City Says Farewell To Inspirational Dentist
- Details
- Published: Wednesday, 14 April 2021 08:26
- Written by Chris Tapper
- Hits: 3458
Tributes have poured in for a popular and long-serving Hereford dentist and dental nurse trainer.
Bob Binnersley, who started the St Martins Street Dental Practice died last week after a brave battle against a long illness.
The Hereford Times reported Mr Binnersley’s death after the practice posted on social media, announcing his passing.
Bob was greatly respected by Hereford’s dental community and was responsible for being the founder and chair of the Hereford Independent Practitioner’s Society.
He started his practice, located not far from the River Wye, from scratch in 1989, after leaving a partnership with Haydn Lloyd in Kyrle Street. The practice had just two surgeries then, but it now has seven surgeries and a training centre for dental nurses.
When they identified a need for dental nurse training in Hereford, Bob and his dentist wife Krista created the Hereford Dental Nurse Training Centre at the surgery, accredited to provide training for the National Examining Board Diploma for Dental Nurses.
Dental hygienist and NEBDN trainer Fay Griffiths told GDPUK “Bob was a great advocate for dental nurse training. He was like a father to me, and he was one of my closest friends.”
She recalls that Bob had a penchant for acronyms and the abbreviation of the teaching centre HDNTS he always pronounced as ‘Hard Nuts.’
Bob was well-known by his patients and dental colleagues for his sense of humour.
The practice announcement said "As well as his fantastic dentistry, many of Bob’s patients will remember him for his infamous jokes and one liners! The most common one being “A check up from the neck up, it won’t take long!”
"If he wasn’t being rude to you then you knew something was up!”
"Between Bob and Krista, they not only created an amazing place to work but an extended St Martins family.”
After semi-retiring from General Practice, Bob worked for a few years at Designer Smiles in Worcester, restricting his practice to the provision of dentures and anti-snoring devices. He also gave CPD lectures on anti-snoring devices to dental practitioners from Worcestershire and Herefordshire.
Owner of Designer Smiles and Managing Director of Ceroplast dental laboratory told GDPUK about his first meeting with Bob.
“I didn’t really know Bob well at that time, but he asked me to go to his practice to see a patient so I could give an opinion on crown provision for a lady with severe attrition and buccal erosion, thought to be partly due to a severe brushing action.”
On entering the surgery Bob introduced Andy to the patient. He then said “Andy, this is Mrs ******. She’s a scrubber!”
Andy recalls Bob turning up to work sometimes in a crazy curly wig, mimicking his friend’s hairstyle. “We would constantly take the mickey out of each other, he said.”
“Bob was great. He became a mentor to three of us technicians when we started training as clinical dental technicians. He was utterly brilliant, teaching us how to take good impressions and teach us other techniques.”
GDPUK’s own DentistGoneBadd remembers working with Bob, having been taken on by him as an associate not long after qualifying.
He said “I was very proud when Bob asked me to join him in his brand-new practice. At that time Binny was revered by his peers and many looked upon him as one of the best dentists in the city and a number went to Bob for treatment.”
“I did my first session in his brand spanking-new surgery even before Bob had used it himself.”
“I wasn’t used to the layout of his new unit and when I hit the foot control to sit the patient up for a rinse, I hadn’t noticed one of the operator’s stools was under the spittoon. As the chair descended, it ripped the spittoon away from the dental unit and a fountain of water gushed from the fractured pipes.”
“I was like a headless chicken. Bob’s daughter Rachel was working with me as a nurse at the time and it was she who took charge and cut the water off. I recall not ever being able to look her directly in the eye ever again. I was mortified by the whole incident.”
“I asked several times over the years if Bob would forgive me for that day. He never did, though he made a good job of hiding it.”
“I was lucky enough to remain friends with Bob for over thirty years and met up for lunch with him and Krista a couple of times before he became ill, and the pandemic arrived.”
“He constantly ribbed me and whenever I did something wrong (like demolishing his surgery), he would say “STUPID boy.”
“I remember Bob being quite excited not long after he set up his practice, when police from the drug’s squad set up an undercover observation room in a spare upstairs room. We overlooked a local park and the police spent a few nights there, watching local drug dealers carrying out drug’s transactions.”
“There was never a dull moment with Bob. He was a great influence on me for the whole of my career.”
“In the first year of the practice’s opening, the practice was cut off by flood water from the river. I remember Bob donning wellingtons carrying youngsters into the practice for their check-ups.”
The practice said Bob “Also fought hard for Hereford to finally have the flood defences which we so desperately needed. People will remember his house and the practice flooded many times. Most weeks we would have phone calls asking for him to be interviewed on the radio!”
One of Bob’s former dental nurses, Kerry Draper said in a social media post “I never heard a bad word said about him. The world has lost a truly inspirational gent. My thoughts are with his family and all those lives he touched, inspired and motivated, just by being Bob – ever the joker, ever the gent.”
The practice said "Bob’s legacy will live on through his wife Krista, his children Richard, Rachel, James and Thomas and his extended family, also his St Martins family and all the dentists and dental nurses that he has trained and inspired along the way.”
Photo: By kind permission of St Martins Dental and Implant Clinic.
You need to be logged in to leave comments.
Report