James Neil Swallow

I first met Neil at meetings of the London Society for the Study of Children's Dentistry. Neil always sat in the front row, smoking a pipe and challenging every speaker.

Neil was born in 1931 in Taunton. He gained his BDS from the London Hospital in 1955. He worked at RDH with Peter James before returning to the London, working with such luminaries as Max Horsnell and Geoffrey Slack. He established clinics for children with disabilities at LH and Dr Barnardo's Home, ahead of most British dentists, and frequently went out in the middle of the night to make feeding plates for new-born cleft palate children.

In 1964 he became founding Senior Lecturer in Children's Dentistry at the new Cardiff Dental School. His clinics for disabled adults and children were again ahead of their time. He surveyed and treated psychiatric and sub-normality patients in Swansea and Cardiff.

Neil wrote an MDS thesis on the oral health of people with disabilities. He was an inspiring teacher and co-authored Child dental health. A practical introduction, and studied psychology to better understand his patients. In 1975 he was appointed to a chair in Amsterdam, including training dental therapists to treat adults. He introduced the teaching of local anaesthesia for children's treatment and then went to Belfast in 1978, as Professor of Restorative Dentistry, where he established treatment clinics for adults with learning and physical disabilities. On return to England, Neil and his second wife Barbara opened a dental practice at their home. He acted as consultant to the practice and as house husband.

Neil died on 29 April 2010, aged 78. He would have been bemused to see St John the Baptist church, Thaxted, packed with relatives, friends and colleagues. The service was a musical celebration of his life. The words of the Right reverend Bill Ind that 'Neil loved to discuss and debate but he always set out to win' beautifully captured the man. He is survived by Barbara and their children Philippa and Gabriella, and Paul and Karen from his first marriage.

Please note that the following link should have been included with the obituary for W. A. Vale (BDJ 2010; 208: 487). Readers can access a full version of W. A. Vale's obituary at http://semitone440.co.uk/nickvale/obituary.pdf