A chronology of dental education in the United States

Formal dental education in the United States began in 1840 with the opening of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery. Other dental schools slowly began to emerge, gradually displacing the traditional preceptorship method of training for dentistry. The period of the late 1800s saw a surge in the number of dental colleges in the United States. These schools were largely proprietary in nature, meaning that they were not affiliated with major universities, were private, and were of a commercial nature and, usually, established to benefit their owners. As the trend toward affiliation of dental schools with universities gained impetus at the beginning of the 20th Century, and with the establishment of the Dental Educational Council of America, the trend continued. Finally, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching formed a committee, under the direction of Dr. William J. Gies, to study the entire system of dental education in America. Out of this landmark study came the strong recommendation that all dental schools become affiliated with major universities. Shortly after that study, in the early 1930s, the last proprietary school was abolished. This article traces the histories of dental schools, past and present, in the United States.