The Dental Board Awards

What this is — and what it isn't

Most dental awards are advertising with a trophy. This program inverts that: the criteria below were published before any winner existed, every recognized practice is evaluated against the same public rubric, and there is no fee to enter, no fee to win, and no sponsored placement. Recognition is quarterly and small on purpose.

Disclosure: No entry fees, no winner fees, no sponsored placement. The Dental Board scores no practice clinically; this program evaluates externally-observable digital patient experience only, against the published DX-20 instrument.

The published criteria

These were published before any winner existed, and every cycle is judged against them — nothing else.

1. Verified DX-20 performance. A completed DX-20 self-benchmark with a composite of 85+ (“Benchmark-ready”), re-verified during evaluation by our editors walking the same 20 published checks from the outside where they are externally observable (profile, website, booking path, review responses).
2. Observable, not claimed. Every scored item must be verifiable by a stranger: we evaluate what a prospective patient can actually see and do, never what a practice tells us about itself and never anything clinical.
3. Consistency over the quarter. Spot re-checks at two points in the evaluation window. A practice that passes once and drifts doesn't clear the bar; the award recognizes an operated system, not a good week.
4. Clean disclosure. The practice discloses any commercial relationship with this network (there usually is none). A material conflict disqualifies the entry for that cycle, full stop.

How evaluation works

1. Nominations (including self-nominations) are collected through the quarter via the form below. No fee at any stage.
2. Editors shortlist entries that meet criterion 1 on paper, then independently re-walk the externally-observable DX-20 items for each shortlisted practice.
3. Two evaluation passes at least three weeks apart; disagreements between passes resolve against the practice (criterion 3).
4. The published result lists every recognized practice, the cohort size, and the evaluation window — never a ranking, never a score we didn't show the math for.
5. Corrections: any factual error in a published result is correctable via the contact page and will be corrected in place with a note.

Quarterly. Nominations stay open through the quarter; evaluation happens in the first two weeks of the next quarter; recognized practices are published with the cohort size and the criteria they met.

Recognized practices

No cohort has been published yet — nominations for the inaugural cycle are open. That's deliberate: the criteria came first, and the first recognized cohort will be published only after a full evaluation cycle against them. An awards page with winners on day one is a page you shouldn't trust.

Nominate a practice — or yourself

Self-nominations are welcome and carry no penalty; the rubric doesn't care who filled in the form. No fees at any stage.

Open the nomination form →