Irish Dentistry Awards 2023: categories and criteria
by Rowan Thomas
Entry is now open for the Irish Dentistry Awards 2023 – here’s everything you need to know about this year’s awards.
FMC is delighted to announce the launch of the Irish Dentistry Awards 2023!
The Irish Dentistry Awards are now in their 11th year, and are well known in Ireland for celebrating the hard work and achievements of dental professionals across the nation.
Winning an Irish Dentistry Award has the potential to reap huge rewards for you, your team and your practice – and provides patients as well as staff with definitive evidence that they are being cared for by a truly exceptional practice: it is a high-calibre acknowledgement of the highest standards in dentistry.
The Irish Dentistry Awards are judged by a team of dental leaders and industry experts, which means they are unmatched in their clinical and technical merit.
Entry to this year’s Irish Dentistry Awards is free – all you need to do is register at irishdentistryawards.com and start compiling your submissions!
Once satisfied that your entry is complete, simply fill out the online form and hit upload.
Clontarf Castle
This year’s awards ceremony will take place on Saturday 9 September at the beautiful Clontarf Castle in Dublin.
With a rich history dating back to 1837, Clontarf Castle Hotel is located just 10 minutes from Dublin’s vibrant city centre and a five-minute walk from beautiful Dublin Bay.
For those staying overnight and making a weekend of it, nearby you’ll find stunning beaches, nature reserves and the pretty heritage coastal towns of Clontarf, Howth and Malahide.
How to enter the awards
Once you’ve picked your categories, simply visit irishdentistryawards.com to register your free entry.
Next comes the exciting part: start preparing your entry! Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to compile your entry – or seek out an expert to help.
For each category, send up to 750 words explaining why you, your practice, or your team, is a contender, using the guidelines provided.
Remember, the judges can only critique what’s sent in, so be sure you provide as much clinical evidence, imagery and supporting documentation (such as patient and team testimonials) as you can.
Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about the 2023 Irish Dentistry Award categories.
Good luck!
The categories
New Practice
Have you started a practice from scratch or completely reinvented a redundant building? We want to reward the best developers and creators who have made significant progress
in their business in a short space of time. Your practice must have opened after 1 January 2022. Practices should only enter either New Practice or Most Improved Practice, a practice cannot qualify for both.
In your entry, you must:
- Provide images/videos of the new practice, including before and after pictures, if appropriate
- Show evidence of uniqueness in your practice
- Explain how the business has grown since it opened
- What action you took to combat COVID-19
- Include marketing literature
- Provide team training/development information
- Give evidence of how you go beyond the regular duty of care
- Tell us how you connect with the local community
- Provide testimonials and marketing literature.
Most Attractive Practice
Is good design important to your practice? Do you have unique features that stand out among the rest? Do your patients comment on the look and feel of your practice? If you’ve put in hard work to make your practice look the part and put your patients at ease during their visit, show it off and get the recognition you deserve!
In your entry, you must:
- Send before and after pictures, if appropriate
- Show any unique features, architecture, interior design excellence
- Explain your aims and objectives behind the look and design of the practice and what effect you were trying to achieve
- Show how your marketing, social media and website has been used to show off your practice and its design
- Provide marketing literature.
Most Improved Practice
This is a great chance to demonstrate how you have developed your practice in the last year. A practice entering this category will have been through a refurbishment, seen significant changes or upgrades covering decor, equipment etc… Show us how you have improved business growth, patient referrals and developed a great team approach.
Practices should only enter either New Practice or Most Improved Practice, a practice cannot qualify for both.
In your entry, you must:
- Send before and after pictures if appropriate
- Explain how business has grown
- Demonstrate good team atmosphere, training and development
- Show us how your social media use and/or website has been improved
- Include marketing literature
- Provide evidence of how you have improved your practice over the past year
- Include testimonials and supporting documentation.
Best Child-Friendly Practice
Can you demonstrate a great team approach to child dental health in your practice? Show us how you provide an innovative, excellent child friendly practice to get the recognition your practice deserves.
In your entry, you must:
- Demonstrate your approach to child dental health
- Show how you are different to a regular practice
- Explain how you got involved in treating children and tell us how this impacts their experience
- Demonstrate how you use your social media and website to promote child dental health
- Provide testimonials, marketing examples, supporting evidence and pictures.
Best Community/Charity Project
Is your practice actively involved in a charity or community project? Show us how you helped and what you were able to achieve.
In your entry, you must:
- Describe your charitable project and its cause
- Explain why you support your chosen cause
- Describe how you have helped to raise awareness to support the charity
- Show the benefits derived from your work
- Provide testimonials, marketing examples, supporting evidence and pictures.
Best Team
Is your team special and is it time they should be recognised for their efforts?
