Richard Horner obituary

Known well among the profession’s key opinion formers, the dental media and the dental trade, there can be no dentist working today who has not in some way been touched by Richard’s work, whether through articles and editorials in the media, client mailings or his work in the field of mouth cancer.

He understood and valued research and had a flair for writing beautifully honed evidence-based articles. He also had a consummate talent for professional relations - bringing together people with the aim of advancing knowledge and improving communications to patients.

For four years he worked for Johnson & Johnson on their Listerine account and set up their National Advisory Panel. Under the chairmanship of Professor Nairn Wilson, this was a body of influential people who discussed research findings and shared knowledge, taking away a new insight into the challenges that face the profession.

The Scope Group was established in 1990. Before then he had worked in a marketing capacity for Dentsply for many years and acquired extensive understanding of the dental world. Many tributes have poured in since his death on September 21 and his contribution to the profession was put on record at a recent BDA Witness Seminar into the dental press. There is no doubt of the legacy he leaves, outstandingly the professionalism which set a bar in dental media.