John Walsh (dentist)

Walsh was born on 5 July 1911 in Melbourne, Australia. Walsh was the eldest child of five children born to working-class parents Lillian, a cleaner, and John, who worked as a waiter, and who Walsh later said was an alcoholic and suffered from tuberculosis. He completed his School Certificate and most of his University Entrance through two years of night classes, but took two attempts to pass Latin. Walsh was unemployed when he completed his apprenticeship at 18, and proceeded to set up his own dental mechanic business from the family home, purchasing second-hand equipment and a bicycle for making deliveries. He tutored at the University of Melbourne, and worked as a registrar at the dental hospital and as a locum before enrolling to study medicine. During his medical degree he opened a dental practice, and specialised in oral surgery and anaesthesia. At the time it was common for people to choose to have all their teeth extracted in early adulthood, in favour of wearing dentures, for the avoidance of later pain and cost. Walsh was concerned at the number of extractions he had to perform. ==Career==

Walsh completed his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in February 1943, and then worked as a house surgeon and registrar at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. Walsh commented publicly on the poor state of New Zealand dental health, describing the "denture face" that follows from early complete tooth extraction and poorly fitted dentures. The new dental school was officially opened in 1961. Many staff and students of the dental school joined the campaign to introduce fluoridation to improve public dental health. Walsh and other staff spoke at public meetings on the issue, against "vociferous opposition". At one such meeting, in Port Chalmers in 1958, Walsh spoke alongside nutritionist Muriel Bell, and was opposed by Auckland mayor Dove-Meyer Robinson and Dr Elizabeth Mudie. An audience member was "so incensed that she hit Sir John over the head with her umbrella". Nevertheless fluoridation was introduced gradually around the country during the late 1950s and 1960s, and was eventually introduced in Dunedin in 1966. Dental health subsequently increased so that a school dental nurse was able to take care of 700 children rather than 450. From 1956 to 1972 Walsh was chairman of the Dental Council of New Zealand and a consultant in dental health for the World Health Organization. He edited the New Zealand Dental Journal for seven years and was elected president of the Dental Association in 1969. In 1968 Walsh was elected to the Dunedin City Council. Walsh retired in 1971 due to ill health. He was active in Rotary, Alcoholics Anonymous, and the United Nations Association. ==High-speed dental drill==

Before arriving at Otago, Walsh had obtained approval from the University of Melbourne for a Doctor of Dental Science thesis topic on aetiology of dental caries. Walsh patented a 60,000 rpm contra-angle dental handpiece with a turbine fed by compressed air in November 1950. This made Walsh and his collaborators the inventors of "the first dental air turbine handpiece". ==Recognition==

In the 1960 New Year Honours, Walsh was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. • Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi (1961) • Honorary Doctor of Science of the University of Otago (1975) • Fellow of the Australian College of Dental Surgeons (1967), and Fellow in Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England In 2001, the University of Otago named the dental school building the Walsh Building in his honour. ==Personal life==

In 1934, Walsh married Enid Morris (1911–1993), In 1960, Walsh had a stroke, requiring extensive occupational therapy, which was followed by a dissecting aortic aneurysm in 1970. He died in Auckland in 2003, aged 92. ==Publications==

Walsh wrote three books and published sixty-two scholarly articles. The New Zealand Dental Journal reprinted his most significant papers (listed below) in a 1972 issue devoted to Walsh. Books • A Manual of Stomatology (1957) Peryer, Christchurch • Living with Uncertainty (1968), McIndoe, Dunedin • Psychiatry and Dentistry (1976) Self-published, Dunedin Selected scholarly articles • • • • • • • • • • • • ==References==