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General News

David Baker (1942 – 2018)

We are sad to report the death of David Baker on 20th February.

David was born in Wolverhampton on 6th October 1942. He was a Bristol dental student from 1961, qualifying in December 1965. He worked as an associate in a dental practice in Cannock before opening his own practice in Codsall.
He married Joy, a dental nurse at the Bristol dental school and they had two daughters, Amanda and Samantha.. He enjoyed camping holidays with his family and shared an interest in fast cars with his good friend Bob Russell (1965), on one occasion speeding down the M5 in a 3.4. Mk2 Jaguar – before speed limits were imposed in 1966! He kept in contact with his Bristol student friends and was a regular attender with Joy at 66Society reunions in Bristol.
Dave suffered a devastating stroke in December 2015 that robbed him of his speech, mobility and ability to write or use a keyboard. Late last year lung cancer was diagnosed. He died peacefully at home in his sleep on 20th February. His funeral on 8th March was attended by a large number of relatives, friends and patients.

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General News

New Reunion Report Received: Class of ’82

John Cantwell Writes:

35th Reunion of the Class of ‘82


We gathered at the Marriott Royal in Bristol for our 7th reunion.
Some had revisited the Llandoger Trow in the afternoon to lubricate the proceedings. We assembled in the bar, 23 of the 46 graduates managing to attend and all looking in good shape!
There were some apologies from those who couldn’t make it – skiing, mountain rescue, family weddings, poorly and exotic volunteering all good reasons, we felt.
We had a good meal and drinks and after, gathered for the photo shoot.
Reminiscences, laughter and friendship were the order of the evening.
There was a kind of irony in that the Bristol Dental Ball was going on in the next function room! So young, so idealistic, so slim! We are their future, poor dears!
Our year group have always enjoyed our reunions and there is a lasting camaraderie from our time together as a small group at BDH.
Looking forward to number 40!

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General News

Recently held reunion reports…

1987 reunion, Saturday 11th November

Caroline Drugan

The 30-year reunion of the Class of 1987 was expertly arranged by Maurice Trotter, all the way from Queensland, Australia after he promised he would do the next one five years ago.

The day kicked off with Susan Hooper leading a group of us on a tour of the dental school. There have been many changes over the years but the most notable were the demise of the student bar and the replacement of the library with a computer suite. In the evening, we gathered at the Bristol Hotel for dinner and conversation. About half the year were able to attend, many with partners; unfortunately two had to drop out at the last minute due to family circumstances.

It was great to see everyone again, in particular those who haven’t attended other reunions. Reg Andlaw was able to join us for the evening, which was lovely. Many stayed in the bar talking until the early hours, although some of us had beds to get to. We are now looking for volunteers for the next reunion – living at a distance from Bristol is no excuse, as Maurice so ably demonstrated!

 

 

’66 Society reunion, Saturday 2nd December, 2017

Bob Binnersley

A gathering of twenty-three intrepid reunionists met for the 51st consecutive reunion dinner of the Society. Nearly all members can still walk and all talk almost incomprehensibly about times long since, exaggerated by most.

The meeting was graced by the presence of Dr Reg Andlaw, Chairman of the Bristol Dental Alumni Association, who is a staunch supporter of alumni reunions. His attendance is always much appreciated. A toast was offered before the meal to mark the passing of Professor David Berry. Dave was a great teacher and gave total support to all students who passed his way. Members’ thoughts were also expressed about those members who are not well and unable to attend.

For anyone who is associated with members of the ’66Society and would like to attend, please contact me at bobwbin@aol.com

 

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General News

New Student Elective Report Received

Patient-dentist communication in Cambodia

   

Christina Tran & Lu Huey Khoo

Our first week in Cambodia was spent in a makeshift dental clinic at a school in Phnom Penh’s poorer outskirts (Image 1). Conditions here were vastly different to the Bristol Dental Hospital, with portable lamps and handpieces powered by an unreliable generator (Image 2), and instruments (including burs) being sterilised in a pressure cooker (Images 3, 4). We performed a wide range of treatment on patients, from routine fillings and fissure sealants to multiple extractions. The resilience of the patients we treated never ceased to amaze us; children of no more than eight years old could tolerate palatal infiltrations with less than a whimper. Most impressive of all were the staff, who were able to deal with long queues of patients, crying infants, and exploding equipment without batting an eye.

