Search Results for Medical Obituaries - Narrowed by: Dental Surgeon

First Title value, for Searching Fletcher, James Pearse (1928 - 2013)

2024-05-09T23:17:57Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2023-07-07
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010300-E010399
Occupation Dental Surgeon
Details James Pearse Fletcher was a professor of dental surgery at the University of Liverpool. This is a draft obituary. If you have any information about this surgeon or are interested in writing this obituary, please email lives@rcseng.ac.uk
Resource Identifier RCS: E010345
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Chapman-Andrews, David Frederick John (1933 - 2018)

2024-05-09T23:17:57Z

by Keith Ashley
Publication Date 2023-14-06
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010200-E010299
Occupation Dental Surgeon
Details Group Captain David Chapman-Andrews was a consultant dental surgeon in the Royal Air Force. He was born in October 1933 in London into a talented family. His father, Sir Edwin Arthur Chapman-Andrews, was a career diplomat who is especially remembered for helping to put Haile Selassie back on the throne as Emperor of Ethiopia during the Second World War. His mother was Sadie Barbara Chapman-Andrews née Nixon. A sister, Harriet, who specialised in children’s dentistry and ran a private practice near Ely, married Murray Meikle, later professor and head of the department of orthodontics at Guy’s Hospital. During David’s childhood, before the Second World War, he lived in Iraq, Ethiopia and Egypt. David trained at University College Hospital’s National Dental School in Great Portland Street and qualified in 1957. He carried out his National Service in the Royal Navy, where Pamela Machell, who became his wife, was his dental surgery assistant. He served in Singapore and the Indian Ocean. His original intention was to join Johnny Maudant, one of his teachers, who had asked him to join his Devonshire Street private practice, but Maudant and his wife were both killed when their charter plane hit a mountain in Yugoslavia during a snowstorm. By 1962 David had passed both parts of the FDS exam with relative ease at a time when the failure rate could be close to 90%. At that time to enter the final FDS examination you had to be at least 25 and to have spent a year in approved hospital posts. David’s FDS made him eligible for an appointment as a consultant dental surgeon. He worked a couple of locums and began to train in restorative dentistry, but Group Captain Donald Temple Tate suggested he apply to join the RAF dental branch as a specialist; he did so and was appointed as a consultant at Wroughton. Consultant dental surgeons, as they were then called, were expected to provide a specialist service in virtually all aspects of dentistry; they were in post at all six RAF hospitals in the UK and the four overseas. They dealt with simple jaw fractures, routine wisdom teeth, clearances and other relatively minor problems. Anything major was referred to the medically qualified senior consultant Will Baird, who worked in the east wing of the Princess Mary RAF Hospital at Halton, where the RAF plastic surgery specialty was based under Air Vice Marshal George Morley. Here all the major surgery was carried out, including orthognathic, save that most malignancies were referred to the Westminster Hospital. Of the other oral surgery specialists only Douglas Charles Paley Battersea was medically qualified and one, Curtis Ockleford (known as ‘Ockie’), though well thought of, did not have an FDS. (His grade was senior specialist.) David’s previous experience was not ideal for the Wroughton post and he had missed the period of training under Will Baird that his contemporaries received. A request was sent to the RAF to send out a maxillofacial team to treat casualties of the Nigerian Civil War (1967 to 1970). Will Baird decided he was too old to take this on. Don MacLeod was asked but turned it down as, since serving in Aden, he had had a medical condition which made him unfit for service in hot climates. Ockie was asked and immediately volunteered, but his lack of a specialist qualification debarred him from taking a leadership role, so David took this on with Mike Awty, an experienced surgeon from East Grinstead, providing the necessary expertise. There were a few tensions, but the project proved very successful, and the team was subsequently awarded the Wilkinson Sword of Honour for that year. When I served at Wroughton, this was on display in a hospital corridor with David named as the officer in charge. On his return, David spent nine months attached to the maxillofacial unit at Mount Vernon Hospital, which he much enjoyed, and which gave him the further experience he felt he needed. David was the first RAF dental officer to become involved with implants; this predated osseointegrated titanium implants. The implants he used were made of stainless steel with designs, such as the blade vent, or another consisting of three stainless steel pins driven into the alveolus at different angles, supporting a core on which a crown could be placed. I saw the occasional example of his work, which had proved successful in the long term. No doubt he would have continued when titanium implants took over, but these were much more expensive, and funding was not available in the RAF. David had tours in Singapore, Cyprus and I think Germany, with Wroughton as his home base. He had his problems, as do we all, but the quality of his work was not in question. He was also a very talented artist, often painting his own cards with depictions of subjects ranging from marching bands to jazz saxophonists. He illustrated John Hollands’ book *Heroes of the hook* (Quill Publications, 2013) on the Korean War. He also produced and sold videos on service subjects to raise money for the Upottery Airfield Heritage Trust. The Royal Navy was his first love, but he liked to maintain connections with both services. In his later years he enjoyed monthly meetings of the local Aircrew Association, one of four non flyers who had been invited to join. David died on 25 June 2018 at the age of 84. Predeceased by his wife Pamela, whom he married in 1962, they had four children, including Mary and John.
Resource Identifier RCS: E010242
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Leatherman, Gerald Hubert (1901 - 1993)

