Page 73 - RADC Bulletin 2021

Tooth and Nail: The RADC Exhibition from the Museum of Military Medicine
Mr D Wiggins
It was back in 2019 that the idea of
holding a touring exhibition, celebrating
the centenary of the Royal Army Dental Corps was conceived by Colonel Anderson alongside the Director of the museum Jason Semmens and myself. As the museum
is located behind the wire at Keogh Barracks, it presented an opportunity
for us to provide access to the rich and varied history of the RADC by hosting
the exhibition across a number of military museums across the UK.
One of the first stages of planning was to decide on the themes we would cover. While the exhibition would give an overarching narrative history of the Corps, we wanted
to supplement this with panels dedicated
to specific individuals and themes. As a result, we had panels dedicated to the role of women within the RADC, peacekeeping, and featuring compelling stories from key individuals from history. The museum has its fair share of compelling stories, Captain David Arkush was one example we could bring to the exhibition. While incarcerated by the Japanese in the Far East, he attended to the dental health of fellow POWs, contending with poor supplies, many of these crafted from bamboo, including a dental chair constructed by one of his patients. The museum has a set of bamboo
Captain David Arkush
Dental examination of soldiers taking place during WWI
tools on display as well as an impressive sketch of the bamboo dental chair which would become a prominent focal point within the exhibition.
The next stage of the planning process was to approach potential host
Example of a patient record from World War I depicting wounds sustained
venues, which was thankfully relatively straightforward. After working on an exhibition brief, I reached out to a number
of military museums across the UK, many of which we had worked with previously. Within the exhibition brief we wanted to stress the
Sketch of the bamboo dental chair used by David Arkush
Mobile Dental Caravan in WWII
RADC BULLETIN 2021 71