The British Dental Association has greeted news that Shawn Charlwood has been awarded the Member of the British Empire (MBE) for services to dentistry in the King’s Birthday Honours.
Throughout his distinguished career, spanning more than three decades, Shawn has been a passionate advocate for patients and the profession.
As Chair of the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee during the height of the COVID pandemic, he played a pivotal role representing tens of thousands of high street dentists during a period where dental care all but ceased to exist for patients.
Shawn gave robust evidence at three Health and Social Care Committees advocating for improvements, funding and patient access to NHS dentistry, telling MPs in damning evidence that "what you are proposing is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic while the service slowly slips into the sea."
This helped achieve cross party support for wholesale reform of NHS dentistry, and the highest media and political profile the service has seen in its history.
Shawn has now retired from clinical practice and sits on the BDA’s board of directors continuing to highlight the problems patients face accessing care.
Shawn Charlwood graduated from Birmingham Dental School in 1986 and owned a mixed NHS and private practice in central Lincoln for twenty-five years. He had previously held postgraduate positions at the Manchester Dental School and at the Manchester Royal Infirmary Maxillo-Facial Department, as well as being an officer in the Royal Army Dental Corps TA for five years.
Shawn Charlwood said:
“I am both honoured and humbled to accept this recognition.
“At Covid lockdown dentistry effectively ceased to exist for millions across this country. I set out to ensure that it could survive for colleagues and bounce back for patients.
" During my time at the British Dental Association, all I wanted to do was support colleagues so that they could continue to care for their patients."
BDA Chair Eddie Crouch said:
“Shawn set out to voice his colleagues' concerns and those of the patients they serve.
“He fought and won the argument that NHS dentistry was fundamentally broken. Fixing it remains unfinished business, but the fact this service is still dominating the headlines and political debate is down in no small part to Shawn’s efforts.”
ENDS