Article
The Editorial Board of Dental Update was shocked and deeply saddened to learn that Louis had passed away on 23rd December 2023, after a short illness. Not only was he a longstanding member of the Editorial Board of Dental Update, he was also an outstanding contributor to the journal for the past two decades. His articles, often entitled ‘A practical guide to…’ dealt with direct and indirect resin composite, minimally invasive restorative techniques, but most recently also dental amalgam, reflecting his exceptional ability as, first and foremost, a supremely talented primary care practitioner, an educator, both at undergraduate level (especially when imparting practical skills in the clinical skills/phantom head room) and as a charismatic postgraduate lecturer. He was a prolific author and probably the most published general dental practitioner in the country, with over 40 peer-reviewed papers to his name. In addition, he contributed to book chapters, supplying high-quality clinical images from the vast library for which he was famed.
Louis was a well-respected tutor and helped to organize structured postgraduate courses at the University of Birmingham. He was also one of the original team teaching on the distance-learning primary care masters in Advanced Minimum Intervention Restorative Dentistry at King's College London. His lectures and practical courses were highly acclaimed and much sought after. He also managed, until recently, to fit in one day per week of general dental practice in Birmingham, and latterly was Head Dental Officer at Denplan. To add to all of his many achievements, through his senior leadership role at Denplan and with his connections throughout the dental industry, Louis made an invaluable national contribution by becoming the first true dental ‘impresario’, by organizing a series of webinars and online courses to help dentists and their teams keep up to date with their CPD when COVID-19 hit the UK in 2020. In due testament to him, these are still running successfully 4 years later.
In addition to his professional achievements, Louis had the most genuine soul imaginable, warm, kind and good-humoured with everyone he met and influenced. He was always willing to give his time and energy to support those who asked for his help. He was a master of the superlative with an ability to make those who he talked to, be it his students or colleagues, feel good about themselves, thereby inspiring confidence. He was a sharp, witty (slightly acerbic, some might say!) raconteur who entertained all, with his larger-than-life, outgoing personality. Louis lived life to the full, with those around him who really knew him marvelling at how he managed to cram so much into a working week. Yet, he cared deeply for his wonderful family and his dog Nellie, and always looked forward to enjoying quality time with them.
Our thoughts and prayers are with those who he has left behind, especially his wife Gilly, daughter, Ella and son, Max. He will always have a special place in the hearts of all who knew him and were influenced by him. With his premature loss, our world is now a much poorer place.
FJT Burke, SJ Bonsor and A Banerjee