NI practices celebrate success at Dentistry Awards

One of the big winners at the Dentistry Awards 2007, held on 7 December, was James Hamill of Blue Apple who won Best Young Dentist, not only for the Northern Ireland region but also for the UK.

Siobhan Lewney, IrishDentist.ie editor, spoke to a delighted James Hamill after the awards ceremony. James commented: ‘This is not just for me – this is for Blue Apple. Success comes from all the staff. It is certainly worthy of note to win against such good competition. I don’t believe it’s about the money, it’s about providing the patients with the best possible care, and it has been an honour to win again after winning best new dental practice in Northern Ireland at last year’s awards – this really is the icing on the cake’.

Also celebrating wins were Affinity Dental Care, which won Best Team, and Dunmurry Dental Practice, which won Best Practice.

Nominations for the Dentistry Awards were divided into nine regions to recognise and reward enthusiasm and commitment displayed by outstanding individuals, teams and practices that had shown an active interest in promoting standards of excellence. There were three awards (Best Young Dentist, Best Team and Best Practice) for each region, as well as an overall UK winner for each category. Nominations for the awards were collated in September, with a select panel of judges finalising a shortlist and winners ahead of the evening itself.

Speaking to Irish Dentist, Emily Cameron, managing director of FMC, confirmed the tremendous success achieved by the 2007 Dentistry Awards, ‘The awards have become the biggest award event in the profession with the highest number of entries ever. The standard of the entries has also increased substantially and the judges were especially impressed with the high quality of the Northern Ireland entries. In fact, the standard of the short listed entries for Northern Ireland were so high that the judges struggled to choose a winner.’

The Dentistry Awards 2007 attracted over 600 guests, making it the most successful dental awards ceremony in UK history. Held once again at the art-deco Athena venue in Leicester, and hosted by special guest and television star, Roy Walker, the event was enjoyed by all who attended.

With the entries for the Dentistry Awards 2008 being accepted from April, be sure to have your entry ready. For further details on how to submit an entry for the Northern Ireland region, please call +44 (0) 1923 851777.