Sunstar and EDHF announce winners of the European Award of Distinction for Dental Hygienists

  Posted by: Dental Design      26th July 2023

Sunstar, the international oral healthcare company, in partnership with the European Dental Hygienist Federation (EDHF) has announced the winners of the 2023 edition of the European Award of Distinction for Dental Hygienists.

The award, supported by the Sunstar Foundation, aims to celebrate the achievements of European dental hygienists. The 2023 Sunstar EDHF European Award of Distinction are:

• Full Time Clinician: Lorella Mengarelli, Italy, Dental Hygienist at Studio Tiozzi Ferroni in Cesenatico.
• Public Health: Federica d’Anteo, Italy, Dental Hygienist at Il Centro Dentale s.a.s. in Cavaria con Premezzo, and author.
• Research: Thérèse Elkerbout, the Netherlands, Dental Hygienist and Clinical Epidemiologist at the Academic Center for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA).
• Entrepreneur: Carina Løvstad, Denmark, Dental Hygienist, author and owner of educational platform and book “Små Bisser”.
• New RDH: Lars Toonen, Netherlands, Dental Hygienist at Colloseum Dental Benelux and lecturer at HAN University of Applied Sciences.
• Academia: Gianna Maria Nardi, Italy, Dental Hygienist and Associate Professor at Sapienza University of Rome.

Mayumi Kaneda, Director of the Sunstar Foundation said: “Congratulations to the winners! This award was always meant to put individual hygienists in the spotlight and to show what a difference one person can make to patients and dentistry. We’re very happy to present six dental hygienists who have demonstrated excellence in their chosen field and we’re confident this list will keep growing with every passing year, as there are many more dental hygienists in Europe that also deserve this recognition.”

Nominations were judged by an international committee of independent dental hygienists, carefully selected by the EDHF. “We are proud of all dental hygienists in Europe, and the nominations were a great opportunity to bring attention to their achievements in different activities, as shown in the nominations submitted, said Dr. Gitana Rederiene, president of the EDHF. “It also meant that judging was not an easy task. But in the end, there are six winners and EDHF congratulates these six excellent European dental hygienists”.

This European award, as well as its North American counterpart, acts as a ‘qualification round’ to the World Dental Hygienist Awards created in partnership by Sunstar and the International Federation of Dental Hygiene (IFDH). For this award, dental hygienists compete for global recognition, a money prize and a trip to Seoul, Korea to be celebrated at the 2024 International Symposium on Dental Hygiene (ISDH).

Besides the Word Dental Hygienists Awards, the Sunstar Foundation promotes other educational initiatives, awards for professionals – the World Perio Research Award and the Perio Link Award – and research and innovation grants to raise awareness about the importance of oral care and support oral care professionals.

Dental Hygienists can find more information about this award at: 

https://www.sunstar-foundation.org/en/awards/world-hygienist