Maurice Arthur Kettle was a consultant orthodontist and oral surgeon at King’s College Hospital, London. He was born on 30 June 1916 in Gray’s, Essex. His father, Reginald Arthur Kettle, was a foreman at a paper and board mill. His mother was Ellen Elizabeth Kettle née Beecroft. In the 1939 England and Wales Register Kettle is listed as a ‘dental student and mechanic’ (or dental technician). His younger brother Reginald, then around 17, appears in the same register as a dental mechanic’s apprentice. Kettle trained at Guy’s Hospital and qualified in 1941 with an LDS. At Guy’s he won the Newland Pedley gold medal. In December 1941 he joined the Royal Navy as a temporary surgeon lieutenant and served until at least 1945, including on Arctic convoys. Following his demobilisation, he trained as an orthodontist and passed the diploma in orthodontics. He gained his fellowship of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1954. He became a consultant orthodontist and oral surgeon at King’s College Hospital, until his retirement in 1981. He was also in private practice in Harley Street until 1966. He was an honorary treasurer of the Medical Protection Society and, from 1974 to 1986, treasurer of the European Orthodontic Society. In his honour the Maurice Kettle prize in orthodontics is awarded by King’s College. In 1946 he married Pamela M Wild. They had three children including a son, Andrew. Kettle died on 6 February 2011. He was 94.