The BITEIN Awards Season III took place on 10/11/12 at the Mumbai Cricket Association at BKC, Mumbai. The program was a grand entertaining event with close to 400 guests attending, 10 awards given away in the various categories and an eclectic mix of song, dance, light and drama provided by over a dozen dentists. The evening started at 8.00 PM with the Masters of Cermony Dr. A.Kumarswamy and Dr. Menaz Thakkar welcoming the guests and briefly updating them on what was in store.

The tenor of the evening was set by the rendition of a Ganesh Stavan by Dr. Mona and accompanied by Mr. Sameer. This was the song Shree Ganeshaya Dheemayi. This was followed by the second act aptly titled “Ek Tha Dentist”, a UV light dance performance beautifully presented by Dr. Sanah – Implantologist in private practice and TEAM Bitein partner, Dr. Neha in private practice in Mumbai, Dr. Vineet having a practice in Ghatkopar and Dr. Bhumita, Orthodontist in private practice. The medley of songs depicted two teeth whose peaceful life was attacked by a large bacteria but were rescued by a dentist. The act got the audience eagerly wanting more.

Then the first award of the evening, The BITEIN-Groups Pharmaceuticals award for “Administrative Expertise” were presented to Dr. Vinay Hazare” , Dean, GDC, Nagpur who flew in early morning into Mumbai city. The award was given away by Dr. Suhasini Nagda, Dean N.H.D.C and Mr. Narayan Gad, CEO Panacea Biotech along with Mr. Prabhu of Group Pharmaceuticals. The second award, the BITEIN –Sensodyne Award for “Continuing Research” was presented to Dr. Ashith Acharya who came in from S.D.M. Dharwad. The award was presented to him by Dr. Nikhil Vashi an eminent Orthodontist from Mumbai along with GSK representatives. After the two awards the next act, “Rhythm Play” was a table recital by Dr. Hrishikesh Tillu yet again a dentist in private practice. He was accompanied on the harmonium and he presented a piece in Tritaal.

The next award presented was the BITEIN Sensodyne award for “Outstanding Teacher” to Dr. A.P.Chitre. The award was presented by Dr. Dinesh Daftary and the grand old 90 plus lady Mrs. Sumitra Devi who sat through the entire program. The fourth was the BITEIN -Sesnodyne award for “Dentistry Imprinted” for Dr. Shobha Tandon who had to make a last minute reschedule and could not reach Mumbai due to some unavoidable situation in her institution.

The next entertainment act was a belly dance presented by “Mumbai Shimmies” rendered by Dr. Preeti, yet again a dentist in private practice but also a teacher of belly dancing along with three of her students among whom were a couple of post graduates in traditional dancing arts.

The next award announced was the BITEIN – Sensodyne Award for “Beyond Dentistry” was for Dr. Kavita Ajmera who could not unfortunately travel due to an emergency health situation in Kokatta. She was available on phone and accepted the award across the airwaves. The sixth award was the BITEIN – Rushabh Gala Best UG Student award. This award is given in honour of the late Dr. Rushabh Gala who passed away in 2007 at a tender age of 23. All the five nominees Dr. Amey Patil from MGV-Nasik, Dr. Aum Joshi from A.B.Shetty-Mangalore , Dr. Sameer Jain from MGV-Nasik, Dr. Jagdish Jagtap from Karad and Dr. Nandita Limaye from Sihngad College-Pune. The UG jury panel was headed by Dr. Kanir Bhatia and based on prior evaluation by Dr. Rajiv Chitguppi of Mumbai and Dr. Bhavdeep Ahuja from Ludhiana and a spot evaluation done by Dr. Kanir Bhatia the trophy went to Dr. Aum Joshi The runners up mementos were given away by IAACD past presidents Dr. Uday Shetty and Dr. Shailesh Divecha. The award was given away by Dr. Kokate, Dean Yerla Medical College and Dr. Devchand Gala.

The next act was “Haute Coutoure – The Desi Way” a dazzling fashion show put on by a group of stunning beauties and handsome men, all dentists once again. They all walked the ramp with great elan and poise. The expressions of the few media people present said it all when they wanted this group to perform professionally in other events. The costumes were amazing and provided by MARS, a venture of Alkesh and Meher Ramwani. The jewellery was provided by Mr. Harshail Soni of Nyaasa and added great class to the costumes. The artists walking the ramp were Dr. Sanket, Dr. Ravi, Dr. Sahil, Dr. Lalit, Dr. Neelam, Dr. Vastavikta, Dr. Manisha, Dr. Karishma and Dr. Komal. The piece de resistance was Ms Suzanne Burnett the show stopper who kindly agreed to grace the occasion. The beauty, charm and elegance of the dentists was ably depicted in this act. Not to be left behind, TEAM BITEIN comprising of Dr. Ajay Kakar, Dr. Mona Kakar, Dr. Sanah Khan and Dr. Neeraj Sheth came up between the change of the fashion brigade from Western to Indian. Dr. Kumarswamy and Dr. Kanir Bhatia, advisors to Team Bitein were also felicitated at this moment.

Dr. Glen Mascerenhas was given the Clinican of the year award by Dr. Anil Malik. This was followed by the Technical Finnesse award which was presented by Dr. Rajiv Khosla to Mr. John Kuriokose, the CEO of Dent Care, the largest laboratory setup of India. He flew in from Kochi for the event. Then came an exhilarting dance performance by Dr. Neelam Paradia and Aziz. The last of the awards given away was the PG awards. This was won by Dr. Revathi and she was presented the award by Dr. Kumarswamy himself.