Interview If you REBUILD it they will come
New Dublin Dean, Professor Brian O’Connell, talks about his plans for the dental school
R
etrenchment, austerity, cuts – the last few years have been a period when the Dublin Dental University Hospital has suffered in much the same
ways as the rest of the country. However, recently appointed Dean, Professor Brian O’Connell, believes it’s time for renewal, regrowth and rebuilding. Equally notable, he says the profession is on the cusp of becoming an even more important part of people’s lives. Every leader needs a clear set of priorities and O’Connell is precise about his immediate concerns. “I’m keen that we rebuild the staffing and infrastructure that we lost during the cutbacks and renew a sense of purpose and momentum. It’s vital that people can come here and be confident that they are able to carve out a career in everything from hospital dentistry to academic dentistry, teaching, and research. They should feel that they are embarking on a path that’s worthwhile, promising and rewarding.” The challenges facing dentistry have
been played out widely in the media, he believes. Reductions to the support systems for patients, which provided a simple but very important level of service, have been dramatic. “We have certainly witnessed the effects of that as patients who were interested in their oral health have found that they are no longer eligible for treatment, except very basic emergency
20 Ireland’s Dental magazine
care such as extractions. It has been very difficult to see people who were trying to look after their oral health frustrated by a system that does not give them the support they need.” O’Connell also cited the seemingly
perennial issues of access to care for different elements of society, including those living in institutions and some who live in more remote parts of the country. “Those concerns remain in the background,” he said. Closer to home, he highlighted the
substantial cuts suffered by the School – and University – during the financial crisis. “We lost quite a high number of senior staff through retirement, such as my predecessor, Professor June Nunn. Of course, they took a great deal of institutional memory and knowledge with them. It’s very important that we try to replace that experience and expertise.” Similarly, he emphasised the need to
move forward and develop an educational philosophy and system that is fit for purpose. “We hope to see more teamwork in dentistry. There will be an expanding and more active dental team, and we have to be ready to educate all of the members of that team. “In the same way, dentists should be
part of a bigger primary care service, so that your dentist isn’t simply there to fix your teeth when you have a problem, but instead plays a role in your general health.
This is something I hope we will move to more and more over the coming years. We have to be ready to support that, both in the way we teach students and the way we treat our own patients.”
Atlantic crossing Brian O’Connell’s readiness to help rebuild an institution, and recast a profession, springs from a career – and life – spent on both sides of the Atlantic. His early years were lived in New York with his Irish parents, before the family moved back to Ireland in the ı960s. He finished his schooling in Cork and went to dental school at University College Cork. “I never dreamed of going anywhere else; why would you?” he asked. Like most Irish dental graduates in the
ı980s, on finishing education he headed off to the UK to work in practice. “All of my class, bar one person, did the same.” Initially working in Kent, he went on to the Royal Dental Hospital in Leicester Square, London, just as it was closing down. Indeed, he was in the last group of staff to work there in its final six months. With that option no longer available he moved back to Kent, this time working in Canterbury Hospital. In ı986, after two years practice and
hospital work, he decided to go back across the ocean and joined the Eastman Institute in Rochester, New York. It was that opportunity that led him to specialise
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