Our second week, spent in a modern, established clinic in central Phnom Penh, was somewhat quieter, which allowed us to make some key observations on patient-dentist communication in a Cambodian dental setting.

  

Image 1: (left) Entrance to the makeshift dental clinic, set up in an empty classroom. Patients were seen at the desk for registration, medical history taking, and post-op instructions.

Image 2: (right) Dental chairs, portable handpieces, and lamps set up at the makeshift dental clinic.

   

 

 

 

 

 

Image 3: (left) Pressure cooker used to sterilize instruments on-site.

Image 4: (right) Instruments laid out in the clinical area of the makeshift dental clinic.

We completed separate diaries of observation at the end of each day, reflecting on our own experiences. Communication between patients and dentists often took on a paternalistic approach, with the dentist using physical contact as a form of instruction. A culture of openness in the dental setting was not observed, as patients did not seem willing to acknowledge their right to raise concerns regarding pain during treatment. Although most patients initially adopted an ‘open position’ in the dental chair, indicating a relaxed attitude, this often changed to a ‘closed position’ once treatment started, indicating anxiety. Due to the time constraints, little could be done to address their discomfort.

From our observations, the current paternalistic model of communication enabled patients to be seen more quickly, as less time was spent building rapport and discussing treatment options with patients. This fulfilled the main priority of the ‘One-2-One Foundation’: to provide critical care to as many patients as possible. However, this paternalism also resulted in little patient understanding or motivation for the maintenance of good oral health. Previous studies in developing countries have shown that a patient-centred approach to a consultation can improve patient satisfaction and compliance with treatment. We therefore theorised that a more patient-centred model of communication in Cambodian dentistry may help to improve adherence to oral hygiene and dietary advice, reducing the caries incidence in the population.

In conclusion, our time in Cambodia has been a valuable experience in many aspects. We have not only vastly improved our own practical skills under great time pressure, but have also gained key insight into patient-dentist communication.

All that remains to be said is how grateful we are to the Bristol Dental Alumni Association for making this valuable learning experience possible.

 

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General News

Chris Stephens wins another award!

Prof. Chris Stephens decided two years ago that  rather than trekking up to Gloucestershire every month where he had been a Woodland Trust  Volunteer for almost 30 years he would transfer his allegiance to a new group being established here in Bristol for Bishop’s Knoll Wood. This resulted in the publication of his second retirement book  – Bristol’s Australian Pioneer- Robert Edwin Bush and  his Bishop’s Knoll First World War Hospital. (Bristol Books, £12)  (You may order a copy by clicking here). He soon found himself Hon. Sec. of the industrious Bishop’s Knoll volunteers who this month, were delighted to receive the Woodland Trust’s  “Willow award” as  Volunteer Group of the year. He mused that “willow” was particularly appropriate title since Robert Edwin Bush the former owner of Bishop’s Knoll was a dab-hand with a piece of willow having opened the batting for Gloucestershire with  the great  Dr W.G. Grace while still a schoolboy.

Sad to note that this year will be the last time that an Ashes Test Match is played at the WACA, the cricket ground Bush established in Perth, Western Australia while making his fortune as a sheep farmer there.

There is a video to accompany this article which may be viewed by clicking here (opens in new window).

The Woodland Trust can be contacted by clicking here (opens in new window)

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General News Uncategorised

Professor David Berry, 1921-2017

It is with much regret we report the recent death of Professor David Berry.

Chris Stephens offers a remembrance:

David Berry was born in Bridgwater Somerset in 1921 and in 1941 joined the RAF, completing his war service in October 1945 as a Flying Instructor at the Elementary Flying Training School, Burnaston, Derbyshire. Even though the photograph of his Tiger Moth was later to become a permanent fixture on the wall of his office, he never flew again. Instead, he entered the Bristol Dental School with the then small year of mainly ex-Service men and is remembered for riding his motor cycle around the “Cons Room” for a bet.

