One Man's Tortuous Foray Into Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery: One Story During the Evolution of Maxillofacial Surgery from Hospital Dentistry

Laurence Oldham describes his training as a dentist soon after the second world war and his practice in the Royal Air force during national Service. The tedium of General Dental Practice and frustration of an unsatisfying academic job in the north of England is contrasted with the inspiration of a Rotary Foundation Fellowship in the USA and surgical practice in East Africa with committed surgical mentors. Appointed as a Consultant Dental Surgeon in 1968 Laurence Oldham widened the scope of hospital dental surgery after gaining the confidence of surgical colleagues and inviting friends to help him with operations he had not hitherto been trained to do. This is just one of many stories from his generation of how Oral and Maxillofacial practice evolved from hospital dentistry and how ambitious young surgeons developed their craft without anything approaching an adequate training by today’s standards.