The winner of the NASDAL Dental Check by One Practice of the Year 2023 Award and the £1000 prize is Ghyllmount Dental Practice, Penrith, Cumbria.

The award, presented by CDO England, Sara Hurley and BSPD's President, Jenny Harris, is presented by NASDAL to recognise the outstanding commitment of practices to the DCby1 campaign.

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Launched by the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD) in partnership with the Office of the Chief Dental Officer England, the aim of the campaign is to increase the number of children who access dental care aged 0-2 years, by encouraging dental appointments for babies before their first birthday.

Heidi Marshall, Chair of NASDAL, commented: 'To see the huge efforts put in by practices up and down the UK into DCby1 is humbling. It is abundantly clear that it means so much to many practices and at NASDAL we feel honoured to be able to support this initiative. We hope our award and the £1000 that the winning practice receives will enable them to achieve even more for access for children and babies moving forward. NASDAL has always been keen to recognise business excellence in dentistry - this award illustrates that doing the right thing makes good business sense too.

'Congratulations to our winner, Ghyllmount Dental Practice. We were particularly impressed with the growth in patient numbers since they engaged with DCby1 in 2017. Patient numbers have grown from 3730 to 4206 - an increase of over 12%. The team have continually reached out to the community and earned an excellent reputation for the care they offer to children and the peace of mind they offer their parents. Indeed, patients have joined specifically because of their reputation for the care they provide to children.'

Dr John Lewis, Principal of Ghyllmount Dental Practice said: 'We are so, so honoured to win this award. I am particularly pleased as it recognises the massive contribution of our fantastic team here at Ghyllmount. Without them, we couldn't improve the oral health of local children in the way we have been. We look forward to building upon this success.'

Mrs Jenny Harris, President of BSPD, commented: 'This award seeks to recognise and celebrate the successful implementation of the Dental Check by One initiative into practice. To that end, Ghyllmount Dental Practice impressed the judges by showing their support of DCby1 through engaging with their child patients from the very outset. They encourage new parents to register their children straight away and to start bringing them along from birth. Ghyllmount is a truly worthy winner of this award having embedded the concepts of Dental Check by One, not only at a practice level - but also within the local community.

'We would also like to make reference to two other entries received that were excellent and worthy of note: Mill Hill Dental Practice in North West London and Outwood Dental Practice in Wakefield.

'Overall, it has been fabulous to see how practices and individuals up and down the country have embraced the campaign, despite the post-pandemic challenges. Our message to parents and carers is 'take your infant to the dentist', since we know that prevention is better, and cheaper to the pocket and the planet, than cure.'