NSW Dentist | Issue 3 2026 |
After retiring from his distinguished career, Dr Ross Toll OAM began volunteering for Filling the Gap and has already found the experience incredibly rewarding.
For Filling the Gap volunteer Dr Ross Toll OAM, the impact can be seen on the faces of the patients he helps at the dental charity.
“You can see it when I say farewell to the patients, they are very appreciative of what’s been done,” Dr Toll said. “It gives me a lot of satisfaction to know that and it is highly rewarding helping other people.”
Having retired about a year ago, Dr Toll put his hand up to become involved in the dental charity earlier this year after reading about its valuable work in NSW Dentist articles.
His retirement followed a prominent career, ranging from private practice through to his work in hospitals. Dr Toll ran his dental practice for 50 years in Coogee under his working name before the practice was sold, and a different occupant moved into the building.
During his career, he worked at The Prince of Wales Hospital (Randwick) and was treating patients at The Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick for three decades after hours.
This includes the role of being Head of the Dental and Maxillofacial surgery department at both hospitals for 25 years. The department provides specialist surgical care for head, neck, facial, mouth, and dental injuries or illnesses.
Often on-call in this role, he would work with multidisciplinary teams at the hospital including plastic surgeons and ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists. In particular, he worked with many dental patients with intellectual and physical disabilities. He finished this role in 2008.
“It made my life more interesting than my normal day-to-day work because it was outside my normal practice and working with a variety of patients,” he said.
“Not just the oral health environment, you are working with the whole patient and you are part of the whole system at the hospital.”
Earlier in his career, Dr Toll also worked with the Fred Hollows Foundation and its outreach work with Indigenous dental patients, via the Prince of Wales Hospital.
His extraordinary life and career was recognised for his contribution to the profession when he was made an Order of Australia in 2008. The accolade due to his work with the Children’s Cancer Institute that sits within the Children’s Hospital at Randwick. “I was very grateful to receive the OAM,” he said.
Dr Toll encourages others to consider volunteering for Filling the Gap which is easy to register for and a modest time commitment.
“I want to inspire others to do it,” he said. “It’s simple to sign up for and the Filling the Gap staff are really nice and helpful. If you put your hand up for anything, the staff will help,” he said.
“If people have the desire to help those less than able to look after themselves in dire situations, they should do it, it is just about helping other human beings.
“Whether that is during domestic violence, for refugees or it may be people on drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs as patients.
“It’s not a huge commitment, you can do it in your own practice or come to St Leonards and it can be with your own staff, or without.
“As long as the patients are happy with me and the Filling the Gap staff are happy with me, it’s nice to keep volunteering. I can sit down at lunch and have a chat to the other volunteers. It’s very satisfying.”
