Professor Brian Conroy

He formed the Institute of Maxillofacial Prosthetists and Technologists, and his legacy can be seen across the world, the techniques he developed being used internationally.

Brian Conroy, who has died aged 77, was born in Intake, Doncaster. He went to Wheatley Boys' School, and his career began in 1946 as an indentured student dental technician in Doncaster.

Following his student days in Doncaster, he spent a year in Toronto in order to gain experience of metal casting techniques.

In 1952, he was appointed senior prosthetics technician at Edinburgh Dental Hospital, and five years later, became a surgical technician at Rooksdown House Plastic and Oral Surgery Centre, Basingstoke.

It relocated to Queen Mary's University Hospital, Roehampton, in 1959, and he was head of the Maxillofacial Laboratory Service there until his retirement in 1998.

It was at Roehampton that he met his wife, Mary.

During the course of his career, Professor Conroy helped many surgeons improve their skills. He was regarded by his contemporaries and colleagues as a superb technician and an able teacher whose contribution to prosthetics technology remains unparalleled.

He was a founder member of the Institute of Maxillofacial Technology (1966-73), and a member of the British Standards Committee on Dental Nomenclature (1967-1970). In 1968 he was appointed Fellow of the World Health Organization, and in 1970 was asked by the Egyptian and Cuban Ministries of Health to advise them on maxillofacial prosthetic and technological services.

From 1971 to 1974, Professor Conroy was honorary secretary of the National Committee for the Training of Dental Technicians in the UK.

He was awarded an MBE in 1976, and between 1977 and 1978 was adviser to the Kuwaiti Department of Health.

He was then member of an international advisory team to assist the Department of Health, Qatar.

The Canadian universities of Manitoba and Alberta appointed him visiting professor, and he was awarded visiting lectureships in South Africa and Singapore.

In recognition of his contributions to education and training, he was given honorary membership of the City & Guilds of London Institute, and in that same years – 1995 – he was elected senior fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.

In 2009 Professor Conroy was awarded the silver medal by the British Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery for services to others.