​Rock Dental from Yelverton, Devon is this year’s winner of our Infection Prevention & Control team awards.

Supporting partners to the awards, run by Dental Nursing, The Dentist and Dental Update’s awards were Aura, industry leaders in dental infection control.

They received a £5k iClave + from NSK, a place on the ILM Dental Decontamination Level 3 Qualification with Aura Infection Control and one year’s subscription to the Alpron Compliance Club with a Gold subscription, which includes a year's supply of Alpron, samplers for auditing DUWL and BC San for cleaning water bottles.

The team also received travel expenses for team members to BDIA Dental Showcase at Birmingham NEC where the presentation was made.

Alex Breitenbach, managing director of NSK UK and one of the panel of judges, said: ‘In many instances, infection prevention and control is driven solely by the dental nursing team – but this year the winning practice, Rock Dental from Yelverton, combines an outstanding nursing team with practice owners who understand and are fully committed to infection prevention and control.

‘The judges were impressed not only with the practice’s commitment to IP&C through investment in new technology – the practice has a full “track and trace” system in place – but also with the perseverance shown when there were difficulties in setting it up and getting it established.

‘Rock Dental is a brilliant example of a practice which is well-led by the clinical staff, and a team united in its passion for delivering the best and safest care to patients.’

Laura Edgar, managing director of County Durham-based Aura Infection Control, said: ‘We are incredibly proud to be sponsors of the award. It has been a pleasure to help judge some of the amazing entries this year.

‘The safety of patients is paramount and we are on a mission to spread the word. Everyone can learn from best practice shown by these award-winning dental teams.’


Aura’s unique dental decontamination course was launched earlier this year and has taken infection compliance to a new level by teaching students the best industry-standard methods of cross-infection control.

Laura explained: ‘Education and knowledge transfer is a key part of effective infection control. We now have over eighty graduates. We will be using some of the award entries in our training programme as case studies.

‘The winning entry from Anthony and the team at Rock Dental was exceptional. We chose them because of their focus on innovation and improvement; utilising the benefits of team working to bring infection control to life.’

Runner up in the competition was Castle Gate Dental Practice from Dursley in Gloucestershire.

The judges were impressed with the amazing team ethic on display and the knowledge and positivity shown by team members on all aspects of infection control.

Presenting the award, Dental Update editorial board member, Louis Mackenzie, said: ‘Gill Kerley is currently the practice manager at Castle Gate Dental Practice but she has served in just about every role in dentistry – dental nurse, hygienist, a dental tutor, and has even worked with the GDC on fitness to practise cases. She is a driving force behind the Castle Gate Dental team and the reason for much of its success.’

• For more information about the Aura Infection Control course, call the compliance experts at 01833 630393 or via the company’s website at www.qwsonline.co.uk

Author: