Building an award-winning specialist centre of excellence

Private Dentistry Awards winner Craig Mallorie discusses leadership, specialism and opening a specialist oral surgery and dental implant centre in south Wales.

When Craig Mallorie graduated from Cardiff in 2006, he had no way of knowing just how wide-ranging his career would become – or that it would eventually bring him back to south Wales to set up what is now one of the region’s most comprehensive specialist oral surgery and implant referral centres.

Now a specialist oral surgeon and clinical director of the South Wales Specialist Oral Surgery and Dental Implant Centre, Craig’s career has spanned general practice, hospital dentistry, overseas training, Harley Street, and ultimately practice ownership. Looking back, he sees it as a path shaped by curiosity, drive and a willingness to step outside his comfort zone.

‘I qualified in 2006 and spent my first couple of years in general practice,’ he says. ‘It didn’t take long to realise I wanted to focus on surgery more seriously, so I went back into hospital dentistry as a maxillofacial senior house officer. That’s where I completed my MJDF and really confirmed that oral surgery was what I wanted to do.’

Immersed in implant dentistry

A major turning point came when Craig moved to Australia, spending five years deepening his surgical and implant experience.

‘Australia completely changed things for me,’ he explains. ‘I trained in implants at UCLA in California and finished top of my cohort, then completed an implant diploma at Sydney University. That’s where I really immersed myself in implant dentistry and built on the surgical foundations I’d developed in the UK.’

After five years overseas – and with a young family by then – Craig returned to the UK, initially settling in London. There, he continued to invest heavily in postgraduate education, completing a sedation diploma at King’s College London, a master’s in oral surgery, a medical education degree in Edinburgh, and a PGCert in dental law and ethics, all while working four days a week on Harley Street and teaching one day a week in King’s College London’s oral surgery department.

‘It was an intense period,’ he says. ‘But it was also hugely rewarding. I was working at a very high clinical level while continuing to develop academically, and that combination really influences how I practise today.’

From roaming surgeon to specialist centre

After three years in London, Craig moved back to Cardiff and set up a roaming oral surgery service across south Wales. While the model worked well, it also exposed the downsides of being spread across multiple sites.

‘Constantly travelling between clinics takes its toll, both physically and logistically,’ he says. ‘Over time, it became clear that I wanted a permanent base – somewhere purpose-built around specialist care, efficiency and a bespoke patient experience.’

That idea became the South Wales Specialist Oral Surgery and Dental Implant Centre. Today, it’s home to a multidisciplinary team including Specialists in oral surgery, oral medicine and maxillofacial surgery, and has so far received referrals from more than 300 dentists as well as local GPs.

The reality of building a practice from scratch

Craig is open about how demanding it was to build the centre, describing practice ownership as one of the toughest – but most satisfying – things he has ever done.

‘It was incredibly hard,’ he says. ‘I approached eight banks before one agreed to fund the project. Once that hurdle was cleared, it became completely all-consuming.’

The building was stripped back and rebuilt internally from the ground up, requiring months of near-constant involvement.

‘For four to six months, I was working 19 or 20 hours a day,’ he recalls. ‘I remember stripping wallpaper at three in the morning so the decorators could start their painting first thing that morning. It was relentless, but also exhilarating.’

Having worked in around 25 practices over the years, Craig was determined to design a space that genuinely worked for both patients and staff.

‘This was my chance to bring together everything I’d seen and learned – what works and what doesn’t – and try and create something special,’ he says.

True to one’s roots

The practice symbol is a triquetra, a Celtic motif made up of three interlocking arcs, which for Craig represent the clinics three core values: quality, honesty and service. ‘They’re bound together by a circle, which represents the team that holds those values together,’ he explains. From the outset, Craig was clear that the centre should feel rooted in Wales. Local talent was used throughout, from the architects and builders to the artists, blacksmith and designers.

‘If we’re called the South Wales Specialist Oral Surgery and Dental Implant Centre, the building needed to feel Welsh through and through,’ he says. ‘We worked with Welsh professionals and commissioned local artists to showcase their talents wherever possible.’

Inside, the space features a central sculpture by a Welsh blacksmith, murals by Welsh artists, and large photographic wall coverings showing beautiful landscapes from across south Wales, all intended to soften the clinical feel.

‘Most rooms have high-definition murals – a waterfall from the Brecon Beacons, the lighthouse at Porthcawl, and the beautiful Castle Coch, which sits just opposite the practice across the valley,’ Craig says. ‘I wanted patients to feel calm as soon as they walk in, without losing that sense of precision and professionalism.’

Navigating pressure and decision-making

Beyond securing funding, one of the biggest challenges was the sheer number of decisions involved.

‘You’re making hundreds of decisions every minute of the day (and night!) – on equipment, layout, workflows – often under real time pressure,’ Craig says. ‘People are constantly looking to you for answers, and you feel a huge responsibility to get it right.’

Setbacks were inevitable, and adaptability was key. ‘You have to take things as they come,’ he says. ‘Delays happen, unexpected building work crops up, furniture suddenly arrives that needs assembling overnight. But you just stay focused on the bigger picture and roll with the punches.’

