“There there's no such thing as problems - they're all opportunities” - Dame Margaret Seward (1935 – 2021)
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- Published: Monday, 26 July 2021 07:59
- Written by Chris Tapper
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Tributes have poured in for Dame Margaret Seward, who has died at the age of 85.
Dame Margaret enjoyed a glittering career in dentistry, serving in a number of high-profile UK dental roles and shattering a number of ‘glass-ceilings’ during her long career.
Dame Margaret wrote in her 2009 memoir ‘Open Wide – Memoir of the Dental Dame’ that she “Lived and breathed dentistry,” having grown up in the house in Enfield, Middlesex, where her father practised as a dental surgeon.
In an interview with Dr Shelagh Farrell in 2011, Dame Margaret said of her childhood “We had lots of patients coming in and out, and the patients would arrive in agony and go out with smiling faces.”
”I thought gosh that’s a nice occupation - to make people happy.”
She then decided to follow in her father’s footsteps and eventually started her dental training at the London Hospital Dental School in Whitechapel.
Dame Margaret qualified as a dentist in 1959.
It was at The London that she met Gordon Seward then a senior registrar, who later went on to become an emenint Professor of Oral Surgery and Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons.
Gordon and Margaret married in 1962.
The BDA News website said that Dame Margaret was “The first female resident dental house surgeon at the London Hospital.”
“She went on to edit both the British (1979-92) and International Dental Journals (1990-2000) and became the second female president of the British Dental Association in 1993.”
Dame Margaret was long-associated with the Women in Dentistry movement and in 1975 was involved in a survey looking at the contribution of women to the dental profession. The study looked at what happened to female dentists when they stepped off the career ladder to start families, while facing the challenge of not being able to access retraining in those days as well as receiving no maternity provision.
In 1979 she was appointed editor of the British Dental Journal, which she relaunched with a new design.
Dame Margaret said in her interview with Dr Farrell that she didn’t “know anything about editing” prior to taking up the BDJ post. In order to prepare for her new role, she joined a course at the London College of Printing, joining journalism students to learn the art of journal editing.
Her thirteen years at the BDJ were marked by a more international approach through her interest in the World Dental Federation (FDI), her editorship placed a greater emphasis on education and the dental team through her Teamwork initiative.
In 1976, Dame Margaret became an elected member of the General Dental Council, becoming the first female president of the GDC in 1994. She held the presidency until 1999.
During her time with the GDC, Dame Margaret said her ‘vision’ was that she wanted to change things.
She told Dr Farrell “I was particularly anxious that we should register all the, as they were called, then auxiliary staff - the professionals complementary to dentistry. Now they’re called dental care professionals.”
She said that dentistry is a “Real team effort” and DCP’s were the first group health professionals ever registered with one regulatory body.”
Her presidency oversaw the recognition of ‘specialists,’ general anaesthesia was outlawed in general dental practice, and aims of the ‘Call Me Doctor’ campaign, were recognised by the GDC.
In 1999, Margaret became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE), making her the first ‘Dental Dame.’
Dame Margaret retired after receiving her DBE, but “In 2000 Dame Margaret was head-hunted by the Department of Health to take forward the process of modernising NHS dentistry as Chief Dental Officer for England,” BDA News said.
Her tenure as England CDO led to the publication of the much-welcomed report “Options for Change,” which included contributions from dentists, patient respresentatives and the Department of Health.
In her interview with Dr Farrell, Dame Margaret said modestly, “You’ve got to grasp any opportunity that appears.”
“I was really very very lucky to be in the right place at the right time and you know I would never change my career. I just loved dentistry and trying to deliver better oral health.”
BDA Chair Dr Eddie Crouch told BDA News “Words cannot express the depth and breadth of Margaret Seward’s contribution to this profession.”
“The first female Chief Dental Officer, our second female president. From the BDJ to the GDC hers was a career like no other, as a dentist who inspired every colleague she met.”
“On her ascendency to the presidency she told BDA members that a profession which has forgotten its past can have no future.”
“We can never forget Margaret, and the future for all dentists is brightened by every glass ceiling she smashed.”
Michael Watson OBE writes:
Margaret Seward, the Dental Dame as she described herself, reached the top of our profession having served as BDJ editor, GDC President and CDO England. But it is as a person and friend that I will remember her. She had the largest lists of contacts of anyone I have known not just in the UK but internationally.
A former Chairman of the GDSC described her as the ‘arch-networker’ and an excellent listener. This plus a prodigious memory allowed her to achieve much of what she did. To the end she remained interested in what was going on especially the setting up of the new College.
She will be remembered as a champion of women in dentistry, an agent for change across the profession and, perhaps above all as one who advocated bringing the whole dental team together, recognising the contribution of DCPs.
But above all my wife and I will remember the friendship of her and husband Gordon, to whom and the rest of her family we send our condolences.
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