2024-05-09T23:17:57Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2023-06-13
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010200-E010299
Occupation Dental Surgeon
Details Gerald Hubert (‘Gerry’) Leatherman was described by Dame Margaret Seward as ‘The father of world dentistry’. Born in London on 18 February 1903, the son of Harry Leatherman and Beatrice Leatherman née Freedman, at the age of seven he went to South Africa. He was educated at King Edward VII School in Johannesburg and then studied chemistry and physics at the University of the Witwatersrand. In 1920 Gerry enrolled at Harvard Dental School and graduated in 1924. He then studied at Guy’s Dental School in London, and, by December 1924, he had satisfied the requirements and passed the examinations for the LDS RCS. By 1926, he was established in Devonshire Place, W1, where he combined oral hygiene and prevention with high quality restorative dentistry. His first contact with the Fédération Dentaire Internationale (FDI) was minimal. At the 1931 International Dental Congress in Paris he showed little interest in the FDI: after visiting the exhibition he played golf. The organisation was badly hit by the Second World War and in 1947 Leatherman became an assistant secretary. The old guard had run the FDI with their own money, but it now needed proper financial controls. With colleagues, Gerry balanced the books and negotiated a contract with Cassell to produce an *International Dental Journal*. In 1950 Gerry became secretary of a committee chaired by Sir Wilfred Fish to ‘drag the FDI kicking and screaming … into the second half of the 20th century’. He chaired the organising committee for the 1952 11th International Congress held in London under Fish’s presidency. It was highly successful: 3,940 people attended from 67 countries, with simultaneous translation of sessions into five languages and a daily four-page *Congress Courier* reporting news. The science programme was opened by Fish’s friend, Sir Alexander Fleming. The general assembly elected Gerry as secretary general. Many people saw that Congress as beginning the modern FDI, much due to Leatherman and Harold Hillenbrand, executive director of the American Dental Association. Hillenbrand said Gerry had the courage and essential nastiness to get the job done. They changed the FDI from gatherings of prominent individuals interested in international dentistry to one of meetings of delegates from national associations – a world parliament. Gerry ran it from Devonshire Place with four staff. He developed strong links with the World Health Organization. In 1951 he issued a stencilled newsletter with 1,000 copies in English and French. By 1960 there were 6,000 copies in English, French, Spanish, German and Italian. He served until 1975, by which time there were 73 full member associations and 10,000 individual members. During his LDS viva at Guy’s, Sir William Kelsey Fry asked Gerry the most important thing he had learned in America. He answered: ‘the value of good oral hygiene’. Gerry had experience of working with dental hygienists, then illegal in the UK, and realised their potential. He played a major role in promoting the use of hygienists in preventive care and raising their profile. Early in the Second World War the RAF had a serious oral health problem in all ranks, including flight crews. Acute necrotising gingivitis was a major issue, with loss of operational flying hours. With insufficient dentists, it was essential to do something. Kelsey Fry, a consultant to the RAF, suggested hygienists could help to alleviate the problem of neglected mouths: much gross disease could be prevented through education. A trial scheme was established at the Medical Training Establishment at Sidmouth. Dental clerks and orderlies underwent 16 weeks of training to scale and polish teeth and educate patients. Responsible for implementing the programme were Squadron Leader James Smith and Flight Lieutenant Leatherman. Gerry brought to the scheme his American knowledge. The Dental Board reminded the RAF that hygienists were not legal; the Force said there was a war on and ‘needs must’. These activities taught Gerry much about dental politics, discovering many dentists were bitterly anti-hygienists, but some had experienced their benefits in the RAF. With time, there was increasing interest in hygienists. The Ministry of Health sponsored a scheme at the Eastman Dental Hospital, but it closed in five years. Later other hospitals trained hygienists to work in practice to a dentist’s prescription. They formed the British Dental Hygienists’ Association. Gerry supported them enormously as president (from 1949 to 1957) and as the honorary president until he died. A Dr Gerald Leatherman Award was established in 1994 to honour his name. Gerry served on the board of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England for 14 years. He was president of the Metropolitan branch of the British Dental Association in 1954. In 1948 Gerry discussed with others the possibility of a society for people interested in gum and bone disease. It went ahead as the British Society of Periodontology, with Sir Wilfred Fish as president. Gerry published countless papers, gave innumerable lectures and was recognised throughout the world for his contributions to the profession. He was elected to fellowships of the Faculties of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Edinburgh and Ireland, of the American College of Dentists, the International College of Dentists, the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons, the Royal College of Dentists of Canada, the Harriet Newell Lowell Society for Dental Research of Harvard University’s dental school, the odontology section of the Royal Society of Medicine and the Royal Society of Health. He was awarded honorary doctorates by Temple and Turku universities and elected to 37 honorary memberships, including of the American, British, Canadian and Australian Dental Associations and the American Dental Society of Europe. The New York State Dental Association bestowed its Jarvie-Burkhart Award in 1979. The Pierre Fauchard Academy recognised the late Gerald H Leatherman as the 14th recipient into its International Hall of Fame of Dentistry in 2001. Gerry had two daughters with his first wife Constance (née Freeman). He divorced and in 1949 he married Margaret Miller Cloutman (or Brown), who died tragically in 1979. Gerald Leatherman enjoyed all aspects of his life. He ran a very successful private practice for nearly 50 years. His involvement in dental politics was extensive, and he was highly regarded by his peers worldwide. He studied racehorse form and enjoyed frequent bets. An obituary pointed out that on the day he died from cancer on 11 December 1991 all racing was stopped – but because of frost rather than his death. Stanley Gelbier
Resource Identifier RCS: E010240
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Seward, Dame Margaret Helen Elizabeth (1935 - 2021)

