Obituary

1931 - 2010

David Smith served in the Merchant Navy for 10 years from 1948 to 1958. After an apprenticeship with the Pacific Steam Navigation Company he served in Royal Mail Lines obtaining his Certificate of Competency as a Master Mariner in 1957.

He graduated from King’s College Hospital Dental School in 1963 and obtained an MSc in Radiation Physics and Radiation Biology in 1966 from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine. For the next three years he worked part-time in general practice and obtained an MPhil in Radiation Biology in 1969 and in the same year was appointed a full-time Senior Lecturer in Dental Radiology at King’s College Hospital Medical and Dental School.
 
He was appointed Professor of Dental Radiology in 1978. In the same year and then again in 1985 he was appointed President of the British Society of Dental and Maxillofacial Radiology (BSDMFR) and is regarded as one of the pioneers of the European Academy of Dental and Maxillofacial Radiology (EADMFR).
 
David developed a one year internal MSc in Dental Radiology in 1976 and in 1990 pioneered the first distance learning MSc in Dental Radiology from the University of London. To date this internationally recognised programme has awarded degrees to about 150 students from over 40 countries. During the 1980’s David was also instrumental in setting up the Diploma in Dental Radiology from the Royal College of Radiologists that provided the basis for dental and maxillofacial radiology being recognised as a separate speciality by the General Dental Council. He published widely and authored the textbook 'Dental Radiography', first published in 1980. After a hugely successful and influential career during which he affectionately became known as the father of dental radiology in the UK, David ‘retired’ in 1996, but continued working to develop the distance learning MClinDent in Prosthodontics.

Produced for the EADMFR Newsletter.