Association of Dental Groups announce 2015 Bursary Award Winners

Every year the Association of Dental Groups’ (ADG) member companies invest significantly in their training and development for their people, as well as in surgeries and equipment to ensure that dentists are able to offer the highest standards of care to their patients. The ADG’s commitment to wider education and training is epitomised by the Association’s annual Bursary Awards.

The number and standard of Bursary Awards entries in 2014 outstripped previous figures by a significant margin. The winners were announced at a prestigious awards reception held in the Library at the Royal College of Surgeons on the 13^th February.

The awards are divided into three separate categories: Postgraduate, Undergraduate (Professionalism) and Undergraduate (Management). All applicants were judged by lead members of the ADG, and the panel was delighted with the overall standard of this year’s entries.

Postgraduate Award

The Postgraduate Award was open to foundation or postgraduate dentists and was looking for the most innovative voluntary project that sought to improve or promote better oral health. The winning applicant received a prize of £5,000, which consisted of £2,500 as an award for the winner and a further £2,500 to be used to support the delivery of their project.

The winners of the ADG Postgraduate Bursary Award were Orna Ni Choileain and Niall McGoldrick for their project ­­­­­­­­Let’s Talk About Mouth Cancer.

On winning the award Orna said: “When I found out we won the bursary, I had the perfect mixture of shock and excitement. It feels like a great achievement to have our work setting up the 'Let's Talk About Mouth Cancer’ charity recognised by other professionals on a national level. This bursary will allow us to continue our efforts to raise awareness of mouth cancer. It's a sign of confidence for us and the wider team that all the work we have been doing over the last year has been worthwhile”

“Mouth cancer is the one of fastest growing cancers in the UK, with incidence rates in Scotland being the highest. In fact, I found my first case in general practice within 9 months of graduating. Let's Talk About Mouth Cancer focuses on raising awareness in the general public and among professionals. With assistance from the Oral Surgery Department of the Edinburgh Dental Institute, three mouth cancer screening events were held in 2014. The first was in a marquee on Bristo Square, the second at the Edinburgh Canal Festival and the third on the Meadows during the Edinburgh Festival. Free lectures to local dental professionals on the importance of the prevention and early detection of mouth cancer were also provided.” 

“Let’s Talk About Mouth Cancer has recently registered as a charity (SC045100) in order to build on and continue the good work. There are plans for further screening and educational events in the March 2015, which will be largely funded from the bursary award. It's great to see the Association of Dental Groups helping young dentists all over the UK to build awareness of oral cancers at a local level.”

Undergraduate Awards

Applicants for the two undergraduate awards were required to submit their entry detailing a voluntary project that relates to either professionalism or leadership and management in dentistry, with the winning entry for each awarded a prize of £1,000.

For the professionalism award there were four main competencies to cover, these were: ethics, professionalism with regard to patients, professionalism with regards to self, and professionalism with regards to clinical team and peers. The management and leadership award also included four main competencies: personal and practice organisation, legislative, financial and leadership management.

The undergraduate bursaries were open to all undergraduate dentistry students and applications were required to be supported by a reference from a tutor and college.

The ADG would like to congratulate all the winners, and in particular Rosie Pritchett, Corwin Hine, Mark Franks and Luke Fisher-Brown, the Undergraduate (Management) Gold Award Winners, and Amardeep Singh Dhadwal, the Undergraduate (Professionalism) Gold Award Winner.

On winning the bursary for their project Oral health education for the homeless community of East London Rosie Pritchett said: “It’s great to have won; we’ve been working on this project for the last two and a half years, so it’s really nice to see some recognition for ourselves and for the project. 

“Our focus was on delivering oral health education for homeless people, covering four main topics: diet and oral health, oral cancer, periodontal health and alcohol, and access to NHS dentistry. As undergraduates we found that we were in a really good position to spread simple but essential messages about oral health, and this was very well received.”

Amardeep Singh Dhadwal is a student at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, (Queen Mary, University of London), he says:

“This the first time I’ve entered anything like this and it came as a big surprise to be chosen as the winner. I feel very blessed and I am thankful to everyone who took the time to read my entry. I would definitely recommend other students to enter the competition next year; it is a great opportunity to discuss and consider what professionalism means to you and what you aspire to as a dental professional."

Each undergraduate category also included a Silver winner who received £750 and a Bronze winner who received £250. The ADG would like to congratulate Deborah Evans (Undergraduate Management Silver Award); Kirun Ray (Undergraduate Management Bronze Award); Lewis Olsson (Undergraduate Professionalism Silver Award); and Gemma Wheeler (Undergraduate Professionalism Bronze Award).  

The ADG remains committed to supporting innovation and development across the dental industry and next year will be announcing details of this year’s awards scheme later in the Spring.. 

For more information about the ADG visit www.dentalgroups.co.uk.