2024-05-09T23:17:57Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2023/06/13
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010200-E010299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/386650386650
Occupation Dental Surgeon
Details It is difficult to do justice in a few hundred words to the life of Dame Margaret Seward whose career spanned a period of huge changes in UK dentistry, many of which were the result of her own influence and intervention. Born Felicity Bridget Openshaw on 4 August 1935, she was adopted at the age of two and renamed Margaret Helen Elizabeth Mitchell. Her adoptive father, John Hutton Mitchell, was a dentist; her adoptive mother was Marion Findlay Mitchell née Duncan. Margaret was educated at Latymer School in Edmonton, north London, where she was head girl and later became chair of its governors. She graduated from the London Hospital Dental School in 1959, becoming the London Hospital’s first female resident dental house surgeon. In 1962, having obtained her FDS RCS, she married Gordon Seward, then a senior lecturer in oral surgery at the London. Following the birth of the first of their two children, Margaret took a career break. Her research conducted during this time led to the award, in 1970, of the master of dental surgery degree, the first to be made to a woman by London University. This was on the complications associated with deciduous tooth eruption; the first time the subject had been dealt with seriously since the meeting of the Medical Society of London in 1884. Gradually returning to practice, Margaret became aware of the problems of women trying to do so. In a letter to the *British Dental Journal* she suggested that there should be a retainer scheme for women with domestic responsibilities. This led to a notable paper in 1974, co-authored with Desmond Greer Walker, on how this might be introduced, something which eventually came into being nine years later (‘The need to retain women dentists in practice’ *Br Dent J.* 1974 Oct 15;137[8]:319-21). In 1976, whilst serving as secretary to both the British Paedodontic Society and the section of odontology of the Royal Society of Medicine, Margaret was elected to the General Dental Council – once again a first for a woman. In 1979 she became the first woman editor of the *British Dental Journal*. Here she soon persuaded the British Dental Association (BDA) to provide proper staff and office space. The findings of her readership survey led to several changes in the loss-making journal and soon achieved a rising impact factor. Margaret also used it to promote continuing education initiatives. Notable among these was ‘Teamwork’, a distance-learning programme which, with financial support from the four UK health departments, helped dentists in general practice to train their dental nurses. Margaret later became editor of the *International Dental Journal*, remaining in the post for ten years. Well aware of the continuing discrimination against female dentists, in 1985 she explained the problem to Edwina Currie, then a minister for health, and suggested a tailored course for women returning to practice. The resultant departmental grant led to a pilot programme at the London Hospital, which soon became a model for other courses. In 1993, Margaret assumed the BDA’s presidency. She was by this time vice-dean of the English Faculty of Dental Surgery and president of the odontology section of the Royal Society of Medicine. In the following year, she became the first woman president of the General Dental Council (GDC). Here she continued to encourage lifelong learning and achieved a notable ‘accord’ between the universities and Royal College, which allowed the GDC as the ‘sole competent authority’ to introduce specialist lists for dentistry. In 1994, she was honoured with a CBE. Her final year as president of the GDC saw the publication of the Government’s *NHS plan for England*. Her final council meeting achieved the approval of the statutory regulation of professionals complementary to dentistry. It was therefore inevitable that she would now be persuaded to become the Chief Dental Officer for England, responsible for taking forward the Government’s programme ‘Modernising NHS dentistry for the twenty-first century’. In 1999 she received the DBE, becoming the first dental dame. Not surprisingly, Dame Margaret gained many other honours in her life. These included doctorates from the universities of Newcastle and Birmingham, the Colyer Gold Medal of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and a fellowship of Queen Mary and Westfield College. She was also made an honorary member of the American Dental Association and the American College of Dentists. But for all those who knew her, Margaret remained a very approachable, energetic and fun-loving person, who carried out her numerous responsibilities with great tact and good humour. Dame Margaret Seward died on 22 July 2021. She was 85. Chris Stephens Stanley Gelbier
Resource Identifier RCS: E010241
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset