Some of the UK's best dental teachers gathered in London recently to compete for the Dental Defence Union's (DDU) fifth annual Educational Awards. Two finalists each in the categories DCP Teacher of the Year, Dentist Teacher of the Year and Vocational Teacher of the Year battled it out to demonstrate how they had made a positive educational impact on their students or vocational dental practitioners (VDPs).

The Dentist Teacher of the Year award was won by was Giles Perryer (pictured) of the University of Birmingham Dental School, with Callum Youngson from the University of Liverpool Dental School awarded runner up.

The winners received £1,000 towards the cost of educational materials for their schools or vocational training (VT) schemes, while all six finalists received a trophy, certificate and a cheque for £250. The finalists were challenged to show the innovative techniques they had used in teaching and mentoring students. These included a six step decision-making pathway to help DCPs when confronted with an ethical dilemma, shadowing sessions to enable VDPs to find out about a specialist area of dentistry, and an e-course that included podcasts, blogs and discussion forums, allowing students to participate in developing material for the course under guidance from staff.