Timeline

1839	•	The American Journal of Dental Science, the first dental journal, begins publication.
1840	•	Horace Hayden and Chapin Harris establish the world’s first dental school, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery.
1840	•	The world’s first dental organization, the American Society of Dental Surgeons, is founded. The organization dissolves in 1856.
December 16, 1856	•	The St. Louis Dental Society is founded, marking the beginning of organized dentistry in the state of Missouri. The founders include Henry Barron, Sylvanus Dunham, Isaiah Forbes, H. J. McKellops, and Henry E. Peebles. Dunham is elected the first president.
1859	•	Twenty-six dentists meet in Niagara Falls to form a professional society, the American Dental Association.
October 31, 1865	•	The Missouri State Dental Society is established – founding members include Homer Judd, H. E. Peebles, William N. Morrison, W. H. Eames, Isaiah Forbes, H. J. McKellops, and Isaac Comstock. A committee is immediately appointed to investigate opening a dental school in the state. McKellops is selected as the first president of the organization.
1866	•	Lucy Beaman Hobbs Taylor graduates from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery. She is the first woman to earn a dental degree in the United States.
September 15, 1866	•	The Missouri Dental College is chartered by the State of Missouri. It is the first dental school west of the Mississippi River and only the sixth dental school in the U.S.
September 24, 1866	•	The faculty of the Missouri Dental College meets for the first time. Dr. Homer Judd is elected dean.
October 1, 1866	•	The first course of lectures of the Missouri Dental College begins. The school shares the lecture rooms, museum and hospitals of the St. Louis Medical College, becoming the first dental school in the world associated with a medical college.
February 22, 1867	•	After completion of a five-month course of study, the Missouri Dental College holds its first annual commencement – eleven men are graduated.
April 22, 1867	•	The St. Louis Dental College is chartered. It is associated with the Homeopathic Medical College of Missouri for its first year. In 1868 the St. Louis Dental College affiliates with the Missouri Medical College. Classes are graduated until about 1875 when the school closes.
1867	•	The Harvard University Dental School is founded, becoming the first university-affiliated dental school.
January 1869	•	The first issue of the Missouri Dental Journal is published. Homer Judd is the first editor-in-chief. Publication is moved to Kansas City in April 1883; however, the Journal ceases publication later that year.
1874	•	Charles W. Rivers, D.D.S. becomes dean of the Missouri Dental College.
1875	•	William Henry Eames, D.D.S. becomes dean of the Missouri Dental College.
1875	•	The Missouri Dental College moves to Seventh and Clark Avenues.
1875	•	The Western College of Dental Surgeons is started in St. Louis by Henry Chase, Christopher Spalding and Henry Fisher. Its last class graduates in 1884.
1877	•	The Western Dental Journal, based in Kansas City, Missouri, begins publication. It is published until 1917.
September 16, 1878	•	Dr. Henry Hodgen Mudd is elected dean of the Missouri Dental College.
1881	•	The Dental Department of the Kansas City Medical College is organized. The name is changed in 1889 to the Kansas City Dental College.
1884	•	The Archives of Dentistry begins publication in St. Louis, superseding the Missouri Dental Journal. Publication is ceased in 1891.
1890	•	The Western Dental College is founded in Kansas City, Missouri.
February 1892	•	The faculty of the Missouri Dental College approves a motion to affiliate with Washington University, becoming the Dental Department of Washington University.
September 27, 1892	•	The new term of the Missouri Dental College, Dental Department of Washington University, opens in a new building at 1814 Locust Street.
1894	•	The Dental Department of the Marion-Sims College of Medicine is opened. Young Hance Bond is the president and Luther Young the first dean.
1897	•	Missouri governor Lon Stephens appoints the state’s first Board of Dental Examiners: Howard S. Lowry of Kansas City; William W. Birkhead of Louisiana; Luther E. Jenkins of Fredericktown; Samuel C. A. Rubey of Clinton; and Walter M. Bartlett of St. Louis. Bartlett is elected president of the Board.
November 1899	•	The national dental fraternity Xi Psi Phi organizes Tau Chapter at Washington University.
November 20, 1899	•	Dr. Henry H. Mudd dies. He is succeeded as dean of the Missouri Dental College (Dental Department of Washington University) by Dr. Albert Homer Fuller.
1900	•	Edward H. Angle, a former instructor of Orthodontics at the Dental Department of Washington University, founds the first post-graduate school of orthodontics in the world, the Edward H. Angle School of Orthodontia.
1900	•	The Marion-Sims College of Medicine and the Beaumont Hospital Medical School consolidate. The Dental Department of the former is reconstituted as a proprietary school and continues as the Marion-Sims Dental College. The name is changed in 1905 to the St. Louis Dental College.
May 1901	•	Dr. Albert H. Fuller resigns from the faculty and is made emeritus professor of operative dentistry; Dr. John H. Kennerly is elected dean of the faculty.
1902	•	The Dental Department of Washington University moves to a building at Twenty-seventh and Locust Streets.
1902	•	The Dental Era begins publication. Publication ends with volume nine in 1910.
1903	•	The Barnes Dental College is formed as the Dental Department of Barnes Medical College. The school is discontinued in 1916.
1905	•	The Dental Department of Washington University moves to Locust and Beaumont Streets (the former Mary Institute Building).
1905	•	Chi Chapter of the national dental fraternity Xi Psi Phi is installed at the Western Dental College in Kansas City.
June 1907	•	The faculty of the Dental Department of Washington University agrees to admit women students on an experimental basis. The first woman enters in the fall 1908 session.
1908	•	The St. Louis University School of Dentistry is formally established with the University's purchase of the Marion-Sims Dental College.
1909	•	The name of the Dental Department is changed to the Dental School of Washington University.
1909	•	The Dental School of Washington University moves to a building at Twenty-ninth and Locust Streets.
1910	•	After successfully completing the three-year course of study, Sophia M. Wachsmuth becomes the first woman to graduate from the Dental School of Washington University.
1914	•	The Omicron Kappa Upsilon Fraternity is organized by the faculty of Northwestern University to promote idealism and constructive effort in the dental profession. Founders include Thomas L. Gilmer, an 1882 graduate of the Missouri Dental College.
September 1916	•	The Washington University School of Dentistry is granted a charter for the Gamma Chapter of Omicron Kappa. Other Missouri chapters follow: the Rho Chapter is chartered at the Kansas City-Western Dental College in 1928 and the Eta Eta Chapter is chartered at St. Louis University School of Dentistry in 1934.
1919	•	The Dental School of Washington University is renamed the Washington University School of Dentistry.
1919	•	The Kansas City Dental College and the Western Dental College consolidate to form the Kansas City-Western Dental College.
January 1921	•	The Bulletin of the Missouri State Dental Association begins quarterly publication. The journal switches to monthly publication after three years.
June 1922	•	The Alumni Association of the Washington University School of Dentistry begins publication of the Washington University Dental Journal. The journal, “Devoted to the Interest of our Alma Mater, our Association and the Dental Profession,” suspends publication after the June 1924 issue.
1922	•	Walter Manny Bartlett, D.D.S. becomes dean of the Washington University School of Dentistry.
June 1928	•	Construction is completed on a new and modern four-story building for the Washington University School of Dentistry. Located at 4559 Scott Avenue, it is adjacent to the Washington University School of Medicine buildings, clinics, and affiliated hospitals.
February 1929	•	The new Washington University School of Dentistry building is dedicated.
1932	•	Jesse Duncan White, D.D.S. becomes acting-dean of the Washington University School of Dentistry. He is assisted by a committee composed of Drs. Ewing P. Brady, Virgil Loeb, and Russell G. Fobes in the administration of the school during the 1932-33 year.
1933	•	Benno E. Lischer, D.M.D. becomes dean of the Washington University School of Dentistry.
June 1934	•	The Bulletin of the Missouri State Dental Association changes its name to the Journal of the Missouri State Dental Association. In 1961 the word “State” is dropped from the title.
August 1934	•	The Alumni Association of Washington University School of Dentistry resumes publication of the Washington University Dental Journal. It is published quarterly until 1967.
1941	•	The Kansas City-Western Dental College joins the University of Kansas City. In 1963 the school is incorporated into the University of Missouri system, becoming the University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Dentistry.
1945	•	Otto W. Brandhorst, D.D.S. becomes dean of the Washington University School of Dentistry
1947	•	Under Dean Brandhorst, the Washington University School of Dentistry recommits to post-graduate dental education with an extensive offering of classes and programs.
