Eileen Jaffe died on 31 December 2008 at the age of 88. In 20 years in the Children's Department at Guy's Hospital she was a major influence on generations of students and junior dental staff.

Eileen Kirsch was born and grew up on the family fruit farm, about 100 miles north of Cape Town. After excelling at school she obtained BA and speech therapy degrees at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. In 1941 she married Roy Jaffe who had just qualified as a doctor. She practised as a speech therapist during the war. Passionately left wing and a fierce opponent of apartheid, she worked to improve the pay and conditions of mixed race servicemen in the South African army.

Roy and Eileen came to England with their 3-year-old son after the war where Roy specialised in ophthalmology. Two daughters were born in the next five years. The role of non-working housewife was not for her and when her younger daughter started school she decided to apply for dentistry. First she had to do science A-levels (the hardest exams she ever sat, including FDS) and then get into a dental school. After numerous rejections, she was asked at the London Hospital whether at 38 she was not too old. 'You're all older than me', she told the all-male selection panel, 'are you past it?' She got in and never looked back.

She qualified in 1963, did a spell in the Children's Department at the Eastman and then moved to Guy's where the department at that time was essentially an orthodontic one, headed by Jack Tulley. Together they developed children's services at Guy's and along with her colleague, Deidre Pool, the mobile clinics that visited special schools to treat mentally and physically disabled children.

Her interest in endodontics was recognised by her appointment in 1977 as President of the British Endodontic Society, unusual for someone outside the specialty. In 1982 she was made President of the British Paedodontic Society. As well as being a vibrant and inspirational teacher her management of difficult children was legendary. 'My, what beautiful new shoes you have,' would usually quieten the most recalcitrant young patient.

Eileen enjoyed a long and happy retirement. She travelled widely, was an avid reader and a very fine pianist. She is survived by Roy to whom she was married for 67 years, her three children Peter, Margie and Trisha and seven grandchildren.