Derek Seel was a consultant orthodontist in Cardiff and Swansea and postgraduate dean for south west of England based at Bristol University. He was born on 2 April 1932 in Stockport, the son of William Alfred Seel and Olive Seel née Greenwell. He was educated at Stockport School and graduated from the University of Manchester dental school in 1956. After completing a house surgeon appointment in Manchester, he spent six years in general practice, part of which was in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia. In 1960 he married Gillian Henderson. In 1962 he returned to the United Kingdom to begin specialist training in orthodontics, firstly as a postgraduate in the Institute of Dental Surgery at the Eastman Dental Hospital and then as a senior registrar in Bristol On completing his training he was appointed as a lecturer in orthodontics at the University of Bristol’s dental school and in 1969 became the first NHS consultant orthodontist in Wales at the newly established Cardiff dental school. There he met Russell Hopkins, a like-minded and energetic oral surgeon, and they soon set up one of the earliest combined clinics. Keen to improve his own clinical skills, Derek was one of the first to realise the merit of the Australian Begg technique, which offered the first cost effective multibanded fixed appliance system. He soon established a local Begg study group, where members presented their own treated cases for discussion and criticism. Always an active member of the British Dental Association (BDA), Derek became a member of its central committee for hospital dental services and later president of the BDA hospitals group. This led to being elected to represent his colleagues as chairman of the consultant orthodontist group in 1976. At that time there seemed to be no centrally held information about consultant appointments and the Ministry would frequently phone him up to find who had been appointed where. It was Derek’s idea that the group should draw up a consultant directory and indeed he did most of the work involved. This was then sold to colleagues and health authorities to give the group its first income stream. In 1981 he was persuaded to stand for election to the board of the Dental Faculty at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, which he would serve for 14 years, the latter half as a member of the council of the College. During this time he was instrumental in setting up the Faculty’s audit working groups jointly with dental specialist associations and became chairman of the joint committee for higher training in dentistry and of its specialist advisory committee on orthodontics and paediatric dentistry. In 1987, by now vice dean of the Faculty, Derek had become concerned that the College’s diploma in orthodontics was outdated. Also it was not the only ‘additional dental qualification’ in orthodontics recognised by the General Dental Council (GDC) as universities were by now offering MSc courses, some of which did not match contemporary standards. His solution was to negotiate the intercollegiate membership in orthodontics introduced in 1988 and to encourage senior orthodontic colleagues who held the old DOrth diploma to submit themselves voluntarily to the new examination. By this strategy the MOrth, requiring as it did proof of both clinical and academic excellence, rapidly became the national standard and is now highly regarded internationally. Memberships in community clinical dentistry (1989) and restorative dentistry (1993) soon followed. The existence of these meant that, following the publication of the Mouatt Report on dental specialist training, Derek’s successor Ken Ray was able to negotiate the ‘accord’ between the College, the universities and the GDC, which permitted the successful introduction of dental specialist lists in the UK. In his early years on the board of Faculty Derek had come to believe that the College should represent the interests and standards of postgraduate dentistry as a whole and not just those of hospital dentistry. With the establishment of vocational training for dental practice in the UK and the introduction of the membership in general dental surgery examination (MGDS) in 1979, it was felt by many, though by no means all, that general dental practice was no longer adequately represented by the Faculty of Dental Surgery. Derek, now as dean, led the protracted negotiations which brought into being the Faculty of General Dental Practice (UK) in the final year of his office. As if this was not enough in 1987, whilst continuing as a maximum part time NHS consultant in Cardiff and Swansea, Derek had agreed to become postgraduate dean for south west England based at Bristol University. This challenge he took on with his usual enthusiasm and energy. He had soon set up the Bristol University open learning in dentistry (BUOLD) based on the modular structure adopted by the Open University. This could lead to the award of the diploma in postgraduate dental studies, which he negotiated with its board of dental studies. The programme is still running successfully 30 years later. In 1990 Derek became president of the British Society for the Study of Orthodontics. In the same year the National Health Service and Community Care Act brought about the introduction of the internal market within the NHS and the purchaser/provider split. Derek, by now well known as an effective campaigner for high quality NHS dental services, was asked by the Secretary of State to join the clinical standards advisory group to assist in carrying out this transformation of UK healthcare provision. When Derek retired his colleagues were greatly concerned that his outstanding contributions as dean had not been recognised with the customary civil honour. However, for Derek this notable omission was outweighed by his FRCS by election for, as eloquently expressed by a leader in another field: ‘…no greater honor can come to any man than the respect of his colleagues’ (Cary Grant Oscar acceptance speech 1970). Highly regarded by all who knew and worked with him, the dental profession owes Derek Seel a debt of gratitude for his vision, energy and determination to deliver high standards of dental care through postgraduate and continuing education.