Do you have a great group of individuals creating a positive working atmosphere and supporting each other to enhance team performance? Give your staff the acknowledgement they deserve.
In your entry, you must:
- Demonstrate a great team atmosphere and approach to patient care
- Explain how your practice invests in team development and training
- What action you took to combat COVID-19
- Detail how your team is different to the competition
- Show how your team goes above and beyond the regular duty of care
- Provide testimonials, supporting evidence and pictures.
Most Invaluable Team Member
Do you think a member of your team deserves recognition for their achievements?
Demonstrate how your team member’s hard work and drive have gone that extra mile and give them the praise they deserve. This category is open to team members including dental nurses, hygienists, therapists, practice managers, receptionists and technicians.
In your entry, you must:
- Demonstrate hard work and drive
- Tell the judges of anything outstanding they have done or been involved in
- Explain any hurdles they have overcome
- Show us how or why they are different to others
- Tell us how they go beyond the regular duty of care
- Include any evidence of connection with a charity or the local community
- Provide testimonials, supporting evidence and pictures.
Best Employer
Does your employer go out of their way to provide a happy and safe working environment and invest in their team? Demonstrate your employer’s commitment to the practice, its staff and patients.
In your entry, you must:
- Demonstrate a great team atmosphere
- Give evidence of team investment/training
- Demonstrate your employer’s kindness/consideration
- Show the effect their efforts have on your team
- Show where they go beyond the regular duty of care for the staff
- Provide testimonials, supporting evidence and pictures.
Best Patient Care
How do you care for your patients? Do you get a lot of recommendations? If you offer the highest standards of care and courtesy throughout a patient’s experience, provide us with patient testimonials to support your entry and get the recognition you deserve.
In your entry, you must:
- Provide clinical evidence
- Demonstrate your approach to patient care
- Provide evidence of how you go beyond the regular duty of care
- Show how you are different to a regular practice
- Provide testimonials, supporting evidence and pictures
- Include examples of clinical excellence
- Provide marketing examples.
Best Referral Practice
Tell us why your endodontic/orthodontic/implant/periodontal/aesthetic practice has loyal referrers who support you due to your clinic excellence. Demonstrate your high clinical standard and ethical practice with supporting testimonials.
In your entry, you must:
- Show evidence of training undertaken to enhance knowledge in your speciality
- Show evidence of relationships with industry partners and referring colleagues
- Provide evidence of how you go beyond the regular duty of care
- Present evidence of team leadership and uniqueness in your practice
- Provide clinical evidence, testimonials, marketing collateral, supporting evidence and pictures.
Best High Technology Practice
This category is designed to recognise practices embracing the latest digital technologies available to improve clinical outcomes. This category will recognise the practice using digital workflows to provide the highest levels of patient care.
In your entry, you must:
- Explain what latest digital technologies you have invested in and why
- Show how you have successfully integrated these advances into your practice
- Explain how its use has improved the patient experience
- Show evidence of the benefits and profitability you are now seeing
- Provide clinical evidence, testimonials, supporting evidence and pictures.
Best Treatment of Nervous Patients
Do you have strong approach to treating nervous patients? Do you go above and beyond to help patients to relax and feel more comfortable?
In your entry, you must:
- Demonstrate your approach to treating nervous patients
- Show how you are different to a regular practice
- Explain how you got involved in treating nervous patients
- Provide evidence of how you go beyond the regular duty of care
- Explain how this impacts the patient experience
- Provide clinical evidence, testimonials and marketing examples, as well as supporting evidence and pictures.
Irish Dentistry’s Rising Star Award
We are looking to reward a newly qualified dental professional under 35 (at the time of entering) who has shown significant achievement in their career to date or who continues to exhibit passion, drive and attainment. Have you achieved a lot already?
Tell us about it and get the recognition you deserve.
In your entry, you must:
- Demonstrate your hard work and drive
- Show achievement in your career to date
- Explain any hurdles you have overcome
- Detail how you are different to other young dental professionals
- Provide training/development information, if relevant
- Give evidence of how you go beyond the regular duty of care
- Provide clinical evidence, testimonials, supporting evidence and pictures.
Practice of the Year
For this regionally judged award, we are looking to reward those practices that stand out from the crowd, those who truly care for the patients and are dedicated to providing the best in oral healthcare. Are you one of them?
In your entry, you must:
- Include marketing literature
- Give evidence of a great team atmosphere and training/development
- Show any achievements or developments in your practice over the last 12 months
- Evidence of uniqueness or significant investment in your practice
- Show how you go beyond the regular duty of care
- Provide clinical evidence, testimonials, supporting evidence and pictures.
- To enter Practice of the Year, you must have entered at least one other category.
More about the Irish Dentistry Awards:
