المرحوم الدكتور فاضل القدسي

المرحوم  الدكتور فاضل القدسي

من مواليد  العراق 

دورة ١٩٤٦ طب اسنان. دمشق

عميد كلية طب اسنان. بغداد ١٩٦٣

Professor Fadhil al-Qudsi,  who has died aged 84, was a pioneer of dentistry in Iraq. As dean of the college of dentistry at Baghdad University from 1963, he worked hard to improve qualifications, invited visiting staff to teach and examine students, and updated equipment. He helped send many graduates on scholarships abroad (mainly to the UK and the US) to obtain higher qualifications.

Fadhil headed the department of prosthetic dentistry, was president of the Iraqi Dental Association and vice-president of the Arab Dental Association. He had a special interest in the construction of maxillofacial prostheses and in 1968 published Facial Prosthesis, a book in English on the subject. In 1969 he was appointed to the first chair in dentistry at Baghdad University.

One of five children, Fadhil was born in Baghdad, where his father sold newspapers and magazines for a living. Fadhil was educated there, then went to Damascus in Syria to study dentistry. He graduated in 1949, then worked for the Iraqi department of health. At this time he wrote a book in Arabic about the history of dentistry in Iraq.

In 1954 he travelled to the US to study at Georgetown University, Washington, and obtained an MA in prosthetic dentistry. In 1957 he was appointed to the staff of the newly founded college of dentistry at Baghdad University, then the only dental school in Iraq. From 1969 to 1971 he was a lecturer at Georgetown University and Howard University in Washington.

However, in 1979 Fadhil was forced to retire from the Baghdad University staff, together with a large group of medical academics who were said to disagree with university policy. Throughout his career, he also worked in private practice in Baghdad. In 2004 he was reappointed to his university post, though he retired for good shortly afterwards and settled in Damascus. He had a very Baghdadi sense of humour, seeing the funny side of even the most difficult situtations, and was loved by his patients and friends, to whom he was known as Aboo al Abbas.

Fadhil is survived by his wife, Ni'mat, a well-known Iraqi painter;