Patricia Thomson FCGDent will be awarded this year’s College Medal, the College’s most prestigious honour.
Dr Patricia Thomson FCGDent (l), winner of the 2026 College Medal (r)
Reserved for no more than one recipient per year, the College Medal is awarded for exceptional service to the dental profession and its patients in a manner aligned with the values and mission of the College. Dr Thomson has received the award in recognition of her wholehearted commitment to the profession, and her longstanding service to CGDent and previously to the Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP), both nationally and in the west of Scotland.
Since graduating from Glasgow Dental School in 1983 until her retirement from practice this year, she amassed 43 years’ unbroken service as a general dental practitioner. Principal of a mixed NHS-and-private practice for over 30 years, she assisted the Vocational Dental Practitioners in her practice for over 20 of these, also nurturing the careers of many Dental Care Professionals, associate dentists and non-clinical staff. In recent years, she practised as a part-time associate dentist, and she continues to teach undergraduates as a part-time Clinical Teaching Fellow in the restorative department at the University of Glasgow.
Heavily involved for more than two decades in the highly active West of Scotland division of the former FGDP, she tutored numerous colleagues for entry exams for the Royal Colleges and presented teaching sessions on orthodontics to vocational trainees. Elected in 2016 to represent the West and North of Scotland on the national FGDP Board, she was re-elected in 2019 and transferred to the College Council when CGDent succeeded the FGDP.
In 2021, she led the establishment of CGDent Scotland to succeed the West of Scotland division, and has since continued her involvement both in the study groups and in planning the annual study days, which have been running since 1992 and now regularly attract over 400 colleagues.
She was appointed the first Chair of the College’s Regional Funding Panel and was elected Vice-President of the College in 2022. She served a second term as Vice-President in 2023-24, and was re-elected to the Council in 2024 before standing down in 2025 after completing the maximum permitted nine years’ service. She continues to represent the College as its nominee on the NHS Education for Scotland Dental Committee, a role she has held for many years.
With a longstanding interest in orthodontics, she spent three years on a part-time clinical attachment in Glasgow Dental School’s orthodontic department, training in fixed appliance therapy, and later completed an MSc in Primary Dental Care (Dental Science) with an interest in orthodontics, achieving a distinction.
She also holds the Diploma of Membership of the Joint Dental Faculties of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (MJDF) and the Diploma of Membership of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (MFDS), and is a Fellow of the International College of Dentists and a Past President of the West of Scotland branch of the British Dental Association.
Dr Roshni Karia MCGDent, President of the College, said:
“I am delighted to be announcing this award to Patricia, and congratulate her on behalf of the whole College. She has worked tirelessly over many years, not least in her leadership capacity in Scotland, where together with committed colleagues she has helped foster an impressive and effective community of practice which has gone from strength to strength in delivering FGDP & College initiatives, particularly for the benefit of early careers practitioners. She epitomises what it means to be a College Fellow, and was a diligent member of the FGDP(UK) Board and College Council, and Vice President, whose countless contributions have helped define the College’s development throughout its early years. She remains a devoted and uncompromising champion of general dental practice, and is an extremely worthy and deserved recipient of the College Medal.”
Dr Thomson will be the fifth recipient of the College Medal, following Ian Mills, Andrew Hadden, Ario Santini and Kevin Lewis, and will have it conferred at the College Fellows’ Summer Reception in London on the evening of Thursday 25 June 2026. All Fellows and Associate Fellows of the College are welcome to attend, with tickets available via the button below:
Further details of the College’s honours and awards are available here
This year’s CGDent Scotland Study Day will take place on Friday 4 December at Glasgow Science Centre, where Dr Noland Naidoo, Dr Helen Kaney FCGDent, Professor Murali Srinivasan and Professor Gerry McKenna FCGDent will lecture on ‘Digital dentistry for the dental team’. All dental professionals are welcome, and further information and tickets are available here