The event was attended by representatives of the Collegiate Organization of Dentists, Scientific Societies, political and health figures, and the media.

The novelties this year have been the two new categories of awards that the FDE has awarded: the Distinction of the Board of Trustees, a special recognition for the AMA Foundation for its collaboration with the Solidarity Clinics, which was collected by Dr. Bartolomé Beltrán, vice president, in name of Dr. Diego Murillo, president of said institution; and, on the other hand, the first edition of the Alejandro López Quiroga Award, created in memory of the deceased vice-secretary and vice-treasurer of the Council of Dentists, and which was given by his widow to Dr. Carole El Ghoul, from the International University of Catalonia, for her final degree project “Influence of collagen deproteinizing pretreatments on the adhesive resistance to eroded dentin: An in vitro study.”



Distinctions

The event began with the presentation of distinctions to the honorary Councilors of the Council: Dr. Carmen Mozas, former president of the College of Dentists of Álava; Dr. Luis Cáceres Márquez, former president of the Official College of Dentists of Seville and the Andalusian Council of Dentists; Dr. Victorino Aparici, former president of the Official College of Dentists of Castellón; Dr. Indalecio Segura, former president of the Official College of Dentists of Almería; Dr. José Antonio Rubio Serraller, former president of the College of Dentists of Salamanca; Dr. Carlos Cañada Peña, former president of the Provincial Board of Teruel.

Next, the distinctions were presented to the honorary Members of the Council: Mr. Juan Calixto Galán, Prosecutor of the Supreme Court; Dr. Tomás Cobo Castro, president of the WTO; and Dr. Jesús Aguirre Muñoz, president of the Parliament of Andalusia, who thanked Dr. Óscar Castro and the Council for this significant appointment.



FDE Awards

As for the awards given by the FDE, the one for Help to NGOs has gone to the Luis Séiquer Social Dentistry Foundation, for Comprehensive oral health program for elderly residents of the Brotherhood of Charity of Seville. Its president, Dr. Antonio Castaño Séiquer, collected the award.

Dr. Miguel Quevedo was awarded for his article “Use of Tooth Transformer technology and the patient's included teeth as graft material in a multidisciplinary treatment”, chosen as the best of all those published in the .RCOE magazine during 2022

The José Navarro Cáceres Award has gone to journalist Nieves Salinas, head of the Health section of El Periódico de España, thus recognizing their work when it comes to reporting in an objective and informative manner on topics of general interest regarding oral health.



Council Awards

For his communication actions to raise awareness about head and neck cancer, and his workshops on chemotherapy, immunotherapy and clinical trials in patients with head and neck cancer, he has been awarded the Juan José Suárez Gimeno Award for the Promotion of Oral Health to the Spanish Association of Head and Neck Cancer Patients (APC), chaired by Mª Jesús Romero. From the APC, a non-profit organization declared of Public Utility, they help patients with head and neck cancer and also their families.

Dr. Guillermo Jesús Pradíes Ramiro has received the Dentist of the Year Award 2022. Doctor in Dentistry from the Complutense University of Madrid, he is considered worldwide as one of the main researchers and promoters of the implementation of digitalization, applied artificial intelligence and new technologies in the dental environment, and was the first Spaniard to pass the tests. for recognition as a Specialist in Prosthodontics by the European Prosthodontics Association (EPA) in 2016. He is currently president of SEPES (Spanish Society of Prosthetics, Stomatology and Aesthetics) and director of the Department of Conservative Dentistry and Prosthetics at the UCM.

Finally, the Santa Apolonia Prize has been awarded to Dr. José Vicente Bagán Sebastián. It is the most important award given by the Council and recognizes the dentists who have stood out the most in their professional career, for their work, their dedication, and their contribution to the prestige and development of Dentistry throughout their entire professional career. Bagán is a professor of Oral Medicine at the University of Valencia and a teaching and scientific reference in Spanish Dentistry. He has been a teacher of thousands of professionals and has an accredited scientific production at a national and international level. He was president of the European Academy of Oral Medicine from 2010 to 2012 and National Prize of the Spanish Society of Oral Surgery in 2013. Currently, he is head of the Stomatology Service of the General University Hospital of Valencia, a position he has held since 1993. < /span>



Closure

The president of the General Council of Dentists, Dr. Óscar Castro Reino, closed the awards ceremony with a speech in which he congratulated all the winners one by one, making special mention of the Alejandro López Quiroga Award, “a great friend and colleague "whom we all miss very much" and to the A.M.A Foundation, "because their contribution is fundamental, since it guarantees the sustainability of our solidarity clinics."

Likewise, he publicly offered his willingness to collaborate closely with the Government of Spain: “From here I reach out to the Minister of Health to offer her our loyal collaboration, our knowledge and experience to work together in the design of the Government's oral health plan. There is no doubt that the approval of this plan has been a very important first step, but we cannot ignore that there is a long way to go to ensure that oral health reaches everyone.” Castro concluded by asking attendees to “continue working together to overcome current challenges and build a future where oral health is a universal right.”