John Bayes

1936-2022

John Bayes was a prominent dental practitioner in Lincoln, dental anaesthetist, practice advisor and advisor to the health authority, but possibly his major legacy to dental health was his sustained, and eventually successful, campaign to get Lincoln's water supply fluoridated.

John qualified from Birmingham in 1958. After working for two years as an assistant in Grimsby and Bracknell, he found a vacant practice in rented rooms in Lincoln which he bought for ten pounds. After re-equipping, he started work in 1960 which was mostly extractions and dentures, fitting 30 full dentures a week. After five years he joined an established practice on the retirement of the senior partner.

An interest in anaesthesia was triggered by an anaesthetist who intubated patients in the practice for restorative work, and in the mid-1960s John started giving anaesthetics himself. He was inspired by Stanley Drummond-Jackson and joined the Society for the Advancement of Anaesthesia in Dentistry, which was Drummond-Jackson's brainchild, and he became a disciple. He used his intermittent methohexitone technique and he also sedated phobic patients using the Jorgensen technique with pentobarbitone and pethidine before the benzodiazepines came in the early 1970s.

When Drummond-Jackson came to Lincoln to lecture, he telephoned in advance to ask John if he would remove a wisdom tooth. On arrival, they walked down Steep Hill to the practice where John administered 35 milligrams of methohexitone, the dose prescribed by Drummond-Jackson, and removed the tooth. John said: 'My hand was trembling a bit because I was dealing with such a prominent personality in the profession. He then had dinner with us and gave us his talk.'

As a young dentist, John teamed up with local GP Roy Schofield and campaigned for fluoridation of Lincoln's water supply. The proposal was defeated in the council for two years running but after visiting each councillor at their homes it was passed at the third attempt. John reported that after five years of fluoride his 'gas sessions' at the practice had decreased from three a week to one.

John was helpful in setting up the Lincoln section of the BDA and subsequently became its chair and President of the Eastern Counties branch. Latterly, as dental practice advisor, he helped introduce vocational training to Lincoln, started a course for dental nurses preparing for the National Certificate, and was dental advisor to the health authority.

He continued giving anaesthetics in three practices until 2000.

Andrew Sadler