Clodagh McAllister of Fairview Dental Clinic in Dublin has been announced as the Colgate Caring Dentist of the Year 2022.
Clodagh McAllister was recognised for her outstanding clinical skills after diagnosing a condition in a patient that, had it gone undetected, would have proven fatal.
The patient, a mother of two, had initially presented at the dentist with bleeding gums. The bleeding had become so severe that her mouth had filled with blood.
Clodagh immediately diagnosed that the bleed was attributed to malnutrition and explained to her patient that she suspected that there may be an infection in the liver.
Reflecting on the experience the patient said, “I presented to Clodagh and within less than a minute she told me, in her extremely calm manner, that she felt it was a doctor I needed, and not a dentist. I suffer from an anxiety disorder, and Clodagh is aware of this. She made me feel so safe, and that everything was going to be OK. She even called the GP for me.
“When I got to my GP things started happening really quickly. Within half an hour I was in a hospital A&E department and I spent the next 10 days in hospital. I had stage 4 liver failure. There was a build-up of fluid on my brain, my lungs and my heart. The doctors told me that had I waited another 72 hours I would have been looking at a maximum of 12 weeks to live.
“It is because of Clodagh that my children have a mother and my husband has a wife. Clodagh saved my life.”
The annual Colgate Caring Dentist of the Year awards recognise dentists that have provided dental treatment and care over and above the call of duty, often with transformative effects, as nominated by patients and members of the public.
The four-person judging panel felt Clodagh’s ability to immediately recognise the condition and diagnose it in such a timely manner went far beyond the knowledge and expertise required of a family practitioner.
Now in its 15th year, the Colgate Caring Dentist of the Year Awards 2022 celebrate dentists in their local communities who have provided dental treatment and care that has gone over and above for their patients.
Hosted by the Irish Dental Association and title sponsor Colgate, this year saw almost 1,700 nominations received from dental patients and their families all over the country.
Speaking at the awards, Caroline Robins, president of the Irish Dental Association said, “The stories behind every nomination show the important – and is this case, life-saving – relationship between patients and dentists in the community. Every year we are blown away hearing about the positive impact that dentists and dental teams are having on the lives of their patients and the Caring Dentist of the Year awards gives us the most special platform from which to tell these stories. The fact that the nominations come from patients themselves, makes these awards all the more special. I congratulate Clodagh McAllister, and all our winners and nominees, on their wonderful achievements and the outstanding work and contribution they are making every day to the lives of all their patients in the community.”
Steve Wilson, professional business manager, Colgate said, “The success of the awards over the past fifteen years is due to the fact that patients themselves freely and willingly participate in the nomination process by telling their individual stories.
“The awards are actually all about the patient and their outstanding experiences with their dentist. We are delighted to support the awards programme again this year.”