Events & Personalities
Doyen of dentistry
Dr Aspi B. Surveyor, dentist and occasional poet, was one of three senior members of the profession to be felicitated at the 23rd National Congress of the Indian Academy of Oral Medicine and Radiology in Bangalore held from December 9 to 11, 2011.
In an e-mail sent to Parsiana the 78-year-old describes the experience where he was escorted to the dais, made to sit in a huge "maharaja” type of chair (in which "three of my size could fit”), a custom made turban made of interwoven gold and white stripes was put on his head, around his neck was placed a long garland of sandalwood which reached down to his knees and a "very heavy basket of fruits wrapped in cellophane (about three kilos)” was reposed in his hands. After this, three different portfolios, carrying three different plaques showing appreciation of his achievements were read out, one of which was a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Surveyor’s first Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to him at a show put up in Bombay in 2007 by Famdent, a publication on clinical dentistry, his e-mail notes.
In an e-mail sent to Parsiana the 78-year-old describes the experience where he was escorted to the dais, made to sit in a huge "maharaja” type of chair (in which "three of my size could fit”), a custom made turban made of interwoven gold and white stripes was put on his head, around his neck was placed a long garland of sandalwood which reached down to his knees and a "very heavy basket of fruits wrapped in cellophane (about three kilos)” was reposed in his hands. After this, three different portfolios, carrying three different plaques showing appreciation of his achievements were read out, one of which was a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Surveyor’s first Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to him at a show put up in Bombay in 2007 by Famdent, a publication on clinical dentistry, his e-mail notes.
Dr Aspi Surveyor: dentist, poet, chess champion
Born in Ahmedabad on November 30, 1933, Surveyor was sent to live with his grandparents in Bangalore for better educational opportunities, he mentions in his e-mail. In 1945, his parents separated and the boy was sent to Bombay to live with an uncle and aunt who were rather strict with him. Surveyor spent much of his time with a neighbor, a dentist who worked from home, watching him at work in his laboratory. The seeds for dentistry were thus sown and Surveyor resisted the family’s insistence that he become an engineer so as to take over in due course his uncle’s firm, Surveyor and Company. Surveyor obtained his BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) in 1960, but not satisfied with private practice he chose to teach in Bombay’s Government Dental College where he was professor and chairman of Oral Medicine and Radiology.
With 76 scientific publications and 166 conference presentations to his credit, Surveyor has also authored a book, Interpret Your X-Rays and co-authored four others on dental subjects, as per his bio data. A Fullbright scholar, teaching fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, examiner at several universities and advisor to various government bodies and commissions, Surveyor also did a stint in Libya after retiring from Government Dental College. The universities in Shiraz, Isfahan, Kerman, Tabriz and Tehran had the dentist as guest lecturer. Keeping his hand in, the dentist is professor emeritus at the D. Y. Patil Dental College in Poona as well as consultant oral diagnostician at the B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital, restricting his private practice to his speciality, as per information received from him. He is also a national champion in chess.
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