clinical directors

Lester Ellman – Clinical Director of the Simply Dental programme
Qualified in Glasgow and has worked as a GDP most of his working life in both NHS and private practice and has served on a variety of professional committees; including being LDC Chair for a number of years and latterly as Chair of GDPC for 6 years. For more than 25 years he has written and spoken about Practice Management topics and in the last 3+ years has been a partner in 'The Dentistry Business' which assists practitioners, both NHS and private, with practice management issues. The company was set up to help GDP’s understand practice finances and to deal with the welter of legislation that they bombarded with. In today's world being in control of your practice is vital especially in the NHS and dealing with PCTs and the other people who control our lives is extremely important and time consuming..

Ann Gilbert – Clinical Director of the Hygienist and Therapist Symposium
Ann left the RAF to go to Liverpool Dental School and upon completing her training worked for Denplan. She has worked in all areas of dentistry but for the last six years she has worked exclusively in private practice. For five years she worked at a multi disciplinary referral practice where her focus was treating patients prior to dental implants and advanced restorative procedures. She has lectured for the last five years including at the ADI's 20th anniversary congress and the 2008 WAC and is on the BSDHT's speaker's list. She currently works clinically 2 days per week and is running Perio Development, a dental practice and management consultancy.

Amarjit Gill – Chairman of the Aesthetic Dentist programme
Amarjit is primarily in private general practice in Nottingham with 3 great colleagues and two part-time hygienists. Amarjit has been a Post Grad Tutor and actively served on local committees, and also within the BDA. He is on record with his belief that, 'for those colleagues who recognise it's their patients that count - not the funding mechanism, the future is bright'. In March 2009, he was voted the 3rd most Influential Dentist in UK. He is an invited Fellow of the Pierre Fauchard Academy, International Academy of Facial Aesthetics and Founder member of International Academy of Tooth whitening.

Tony Griffin – Clinical Director of the Aesthetic Technician programme
Tony was manager of what was the DCP School and Head of the Science Department at People’s College, Nottingham, and then from 2006 he became Director of Health Sciences at Castle College. He has for over 30 years been active in supporting training courses for dental nurses, dental technicians and oral health educators, and for 20 years worked in supporting the educational work of the Association of Denture Prosthesis (ADP), the organisation working to gain recognition of the now termed Clinical Dental Technician role. In 1998 he became chairman of the Dental Technicians Education and Training Advisory Board (DTETAB), in 2002 he become the first President of the Dental Technicians Association (DTA), and in September 2005 he was voted back into the role of president of DTA. Tony continually raises the dental technician’s profile, to the Government, Department of Health, GDC, DLA, FGDP, PCD groups, Skills for Health, educational partners etc. He co-ordinated the development of the consortium Foundation Degree in Dental Technology and then created the ‘Top up’ programme to BSc (Hons) for dental technicians with De Montfort University. His personal interests that relate to dentistry include, Life Coaching, review of procedures, formal assessment of work related cases, NLP – the modelling of excellence, applied e-learning, development of learning materials, and lifelong personal development.

Amelia Bray – Clinical Director of the Dental Insight programme
Amelia joined the industry as a dental nurse in 1994 and has experience in both the veterinary and chiropractic sectors as well as dentistry. In 2000 she assisted her husband and business partner to relocate their dental practice from town centre premises to a converted barn in the middle of an apple orchard in the Tamar Valley. She joined the BDPMA at around the same time and has, over the years, fulfilled numerous roles including secretary, treasurer, vice chair and now chairman. .

Phil Hughes – Clinical Director of the Nursing Network
Phil was appointed Chief Executive of the National Examining Board for Dental Nurses (NEBDN) in December 2008. With a background in commercial development in both the private and voluntary sectors, Phil has a wealth of experience in managing and developing organisations and is aware of the challenges changing environments provide. With a degree in Business Management, Phil is currently studying for a Masters of Business Administration (MBA). .