A lasting impression: Mark Johnstone retires after 32 years

After almost four decades in dentistry, Mark Johnstone, Director of Dental and Planned Care, is looking forward to a new rhythm – with blues guitar, cricket and a music course at the University of Cambridge filling the diary.

He leaves a lasting impression on community dental services across Kent and London, after 32 years with KCHFT.

Mark retired as Dental Director, Director of Dental and Planned Care Services and Deputy Chief Medical Officer. Throughout his career, he helped bring dental care closer to people who faced the greatest barriers to accessing it.

“I love my job, but I think it’s time to move on,” said Mark. “There are other people with ideas, enthusiasm and energy who need to step in. It is a very strange and quite emotional day.”

His interest in dentistry began when he was 10, inspired by the grandfather he never met, Alan Broster Johnstone.

“He fought in the First World War and qualified in 1921, the year the Dentists Act came in,” said Mark. “I still have his final-year photograph, degree certificate and university books. My middle name, Broster, has been passed down through four generations.”

Mark qualified in Liverpool in 1988 before working in general dental practice in North Manchester. His early career showed him how closely poor oral health was linked to inequality.

One patient changed the direction of his career.

“She was 16 and all her adult teeth were badly decayed,” said Mark. “Some had only been through for six months. I had to remove them and make her a full set of dentures.

“I remember her because she was 16. I felt the system wasn’t working, for me or for her.”

Mark moved to Kent after his wife, a nurse, took a role at Nunnery Fields in Canterbury. He joined the community dental service in 1994, treating children and adults with additional needs in Deal and Margate.

He later helped establish mobile dental clinics and a service for people experiencing homelessness.

“Those are achievements I am proud of,” he said. “Securing the funding meant we could take care to people who might otherwise have struggled to access it.”

Mark also led work to expand KCHFT’s community dental services beyond the county. The first successful contract was in Newham and the service now works across nine London boroughs.

“We were going outside our geography at a time when no one had really done that,” he said. “It was a challenge, but winning those contracts was a huge achievement.”

Mark also helped develop some of the country’s first consultant posts in special care and paediatric dentistry.

Earlier this year, Mark’s collaborative leadership was recognised at the 2026 Healthwatch Recognition Awards. He was commended for working promptly, openly and honestly with Healthwatch and the NHS England Dental Team to address concerns about NHS dental access and help people in pain find emergency care. The dental service was also recognised for improving access to general anaesthetic dental treatment for children with specialist needs.

“One of our consultants joined as a trainee straight from university and progressed through the whole career pathway,” he said. “That is a big achievement.”

Supporting colleagues to develop was one of the most rewarding parts of leadership.

“I enjoyed allowing people space to develop,” said Mark. “It was about setting the direction but not micromanaging people. We tried to live up to our values and I tried to reflect that in how I managed people.”

His advice to anyone considering dentistry was simple: “Do it.”

“You’ve got to like people. If you really want to make a difference, dentistry is a good career, especially within a community dental service and an NHS organisation.

“The NHS looked after me. I was supported with training and education, including two master’s degrees. It was a great and supportive career path.”

Mark retired as community dental services in Kent and Medway prepared to come together again, alongside KCHFT’s London service.

“A larger service creates more opportunities for training, education and career progression,” he said. “It gives me confidence that the futur

e is positive.”

His retirement will be far from quiet. Mark is chair of a multi-academy trust in Canterbury and plans to visit his son in California, who runs a football school after playing for Kent and England schoolboys.

“I play blues guitar, I love cricket and I’m starting a hybrid music course at the University of Cambridge,” he said. “It begins with music history and could eventually lead to a degree. We’ll see how it goes.”

Mark joked: “If that fails, I’m going to be a rock and roll star with my band.”