History of the Washington University School of Dental Medicine, 1866-1991
Dental education was in its infancy in the mid-19th century. The profession itself was as well – more of a trade than a profession, more a mechanical art than a science. There were few formal schools; new dentists learned working under practicing dentists who were willing to share their few dental texts and pass on their practical knowledge. The need for able dentists was great, especially in the rapidly expanding west. Nowhere was this more obvious than in the state of Missouri. Between 1860 and 1870 Missouri grew from the 8th most populous state to the fifth most populous. In 1860 St. Louis ranked eighth in population in the United States; by 1870 the city, with a population of nearly 311,000, was the fourth largest city in the country. Practicing dentists were beginning to recognize the need for professionalizing their field by establishing local, state and national organizations and for formalizing dental education.
In 1864 dentist Henry E. Peebles began soliciting his fellow dentists in Missouri to join him in forming a state dental society. On October 31, 1865 the Missouri State Dental Society was established. At the Society’s first annual meeting a committee was formed to investigate the
formation of a dental college under its auspices. A recommendation to open a school in St. Louis followed, especially encouraged by the offer from the St. Louis Medical College to share its lecture rooms, museum and hospitals.
In the fall of 1866 the newly formed Missouri Dental College was incorporated. The Missouri Dental College was only the sixth dental school opened in the United States. It was the first dental school established west of the Mississippi River and the first in the world to be affiliated with a medical college.
The first course of lectures began on October 1, 1866 and closed on February 22, 1867, making it a course of five months duration. The following year the course of study was expanded to two years of lectures. There were eleven graduates in the first class – all were practicing dentists and some were among the founders of the college. Of the members of the first faculty, six held the M.D. degree and two held the D.D.S. degree.