Dave qualified LDS and BDS in 1949, gaining the Dental Gold Medal for his year and then undertook the resident house officer post in the adjacent Bristol Royal Infirmary during which time his carved initials were added to the wooden Victorian dental chair which was kept in the House Officers’ room. Following the publication of the Teviot Report in 1946 and the establishment of the National Health Service, there was rapid expansion in dental undergraduate numbers, which in Bristol increased fourfold over the next 20 years. David Berry, already identified by Arthur Darling, Director of Dental Studies, as an outstanding student, was now appointed Lecturer in Dental Prosthetics working under Professor Chick. Dave completed his MDS in 1952 but realising that he required a doctorate to progress further in an academic career, he resigned in 1953 to spend time undertaking research in the Department of Anatomy. He had by now joined the newly established British Society for the Study of Prosthetic Dentistry of which he would become President ten years later. Soon after gaining his PhD in 1959, Professor Chick left Bristol to join the staff of the Royal Dental Hospital and in 1960 Dave was appointed Consultant and Senior Lecturer in Dental Prosthetics in the Department of Dental Surgery, working under the nominal direction of Professor Eric Bradford. It was only later that Dave became Professor and Head of the new Department of Dental Prosthetics and Orthodontics.

This rather old fashioned alliance between prosthetics and orthodontics, not abandoned in Bristol until the mid 1980s, was founded on the need that both specialties had for technical laboratory support and because Bristol dental technicians were employed by the University, the new Professor of Dental Prosthetics became responsible for thirty production technicians and 6 dental instructors. Soon however, a large discrepancy arose between University and NHS Technical salary scales. This, and the rapid expansion of Regional Hospital dental units, lead to an exodus of many highly skilled dental technicians from UK Dental Schools. Prolonged Union negotiations at Bristol eventually moved the technicians on to NHS-related salary scales but by this time there was a national shortage of trained dental technicians and the School had several long-standing vacancies which Dave was unable to fill. With the help of the Regional Dental Officer Tom Dowell, this serious problem was solved by the setting up of a Bristol based SW Regional Technical Training scheme which soon re-established a skilled and contented body of technicians in the School.

Arising from his earlier work in the Department of Anatomy, research in the Department now became focused on the interplay between dental occlusion and temporomandibular joint dysfunction. This coincided with the time in the early 1980s when visiting Americans were promoting their concepts of gnathology (described by a UK clinical scientist at the time as being too much “gnath” and not enough “ology”) with the result than many patients were persuaded by their well-meaning general dental practitioners to undergo extensive and expensive full mouth dental reconstruction with the aim of curing or preventing temporomandibular joint pain. The work of Dave and his postgraduates revealed the wide diurnal variation in dental occlusion which meant that there was no fixed intercuspal relationship upon which such  treatment could be based and full mouth rehabilitation soon fell out of favour in this country.

By this time Dave had been Dental Clinical Dean for four years where his courteous and quietly spoken advice counselled many a troubled student. Having acquired considerable managerial experience, he was now pressed to accept the poisoned chalice of Dean of the Faculty of Medicine with responsibility for a budget of £30M and the overall governance of the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary and Preclinical Sciences. Many senior colleagues in subsequent years would decline to take on this bed of nails yet Dave accepted the task with his usual quiet efficiency. His period in office saw increasing emphasis on continuing professional education  which lead to the establishment of Regional Postgraduate Medical and Dental Deans throughout the UK. On completion of his term as Dean of the Faculty, Dave was appointed Postgraduate Dental Dean for the South West Region. In the same year, he had the satisfaction of seeing two of his former lecturers gaining chairs; Professor Bob Yemm in Dundee, who like Dave would eventually become Dean of the Faculty there and Professor Chris Stephens in the new Department of Child Dental Health which Dave had worked so hard to establish. This brought Bristol’s departmental structure into line with all other UK dental schools. His three-year period as a notionally part-time Postgraduate Dean saw the introduction of vocational training courses for newly qualified dentists, a great increase in the number of courses for dental practitioners as well as an expansion of higher specialty training in the SW Region.

To his colleagues, Dave remained a kind but very private person. On the eve of his retirement he requested there be no presentation and no formal dinner but the timely intervention of his wife Liz ensured that an informal dinner was held with a few close friends and colleagues, which he greatly enjoyed. After he retired he and Liz moved to Exford where Dave became a full-time water bailiff. A fly fisherman of some repute this suited him perfectly with a house conveniently placed beside the River Exe and opposite the local pub.

