Brian David Collin was an orthodontist who lived in Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire, Scotland. He was born on 22 June 1942 in Durham. His father, Thomas Collin, was a storekeeper; his mother was Jennie Collin née Marsh. He studied dentistry at the University of Durham and qualified in 1965. He gained his diploma in orthodontics in 1969 and became a fellow of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1971. He worked as an orthodontist in Scotland and was an honorary clinical senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow. In 1968 he married Joan R Kelly. Collin died in 2013.