Eighteen gathered at the Royal Society of Medicine on Saturday 7th March 2026 for the second meeting of the Dental History Discussion Group.
Before the main discussion Andrew Sadler, who spoke about Matthew Finch at the first meeting described his visit to Finch’s daughter Judith who provided transcripts of his writings and more information regarding his life.
Matthew was born Merton Fink in Liverpool in 1921 to Russian Jewish emigré parents. A fluent German speaker he was recruited during World War Two to interview German prisoners of war before being sent to France to ingratiate himself with German POWs by pretending to be a German like them!
After the war he became a civil servant and wrote Hang your Hat on a Pension (1958) telling of his experiences while thus employed (this and other works can be borrowed from the BDA Library). Apart from being a writer with 19 books to his name, 5 with a dental theme, Matthew was a talented pianist, violinist and political campaigner. And he grew to hate loud noises!
Next Bill Allen who had kindly agreed to ‘Front’ this meeting gave a short talk entitled NHS Dentistry – Past, Present & Future. Bill, a graduate of the Royal Dental Hospital in 1965 retired in 2000. Whilst working in general practice he also became very involved in the organisation of vocational training and was Chairman of Council at the BDA between 1994 and 2000. His short depiction of the NHS covering changing payment systems, disease levels, contracts and the move of dentists in the profession back to private dentistry produced a considerable amount of discussion which revolved around the chronic underfunding of NHS dentistry almost from the beginning of the Health Service in 1948. The initial ‘item for service’ worked well to start with, considering the mountain of dental treatment required by the population following the war. But it was soon not fit for purpose and the NHS Dental Contract has been tweaked and adjusted numerous times ever since!
The RSM provided an excellent sandwich lunch followed by further discussions!
Finally:
- A request was made for sponsorship for the John Mclean Oral History Archive to run another witness seminar to bring things up to date – the last one covered 1948-2012.
- Roland Hopwood is looking to see what effects there were on the civilian population as dental personnel were called up during WW2. Help/ideas would be appreciated.
- Margaret Wilson has kindly agreed to ‘Front’ the 3rd meeting of the DHDG in the autumn. Date yet to be decided.
By the buzz and enthusiasm generated by this meeting, the DHDG seems to be filling a void which bodes well for the future.
Please continue to bring your ideas and research projects and queries along; but most importantly bring yourselves!
Brian Williams
(Images courtesy of Damian Walmsley)