The Chief Orthodontic Technician at the Royal London Hospital, Kieran McLaughlin MSc, has been conferred the Orthodontic Technician Award for Distinguished Service for 2009 by the British Orthodontic Society.

He is an invited lecturer on obstructive sleep apnoea and functional appliances and has presented his work nationally and internationally. He has lectured for the Orthodontic Technicians Association and the British Dental Association and has presented his research at the International Association of Dental Research conferences in Singapore and San Francisco.

Kieran has also taught all aspects of orthodontic appliance design and construction to undergraduate and postgraduate dental students as well as student dental technicians at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry for more than 20 years, and has almost 30 years of experience in orthodontic technology.

This year the BOS Distinguished Service Award for an Orthodontic Dental Nurse was presented to Denise Douglass. An experienced orthodontic nurse, Denise began her working life in the Community Dental Service before becoming the first dental nurse to be employed at the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, where she is currently the Senior Dental Nurse. She extends her role by mentoring and training other dental nurses. Denise was the one of the founding members of the Orthodontic National Group for Dental Nurses (ONG) and was its first Membership secretary and later its first Finance Officer.