The Gentle Touch, a dental clinic in the Corn Exchange on Woodmarket, swept two major prizes at the 2025 Private Dentistry Awards, taking home Practice of the Year and Patient Care. The Kelso practice was also Highly Commended for Team of the Year, while practice principal Dr Amber Aplin was a finalist for Practice Owner of the Year.
The wins are notable given Kelso’s small size — the market town has roughly 6,000 residents — and the calibre of rival practices from cities such as Edinburgh and Glasgow.
“To win these two awards — arguably the most important categories — is beyond anything we could have imagined,” Dr Aplin said. “It proves that world-class dental care isn’t just available in big cities. Patients in the Borders deserve the very best, and that’s what we’ve worked so hard to create.”
Dr Aplin bought The Gentle Touch nine years ago when it was a traditional local surgery. Under her leadership it has become the UK’s first fully biomimetic dental practice, an approach designed to preserve natural tooth structure and avoid extractions where possible.
All clinicians at the practice — four dentists and three dental therapists — are trained in biomimetic techniques. The practice says its restorations are proven to last decades, compared with conventional crowns that typically last five to eight years.
This year the clinic launched a Biomimetic Academy, attracting dentists from across Britain to train in its methods. The practice also works closely with Vision Dental Lab, a Kelso-based laboratory that supplies dentists nationwide.
“There’s something special happening in Kelso,” Dr Aplin added. “We have this remarkable concentration of expertise in a small Borders town.”
The awards cap a period of rapid change for the clinic and underline a broader shift in private dentistry toward minimally invasive, longevity-focused care.