Arnold Franks obituary

My father, Arnold Franks, who has died aged 93, was a dentist by occupation, but a quietly revolutionary one. He helped reshape dental theory and practice, while as a clinician devoted himself to some of the most marginalised groups.

As a new graduate in Manchester in the 1950s, he questioned conventional approaches, then often based on invasive treatments. Later, as a consultant dental surgeon at Birmingham dental hospital, he pioneered interdisciplinary research into dental services for those with disabilities and chronic illness, and for the elderly.

And in 1973, he and Björn Hedegård co-authored Geriatric Dentistry, the first textbook in the subject, which was subsequently translated into several languages.

Born in Manchester, to Bella (nee Pernikovsky) and Leon Franks, a cloth salesman, Arnold went to Manchester central grammar school, then Manchester University to study dental surgery. He gained his BA from there in 1954, then completed an MSc in physiology (1960) and a PhD in dental surgery (1964).

He held academic and clinical posts at the Eastman dental hospital and the University of London (1955-66), before moving to Birmingham with his wife, Tessa (nee Harris), an artist, whom he had married in 1962, to take up the consultant dental surgeon post. He was also a senior clinical lecturer at the University of Birmingham’s dental school.

In 1974 he founded the scientific journal he would edit for 30 years, the Journal of Oral Rehabilitation. It is still guided by his opening manifesto: “the science of dentistry rather than the learning of techniques”.

While he spent long hours at his desk at home poring over manuscripts sent from around the world, he remained committed to his patients. Right up to his retirement in 1995, he spent hours on domiciliary visits to housebound elderly patients, to spare them the effort of transport to hospital.

He gained international recognition, being invited to lecture around the world – his talks were admired not just for his erudition, but for a bone-dry, self-deprecating humour. He was a visiting professor at Western University, Ontario (1977), and Michigan University (1987), and in 1983 was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Gothenburg.

At home, his battles with the establishment – from grand theory to persuading hospital directors to incorporate ramps for wheelchair access – meant that he did not gather the garlands or titles he perhaps deserved, but he did not complain. Only once, when pushed, did he wonder whether antisemitism may have played a part.

His Jewishness, as the son of of immigrants from the Russian empire, was central to him, as was his love of the arts, from classical music to the Dutch masters to poetry. It was all one: intellectual life was to be revered; skill and beauty were sources of wonder, but what mattered, above all, was humanity and compassion.

Tessa died in 2020. Arnold is survived by his children, Annabel and me, and by five grandchildren.