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dental service, petitioned the War Office and now with the support of the new DGAMS, Lieutenant General Sir John Goodwin, their case was accepted. Meanwhile, the recently won war-time dental structure was being dismantled and Helliwell reverted in rank to Temporary Major.
Following the establishment of The Army Dental Corps in January 1921, Helliwell was appointed Inspector of Dental Services
at the War Office on 1 February 1921 and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, The Army Dental Corps. He was the first officer to be commissioned into The Army Dental Corps.
As further officers and soldiers were transferred in, the Corps started to take shape and Helliwell began to address the demands for a guide to the dental standard for enlistment of recruits as well as the ongoing care of soldiers once recruited
and trained. As a result, a definite standard for recruits was published in Regulations
for Medical Services of the Army, 1923 and further amended in 1924. Also, against the tide of post-war austerity, permanent dental centres were being established across the Army’s footprint. The combined effect of these measures was, within only a few years, to significantly improve the dental health of the Army.
Apart from establishing and building a new Corps and directing improvements in the Army’s oral health, he also, in his own
time, took on the challenge of medical training qualifying MRCSEng, LRCPLond
in 1926. In the same year changes in establishment within the Army Medical Directorate (AMD) saw his promotion to Colonel L/A.D.Corps. Further organisational changes within AMD in 1927 also saw the title of Inspector of Dental Services changed to Assistant Director General Army Medical Services (for the Dental Service).
In May 1932, the Army Council appointed an Army Advisory Standing Committee
on Maxillo-Facial Injuries with Helliwell
as its chair to report on facilities for the treatment of battlefield wounds to the
jaws and face. The Committee’s report
(Figs 2 & 3), published in 1935, sets the framework for specialist units for these cases, the principles of treatment from point of wounding to specialist care and the training of dental officers in the principles of preliminary treatment in the field1. This work was to prove its worth only a few years later with the outbreak of WW2.
In July 1932 Helliwell was appointed Colonel Commandant of The Army Dental Corps in succession to its first Colonel Commandant, Lieutenant General Sir John Goodwin who had been appointed in 1927.
Reorganization of AMD In 1935 created a separate Dental Directorate, AMD6, and the appointment of Assistant Director General Army Medical Services (for the Dental
Service) was redesignated as Director Army Dental Service (DADS) in the rank of Colonel or Major General at the Army Council’s discretion. Helliwell was promoted to Major General as first incumbent of the new post.
On 1 February 1936 Helliwell retired from the Army after 21 years-service. Following retirement, he continued as a member of the Advisory Standing Committee on Maxillo- Facial Injuries and worked at County Hall
as consulting dental surgeon for London County Council. He also continued in his role as one of the, from 1943, two Colonels Commandant of the Corps until relinquishing his appointment on 1 Jan 1947 after 141⁄2 years in the role: the longest serving Colonel Commandant in the Corps’ history.
He died suddenly, at home, on 7 November 1948 aged only 64.
A self-made man, unconstrained by his humble origins, he devoted his life to the oral health of soldiers; brought strategic direction to the embryonic Army Dental Service in WW1 and led and nurtured the fledgling Army Dental Corps for 15 years leaving it ready and capable of the rapid expansion and task required for WW2. He, probably more than any other individual, laid the foundations for the Corps’ award of the distinction on “Royal” in 1946 “in
1 See RADC Bulletin 2018 p 12-15 recognition of its past services.”
Fig 2. Report of the Army Advisory Standing Committee on Maxillo-Facial Injuries Fig 3. Committee Members and Terms of Reference
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