David Berry died peacefully on 31st October 2017. He will be remembered by many generations of Bristol dental graduates as the quietly spoken, kindly and immensely knowledgeable clinician. His white-coated figure with the ever-present wax knife protruding from his breast pocket (complemented on the days of his temporomandibular joint clinic by a stethoscope hanging from his right hip pocket), will long be recalled by those who worked with him.

CDS

The family request any donations be made to the Somerset Wildlife Trust.

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News from the School

Brand new: A Day in the Life of a Dental Student

A new video has just gone live on Bristol Dental Student’s YouTube Channel entitled “A day in the life of a Dental Student”

It’s brilliant and you can watch it by clicking here (opens in new window)

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General News

Susan Hooper Retires!

Susan Hooper recently retired after an impressive 40-year stint at the Dental School. She was appointed a senior house officer in maxillo-facial surgery in 1977 and retired as Consultant Senior Teaching Fellow in Restorative Dentistry.

To celebrate her retirement a Staff Summer Party was organised on 20th July. It was held under an open-sided marquee in the courtyard outside the Students’ Common Room where a large gathering of current and retired dental staff, nurses and administrators were treated to a selection of perfectly barbequed food, to live music from a trio and even to an exhibition of pole-dancing performed by two loose-limbed young ladies from the University of Bristol Pole Fitness Society.

Professor Peter Robinson, Head of School, led the tributes followed by others previously recorded by colleagues that were displayed on a large screen, all confirming the high regard in which Susan is held not only for the work she has done but also for her warm, happy and friendly personality. All present joined in wishing her a very happy retirement.

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Bob Yemm 1939 – 2017

Professor Bob Yemm, who died after a short illness on 15 February, was a distinguished clinician, scientist and teacher. Bob (as everyone knew him) qualified BDS from Bristol in 1961, the same year as his dentist wife Glenys.

In 1965 he gained a BSc honours degree in Physiology also from Bristol and added a PhD in 1969. He moved to Dundee in 1976 as Senior Lecturer and Consultant in Dental Prosthetics, coming with an established international record as a neurophysiologist. He was an immediate hit in Dundee with students, staff and patients for his calm and reassuring manner.

He was promoted to a personal chair in 1984 and led a department with a strong record of combining research and clinical expertise. Clinically, he will best be remembered for developing (along with the late Norman Duthie and Ken Sturrock) a technique of reliably producing replacement complete dentures. The replica record-block technique revolutionised replacement dentures and is now widely used within primary and secondary care.

Bob served as dean of Dundee Dental School from 1989 to 1993 and was efficient, fair and direct. Although Bob was a most gentle person, he was able to vigorously defend his department, school or discipline when necessary, and did so effectively. He was honoured to be made president of the BSSPD in 1994/5 and was made a Distinguished Scientist of the IADR in 1992 for his research in Prosthodontics.

Although always active in pursuing and encouraging research he was perhaps happiest when teaching and treating patients. He was loved by his patients and students for his kindness, care and great skill. His ability to reassure a nervous student was unsurpassed and many students felt that without his help and guidance they would never have qualified. Bob was also noted as the only member of staff of Dundee University who drove to work in a Bristol car! Occasionally, Bob would forget his pipe was still alight when wandering through the clinic to the amusement of everyone.

Bob retired from Dundee in 1999 but did not leave dentistry completely as he continued to work part time in specialist practice in Glasgow and provided some post graduate teaching. Glenys and he bought and renovated a possible Alexander “Greek” Thomson coastal home in Cove near Helensburgh where he was able to pursue his great passion for sailing.

Bob Yemm, despite his many talents, was a very modest man who was both inspiring and kindly. He will be remembered by many as a person who provided considerable help, both professionally and personally. Our condolences go to Glenys, son Richard and daughter Jane.

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Crispian Scully 1945 – 2017

With sadness we announce the death of Professor Crispian Scully CBE in London on 17th March.

Professor & Honorary Consultant Oral Medicine and Head of School at Bristol from 1988- 1993, Professor Scully went on to be the Dean at the Eastman Dental Institute (1993-2008).  During his career, he published more than 1100 papers, wrote 34 books and edited 11 more.

Our thoughts go to his wife and daughter.