Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download

Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

page 7DTß November 14-20, 201110 Feature United Kingdom Edition and Harry; some regarded visits to Buckingham Palace to treat irritated teeth, and in others Queen Mary dis- cussed with Harry oral health products. One of these letters, dated Feb 4th 1915, was an apolo- getic request from Queen Mary for Harry to come and visit her. The letter read: “I am so sorry to trouble you but will you please come to see me tomorrow. The other tooth with its cement has giv- en way, and you must please mend it! It is so unsightly!” Harry had made quite an impression on the Royal Fam- ily and it would seem that the Nottingham-born dentist was the only dentist whom Queen Mary could trust to come and fix her broken tooth. Splendid job And so it was that Harry did a rather splendid job and was gracefully thanked for the “trouble [he had] taken.” Soon his involvement with the Roy- al Family comprised of assist- ing with the choice and sup- ply of tooth cleaning powders and toothbrushes and as the letters illustrate, Harry of- fered Queen Mary advice and various cleaning equip- ment in which to look after her teeth. Harry continued to treat the Royal Family with great honour and skill, and what is most valuable in understand- ing the workings of a royal dentist is that Harry recorded some of his more memorable visits in a day-book. How- ever, the enjoyment of this discovery has been some- what short-lived, as the book itself has proven difficult to find, (although there remains an account from a previous researcher, Jane McBretney.) In her article, Jane described how the day-book was always kept at Harry’s side, ready to “jot down all manner of amusing incidents, observa- tions and limericks which appealed particularly to his sense of humour.” Surgeon dentist After many years of service, Harry was appointed as Sur- geon Dentist to King George V in 1918 and on his retire- ment in 1926, Sir Harry (as he was called after his knight- hood following his work dur- ing the war) was given the title Honorary Surgeon to the King. A dental pioneer And so it was that Harry be- came not only a famous face, but a loyal and trusted one too. As Richard proudly ex- p l a i n e d , Harry was a pioneer in dentistry; not only was he one of the first pioneers to take part in the in- novation of Paris- impressions, but he also initiated the development of crowns. What’s more, he also invented a new amalgam for his time, which was universal- ly used and resulted in saving large numbers of apparently hopelessly de- cayed teeth. And yet his passion didn’tstop there. Next month is the final instalment of Sir Harry Bald- win’s history and I will be bringing back to life Harry’s messages on the relationship between diet and oral health. Although Harry uncovered the relationship almost 100 years ago, his ideas and beliefs are still being widely discussed today and most importantly, they are being proven. DT ‘I am so sorry to trouble you but will you please come to see me tomorrow. The other tooth with its cement has given way, and you must please mend it! It is so unsightly!’ Buckingham Palace A letter to Sir Harry Baldwin from Queen Mary. Images courtesy of Richard Fowler Acknowledgements I would like to thank Richard Fowl- er for giving me the opportunity to write this article and for the re- sources that he donated to King’s College London. I would also like to thank the staff at the Archive Department at King’s College London for their help and guidance whilst completing my re- search. Quotations courtesy of King’s Col- lege London Images courtesy of Richard Fowler