as well as to recognise the exceptional dentistry work which has been accomplished this year. It is the most anticipated event in the dental calendar, rewarding excellence in the dentistry profession across regions of the UK. The awards acknowledge exceptional dentists, hygienists, nurses, teams and practices who continue to keep alive and raise the high standards of the dentistry industry. The awards recognise the hard work and success of practices and individuals across the nation.
The event took place at the art deco Athena in Leicester. Martin Bayfield, TV presenter and Harry Potter’s Hagrid ‘body double’ hosted the beginning of the show, providing humorous entertainment before the awards were presented. The awards then commenced, divided into four categories for each region: Best Young Dentist, Best Team, Best Practice and Best DCP. There was also an overall national winner for each category rewarded. The nominations for these awards were collected at the beginning of the year, then a chosen panel of judges agreed on a shortlist of nominees and then the overall winners for the anticipated evening ahead.
There were also website awards presented. Notable awards included the UK Outstanding Achievement Award which was won by Kevin Lewis. Kevin Lewis is a lead columnist for Dentistry’s Popular and director at Dental Protection. Mr Lewis was overwhelmed and humbled by his award, he said, ‘I am very flattered to have received this award and, as I said at the time, I am particularly grateful it was not awarded posthumously. Because it came completely out of the blue – I have handed out awards at previous Dentistry Awards events, rather than receiving them – I found myself a bit speechless, which doesn’t happen very often’.
Another significant award went to the German born dentist Tobias Kuntze, who won the Best Young Dentist London award, as well as being the overall UK winner, after being shortlisted the previous year. Dr Kuntze is multi-lingual, unassisted practitioner, with a single nurse, he said he was ‘proud to have have got this far without the back up of a team. It was a pleasant surprise. I did not sleep all night because I was so excited. To be honest, it was nice to get rewarded for all my hard work and this year it was nice to win overall and get something more tangible after I was shortlisted last year!’
More memorable awards went to the E11even Orthodontics in London who were titled the Best Practice for London and in the UK overall. The practice is situated by Harley Street and has five multi-disciplinary surgeries. Director Sameer Patel was quoted, ‘We are now a much more mature practice. We have put all the systems in place and we operate a good, strong referral practice. We have created an international centre of excellence that leads the field in orthodontic treatment and we’re proud of our achievement tonight.’ He went on to share their principle motto ‘putting patients first.’
Smita Mistry was also a noteworthy winner of the night. The senior hygienist and marketing developing manager for Harry Singh’s Aesthetics was awarded the Best DCP for the South East as well as the overall UK award. Other impressive awards went to the Moira Cosmetic Dental Surgery winning the Best Team Northern Ireland, along with the Overall Best Team in the UK. Braden Dental Care took the Best Practice in Northern Ireland and were also praised in the Best Team category just missing out on the award and the Soar Valley Dental Practice scooped the Best Team in the Midlands as well as the Best DCP in the Midlands for their practice manager Fay Perry. There were of course many other awards celebrated on the memorable night and to find out more information about the Dentist Awards please visit http://www.dentistry.co.uk/awards/