For the past 28 years, Mrs Keyworth has worked as a dental therapist in the public health system in Canberra. She hung up her scrubs for the final time on Friday, retiring to spend more time with her family, and to help her husband look after their farm outside of the city.

Over nearly three decades, she has peered into the mouths of thousands of school-aged children, providing preventative advice in addition to doing fillings and extractions.

She prides herself on making people feel comfortable, and on creating a safe and welcoming environment to ensure children keep returning to the dentist chair.

Incredibly, she has spent the past 24 years with dental assistant Lee Duffy by her side. She refers to Mrs Duffy as her "other pair of hands".

"We see more of each other than we do our husbands," Mrs Duffy said.

Mrs Duffy said she would miss everything about Mrs Keyworth, but mostly her patience and her gentle nature.

Mrs Keyworth trained to become a dental therapist after years of being an assistant. It was a comment from a dentist she was working with at the time that drew her down that career path.

"I worked for a dentist and he didn't have any patience with children," Mrs Keyworth said.

"He said 'I can't wait until there are dental therapists and I don't have to treat children', and that's what got me started down this path. I thought, I can do a better job than this."

In addition to her everyday work, Mrs Keyworth has worked with special needs children, prisoners at Canberra's youth detention centre Bimberi, and newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers.

Mrs Keyworth encourages parents to bring children in early in their life so they have experience. The hardest patients to treat, she said, are those who have no experience at the dentist and have been up all night in pain.

"It's easier if they've had a couple of visits to start with, even if it's with their older siblings," she said.

"We try to make it fun. We want it to be a pleasant experience for the children, we want them to come back."

Mrs Keyworth's signature move is to make each new patient a balloon out of a disposable glove.

"I put on eyes, ears, a nose and smiley mouth and then I ask them to count the number of teeth in their mouth, so I can put the right amount on the balloon. That gets them used to me touching them to start with," she said.

"They love it."

They love it so much that they've had teenagers come in talking about their first visit all those years ago, and how they got a balloon with a smiley face on it.

Mrs Keyworth said she felt like she had given part of herself to families she had met along the way. She said she loved every part of the job, and she wanted to thank those in the community who had trusted her to provide the service.

"For me, it hasn't been a chore going to work, I've just loved it."

She encouraged parents to bring in their children when they were young even if it was for a small problem. The service, at 1 Moore Street, Civic, is free for children under five years old.

"The service is a great service. There is a bit of time to get in to see somebody, it is not instantaneous, but you're in good hands."

Oral Health Services regional manager Sanja Fokas said they could replace the position but couldn't replace Mrs Keyworth.

"Day in and day out she's shown that care to everybody," Ms Fokas said.

"I have seen her with the most complex children who are terrified to walk in the door, get to a point where they run in and they hug her. The relationship she builds with them is out of this world, it is personal, she looks after them."

Oral Health Services director Michael Keen, who started in the position in the same week Mrs Keyworth was leaving, said even in the short time he'd known her, she'd had a tangible impact.

"The amount of people at Lynn's afternoon tea [farewell], the comments that were made, the obvious impact she's had not only on staff but the clients, it's just phenomenal," Mr Keen said.

He said she was a wonderful person who was well-respected, and she would be missed.