Colin Poggo died on Friday 8 October 2004 after a 19 month battle against pancreatic cancer. He was 51. He fought this terrible disease with the same optimism and good humour with which he lived his life.

Colin qualified as a doctor in 1978 from Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg and came over to the UK in 1982. He began doing dental anaesthetics full time in 1987 when he visited surgeries with his mobile unit. In 1990 he realised that in order to provide dental anaesthetics more safely and efficiently there was a need to have fully equipped clinics with properly trained staff that patients could be referred to for their treatment. He went into partnership with over 40 dentists during the 1990s and his company became the biggest provider of dental anaesthetics in the country. During these times he was a controversial figure as many people felt that dental anaesthetics should only be provided in hospitals, but he proved that there was a real need for referral centres as hospital waiting lists became longer. The success of the clinics showed that they were held in high regard by referring dentists.

The change in regulations in 1998 hit the company hard, but it managed to adapt and showed that it is in fact possible to treat the vast majority of cases under intravenous sedation and relative analgesia. In 2001, with two other dentists, Colin started First Choice Dental which now has a number of practices specialising in sedation.

Both patients and staff could not help but be infected by his good nature, humour and love of life.

Although Colin did not do a lot of anaesthesia himself in the last few years as he took on an administrative role, anyone who has worked with him knows that he was an excellent anaesthetist himself. Both patients and staff could not help but be infected by his good nature, humour and love of life.

Sadly, Colin leaves wife Ellen and their two children, Natalie and Ross, and Lauren, his daughter from his first marriage to Pauline. Our thoughts are with them at this time and all of us who knew Colin lament the passing of a true and loyal friend.