John Molloy - Open wide

After more than 50 years peering into grimacing, toothy grins, Queenstown’s longest serving dentist John Molloy has found something new to get his teeth into.

Always someone who enjoyed drawing, using sketches to illustrate detail to his patients, John’s now loving painting classes with Spike Wademan, who tutored the two youngest of his five children. John only retired from dentistry in February after setting up his own practice in Queenstown Mall in 1977. Since then, he’s picked his way through thousands of teeth from all over the world. “I enjoyed the challenges, the local families and the people who came from far and wide.”

Raised in Auckland in a strong rugby, squash and tennis family of five kids, John and his siblings won many top local sporting events. Their dad was president of the Eden Epsom Tennis Club of which Kiwi tennis legend Chris Lewis was a member.

At 14, John focused on squash, eventually touring Australia with the NZ Universities Squash Team while a dental student at Otago University. They beat the Victoria State team and almost nailed New South Wales in the final, John earning a University Blue for squash. He also won the Otago University Squash Champs and Central Otago Open.

Growing up, Auckland was a very different place. John and his brothers, Mark and Phil, built sledges to race down the grassy slopes of One Tree Hill. John first met Rob Greig, also of Queenstown, racing his homemade trolley down the steep Selwyn Road where he lived, now a busy main route to Auckland Airport. Paddocks led down to Brown’s Bay and Stanmore Bay then, now packed tight with upmarket homes. They’d dig for pipis and go fishing.

John initially studied chemistry towards a Bachelor of Science. Dentistry hadn’t been on his radar, but his father encouraged him, when he got accepted, to give it a go. “I worked at the freezing works for six seasons to put myself through uni.”

Uni classes were full to the brim with baby boomers. “In physics the lecturer said there’s only a 30% pass rate, so look at the guy on your left and your right – only one of you is going to pass.” He did, and the pay from the freezing works allowed him to graduate in 1971 owing nothing.

After extensive overseas travel, working in Australia, Hong Kong and London, John and his former wife travelled overland through the likes of Burma, India, Laos, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. There were a few hairy moments and bouts of ‘Delhi belly’, but it was an amazing experience.

A deerstalking trip up the Rockburn and the Beansburn with a uni mate had been enough to lure John back to beautiful Queenstown, so in 1977 he started his practice from scratch. As Queenstown’s first long-serving resident dentist, the 3500-strong population welcomed him. His predecessor ‘Mr Trotter’ had graduated in 1918 after an apprenticeship and was very good at pulling teeth and making dentures, so the much younger Molloy brought a fresh new offering. A Cecil Peak shepherd told John how the old Alexandra dentist – father of dentists Dick and Jim O’Kane, visited Queenstown sometimes, pulling teeth out at Eichardt’s Pub.

John had to practice as an all-round general dentist because of Queenstown’s isolation, serving many tourists as well as locals. On one occasion a guy had flown from Auckland for a job interview but unfortunately lost his dentures into the toilet and flushed them away after a big night out. “Unfortunately, he was one patient I was unable to help as he needed them by Monday.” Other dentures ended up in the waters of the Wakatipu after falling victim to the excitement of thrill-seeking tourism rides.

John was able to help thousands of tourists, restoring appearances to many who were quite distraught after breaking teeth during their holiday adventures, and relieving holiday toothache for many others. “It was extremely rewarding because most of them were very, very grateful, particularly at weekends and after hours.”

An inaugural member of Queenstown Yacht Club from 1979, John won the Southland Championships in his Laser and even competed alongside Russell Coutts at national level, conceding with a grin that he wasn’t of the same class. “That was an awesome experience,” he says.

John’s made it big on the local stage too, his tenor talents scoring him roles in many successful Queenstown Musical Society shows, an active member of the society from 1986 until 1995. He was a Queenstown Rotarian for many years, president of the Queenstown Squash Club and has served on the Queenstown Tennis and Yacht Club committees.

Now that he’s retired though it’s art class and tending his beloved vegetable garden that keep him busy, as well as spending valuable time with his partner of 30 years, Lucy, and that now growing family spread all over Australia and NZ.