Sir, as the Honorary Secretary of the Lindsay Society the History of Dentistry, I feel it is my duty to write expressing my concern and that of the Society members, at the proposal of the Principal Executive Committee (PEC) of the BDA to make redundant two members of the BDA Museum staff, leaving just the Head of Museum Services in post.

The Museum is not just a world renowned collection of over 24,000 dental related items, many unique and valuable, but a living, breathing, high profile jewel within the BDA organisation. It should be valued and developed further, not cut off at its roots.

The Museum has been very fortunate to have had, for nearly eight years, a full time education officer who not only hosts school visits to the Museum but with her outreach programme has visited many schools, teaching and inspiring pupils about dentistry and related subjects. Over 10,000 youngsters have been involved in this educational programme – a phenomenal record of success. With the termination of her contract this beacon of excellence and pride in our profession will stop.

Over the years the Museum has received various bequests, not least of which was from John McLean for the Oral History Project. This is now up and running with equipment purchased, interviewers trained and seminars organised. This very important project will be axed with no prospect of recording personalities and events of today for the historians of tomorrow. An irreplaceable loss.

With fewer staff and the consequent reduction in the services provided by the Museum, accreditation may be compromised, which could possibly affect its charitable status and render it ineligible for future external funding.

The Head of the Museum Services and her staff have developed a Museum that the profession is rightly proud of. Their in-depth knowledge has provided help and assistance to countless numbers of visitors and researchers both professional and lay. Their 'front of house' attitude to all who come to visit the headquarters in Wimpole Street is a superb advertisement for the BDA and the profession as a whole.

We, the Lindsay Society, ask the BDA to reconsider this proposal which under the circumstances we feel to be short sighted. A mature, honourable profession has the right to a vibrant, knowledgeable, world-class museum such as the one we are lucky enough to have. Long may it remain so.

Martin Fallowfield, Chair of the BDA's Principal Executive Committee, responds: The very valid comments raised in these two letters about the BDA's commitment and contribution to preserving the profession's heritage are taken very seriously. In many ways they reflect the wider challenges that we have faced in making the necessary adjustments to the way the BDA is organised to meet member needs.

The BDA as an organisation fulfils a very diverse range of functions and different members value each of those activities to different extents. As a consequence, the decisions about where savings could be made were really difficult: what is important to one cohort of the profession is less so to another.

We have thought hard about what we must do to preserve the sustainability of the whole of the Association for the whole of the profession in the long term. Sadly, this has meant that we must temporarily scale back our activities in the Museum as a whole, including the Education service. That said we will be continuing activity within the museum albeit at somewhat reduced level. Revised ways of working should mean that our heritage and social contribution can be maintained. We will do what we can to augment the service once again when funds permit.

1. Lindsay Society