1953	•	Leroy R. Boling, Ph.D. is appointed dean of the Washington University School of Dentistry
December 1958	•	The Baby Tooth Survey is initiated as one of the activities of the Greater St. Louis Citizen's Committee for Nuclear Information (CNI).
1960	•	The National Institute of Dental Research of the United States Public Health Service awards Drs. Harold L. Rosenthal, John E. Gilster, and John T. Bird of the Washington University School of Dentistry a five-year research grant in the amount of $197,454 for the analysis of the amount of strontium-90 in children's teeth.
July 1962	•	A new research center is completed, adding 28,000 square feet of space for offices, research laboratories, and a new library to the Washington University School of Dentistry. The research wing is officially named the Carlyn H. Wohl Research Center, in honor of Mrs. David P. Wohl, in October 1963.
1965	•	The Lasky Cleft Palate and Oral Cancer Rehabilitation Center at the Washington University School of Dental Medicine is established by a $25,000 contribution from Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Greenspon. The Center, named in memory of Mrs. Greenspon’s parents Jacob and Mary Lasky, is housed in the Carlyn H. Wohl Research Center and is under the direction of L. Woodrow O’Brien.
1967	•	John T. Bird, D.D.S. succeeds Leroy T. Boling as dean of the Washington University School of Dentistry
1967	•	The Washington University Board of Trustees suggests closing the School of Dentistry. A Special Faculty Committee (including David Bensinger, Earl Shepard, Tom Moore, John Robert Ring, and Harold Rosenthal) create an education, financial and remodeling proposal to keep the school open. The School commits to eliminating any operating deficit by the 1970-71 year, seeking additional federal grants and forcefully appealing to the alumni for contributions.
June 1970	•	The St. Louis University School of Dentistry graduates its last class of dentists. The University allows the post-graduate orthodontics program to continue, as long as it remains financially self-supporting.
1972	•	The Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine opens.
March 10, 1973	•	The School of Dentistry is rededicated to mark the completion of the school’s five-year renovation and rejuvenation plan (1967-72). The renovation (new heating, plumbing, lighting, air-conditioning, and teaching, research, and patient-care equipment) took place without interrupting the basic running of the school and was funded in large part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
July 1, 1974	•	The Washington University School of Dentistry officially changes its name to the Washington University School of Dental Medicine. The primary dental degree conferred is changed from the Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) to the Doctor of Dental Medicine (D.M.D.).
1975	•	Two classes graduate from the Washington University School of Dental Medicine, one in March and one in December, due to the transition from a four-year to a three-year curriculum. The three-year curriculum had begun as an experiment in 1973.
1975	•	A four-story, six thousand square foot addition is completed at the west end of the School of Dental Medicine’s main building, providing additional laboratory, clinic and faculty office space.
1976	•	Rear Admiral George D. Selfridge is appointed dean of the Washington University School of Dental Medicine.
1977	•	The Washington University School of Dental Medicine returns to the more traditional and common four-year curriculum.
1985	•	The Journal of the Missouri Dental Association changes its title to the Missouri Dental Journal.
1986	•	A five-story addition to the School of Dental Medicine is completed, extending a previously recessed section of the building to the main building line along Scott Avenue and building in an inner courtyard of the existing building.
1987	•	David A. Bensinger becomes dean of the Washington University School of Dental Medicine.
June 1989	•	The Washington University Board of Trustees moves to close the School of Dental Medicine. The decision is based upon budget deficits, increasing tuition rates, competition from less-expensive state-funded dental schools, limited outside funding, and a declining student pool.
1989	•	Upon the retirement of David A. Bensinger, Richard J. Smith, D.M.D., Ph.D., becomes the last dean of the Washington University School of Dental Medicine.
June 1991	•	The 125th and final class of students graduates from the Washington University School of Dental Medicine.
1994	•	St. Louis University’s post-graduate orthodontics program – one of the oldest, largest, and best in the world – is renamed the Center for Advanced Dental Education (CADE). In a collaborative arrangement with the Southern Illinois University School of Dentistry, CADE expands its programs to include endodontics and periodontics.
1998	•	The Missouri Dental Journal, published by the Missouri Dental Association, changes its name to Focus MDA.