Support from trusted external partners was also crucial, particularly in preparing for regulatory inspections and ensuring the practice opened on time.

Advice for aspiring practice owners

When asked what advice he’d give others thinking about ownership, Craig is refreshingly frank. ‘Be honest with yourself about why you want to do it,’ he says. ‘Ownership doesn’t make life easier. Being a well-paid associate in a good practice is probably as easy as working life ever gets.’

He also stresses the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people. ‘Don’t just chase the lowest cost. Work with people who are genuinely excellent at what they do and who care about the outcome – that passion will seep through to the final result.’

That said, he recognises the rewards that come with autonomy. ‘You gain control over your environment, your team and how care is delivered to your patients from all angles,’ he says. ‘If you’re passionate about doing things properly, that’s an incredibly empowering situation to be in.’

The benefit of specialist knowledge

The centre focuses on a specific skill set amongst the team, something Craig believes is essential to strong referral relationships.

‘We don’t offer routine general dentistry, endodontics, orthodontics or non-surgical facial aesthetics,’ he explains. ‘Referrers know their patients will always come back to them following completion of the treatment that they were referred for, which makes us a safe place to refer to.’

Services include all aspects of implant dentistry (including zygomatic implants) plus associated hard and soft tissue grafting, routine to complex extractions, wisdom tooth removal, cyst removal, frenectomies, removal of soft tissue lumps, gingival grafting, sedation, oral medicine, TMJ pain management, blepharoplasties and the list goes on! 

Craig has been placing implants for nearly 20 years, with a current success rate of 99.3%. He attributes this high success rate to having stayed consistent with his methodology over the years. By taking a staged evidence-based approach with no compromise in quality of materials throughout, and by working with the patient’s biology to try and give them the highest chance of a predictable long-term result.

‘We cover everything from straightforward implant cases to full-arch work, complex grafting and implant-retained dentures,’ he says. ‘Education is also a huge part of what I do – it’s something I care deeply about. So regularly throughout the year I am lecturing on this subject that I love either in our own in-house lecture theatre, or nationally and internationally.’

Leading from the front

Integrity and patient-centred care sit at the heart of the practice. ‘I genuinely treat every patient as if they were family,’ Craig says. ‘I recommend the treatment that I feel is right for them based on their situation, expectations and budget. That philosophy is embedded in everything we do which is perhaps one of the reasons we seem to have rapidly built a strong reputation locally.’

To help achieve that, Craig has a hands-on and team-oriented leadership style where regular one-to-ones, open communication and a willingness to learn and adapt have helped build a strong, cohesive culture.

‘I’d never ask someone to do something I wouldn’t do myself,’ he says. ‘The team has seen me mopping floors, setting up rooms, loading the autoclaves – whatever needs doing to achieve our common objective.

‘There’s no hierarchy here. If one part of the team isn’t working well, none of us can do our jobs properly.’

National recognition

In 2025, the South Wales Specialist Oral Surgery and Dental Implant Centre was named New Practice South West and Wales at the Private Dentistry Awards – a moment Craig describes as both affirming and emotional.

‘Those awards are highly respected,’ he says. ‘They’re a genuine national benchmark, so being recognised at that level meant a great deal to both myself and the whole team.’

For Craig, entering wasn’t about personal recognition, but about testing whether the vision he and his team had worked so hard on stood up beyond local feedback.

‘We’d had hundreds of dentists visit for courses and tours, and the feedback was consistently strong,’ he says. ‘The awards felt like a way to see if that held up nationally.’

‘Truly overwhelming’

Being shortlisted felt like an achievement in itself, but winning went beyond expectations.

‘Just being a finalist was such an honour,’ he says. ‘Then finding out we’d actually won was truly overwhelming – in the best possible way.’

He’s quick to point out that the award belongs to far more than just the clinicians.

‘This wasn’t my award,’ Craig says. ‘It was for everyone involved – nurses, treatment coordinators, receptionists, management, architects, builders, designers. Everyone poured themselves into it.’

He adds: ‘You invest an enormous amount of time, energy and emotion into building something like this. Having that recognised nationally gave the whole team a huge boost. It made the late nights and tough decisions feel worthwhile.’

Confidence and trust

From a patient perspective, Craig believes the award has helped reinforce confidence and trust.

‘Patients don’t always understand the technical side,’ he says. ‘But they understand quality. National recognition helps to reassure them that they’re in a good place.’

It has also strengthened relationships with referring dentists, many of whom have shared in the local sense of pride.

‘We’ve had some of our referrers get in touch to say how pleased they are for us which means the World,’ Craig says. ‘That really matters to us – it shows we’re doing right by the profession as well as our patients.’

While the trophy is proudly displayed, Craig sees it less as a finish line and more as a reminder of responsibility.

‘Winning doesn’t mean you stop pushing,’ he says. ‘If anything, it raises the bar. It reminds us we need to keep innovating, improving and delivering the standards that earned us that recognition in the first place.’

For Craig and his team, the award represents more than a celebratory moment. It stands as proof that a clear vision, relentless attention to detail and a genuinely collaborative approach can translate into excellence on a national stage.

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