Anthony (Tony) Griffin MBE awarded Fellowship of the College of General Dentistry

Congratulations to DTA Treasurer, Anthony (Tony) Griffin MBE who has been awarded Fellowship of the College of General Dentistry (CGDent). Tony said he was surprised and also pleased to have been put forwards for the award. The Fellowship is in recognition of Tony's support for the development of both the dental technology (DT) and clinical dental technology (CDT) professions over a number of decades.

He said: "Some time back CDT activity was called 'denturism', and few would be found openly supporting it, or the dental technologists', progression towards professional recognition. Lab work was something that took place in the background; patients often believed that dentures and restorations were somehow created by the dentist. Thankfully times have changed."

Tony voluntarily put his energy behind building a pathway towards a professional recognition for CDTs by sharing his wealth of specific dental and business knowledge, first with those under the guidance of Maxted Jones, and then later with the George Brown College with whom he gained the CDT Diploma.

Tony - when chair of the Dental Care Professional subcommittee - joined Malcolm Pendlebury of the Royal College of Surgeons of England on a visit to Toronto to assess the college provision of what is now recognised as clinical dental technology.

Tony was also active in Nottingham developing the Dental Technology, Dental Nursing, Practice Management, and Oral Health Promotion courses through BTEC (now called Pearson). He also developed and lead the provision of the first Foundation Degree (FD) in Dental Technology; an initiative that several other educational institutes have joined with via Tony's link with De Montfort University and the then Chief Dental Officer for England, Barry Cockcroft.

Tony encouraged the members of the consortium that included lecturers from Liverpool, Birmingham, Lambeth etc., to jointly develop educational resources for the jointly offered FD which are still currently being used or have since developed into other modules of FD programmes.

Through his voluntary work he also developed support for the DTA towards professional registration with the General Dental Council by liaising with principal decision makers in the GDC, Department of Health, BDA etc.

The DTA's quarterly Dental Technologist journal and provision of the association's free CPD programme structure for its members - including many vocational articles, lectures plus the link to video masterclasses in the association's online Articulate initiative for focused CPD - are all valuable initiatives originally launched by Tony.

Tony has also been a member of the GDC's fitness to practice committee, then as a chair, a registration assessor, an educational assessor, and so much more.

He adds: "I believe it is essential that we continue to support technological developments and ensure that our professions - as a key part of the oral health care team - look to the future. Digital technology and workflows continue to leap forward, and by embracing innovation we can build on the deep foundations and existing skills of dental technology for both the DT and CDT professionals, and keep the dental laboratory at the heart of the dental team."