Paul Toller F.D.S. R.C.S  1922−1977

Paul Toller, Consultant Dental Surgeon to the Department of Oral Surgery at Mount Vernon Hospital.

Although he  contributed immensely in many aspects to the development of Maxillo Facial surgery, his name endures for us because he was an innovator who conceived the famous ‘Toller Bur’ design which has become the most accepted Bur used in Maxillo Facial procedures throughout UK Hospitals and indeed wider afield today.

He redefined the design of an Oral Surgery Bur. By identifying a number of significant improvements in the design of the Tapered Fissure and Round Head Burs which endure today and have improved the techniques for Oral Surgery.

His obituary described an intensely inquiring mind which led him to make advances in every subject in which he became interested, his interests were diverse. On qualification he joined the Maxillo-Facial Unit at Hill End Hospital treating war casualties, making great improvements in the mechanical devices now widely used in the treatment of the severely injured face. At the end of hostilities, he spent a period with a maxillo-facial team which established the specialty in Yugoslavia.

At the Royal College of Surgeons, he was a Hunterian Professor, Charles Tomes Lecturer, was awarded the John Tomes Prize, and he was a member of the Board of Faculty of Dental Surgery. He was the President of the Section of Odontology of the Royal Society of Medicine, carrying through these duties with great courage despite increasing disability due to his illness which forced him to withdraw from the presidency of the British Association of Oral Surgeons which he would have assumed in October 1977.

His combination of clinical ability with a flair for research continues to be an inspiration to the Maxillo Surgery Speciality. He died on July 13th 1977 at the age of only 55.

Detail showing the revolutionary design of an Oral Surgery Bur.