University of Maryland Baltimore Dental School - Mirror Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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Dean J.Ben Robinson, D.D.S., F.A.C.D. Dean Robinson is a native son of West Virginia. He taught school there for a while before entering Marshal College, from which he graduated with honors in 1908. He then entered the Dental School of the University of Maryland and graduated as the Gold Medal Winner in 1914. As a teacher, he was Professor of Clinical Dentistry and Professor of Operative Dentistry; in 1924 he succeeded Dr. T. O. Heatwole as Dean. Dr. Robinson is well-known as a forceful and dynamic personality. He speaks very well and his diction is vivid and emphatic. It is a general opinion that he has been the guiding spirit of the entire Centenary Cele- bration and that the whole affair was mainly his conception. As far as his everyday relations with the student body, there was never a more democratic dean in any institution. He has made our school one in which the student feels that his teachers are there to help him at all times, especiall) when he is behind in his studies. We do not think of him as a prexy who wields the strong upper hand of authority; to us he will always be J. Ben — our friend and sympathizer, ready to help anyone of us who have fallen by the scholastic wayside or who need advice of any kind. Page Ten

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scientifically clcall wltli according to natural laws, and he is the acknowledged Father of Medicine. His works are full of references to the teeth and their care; notable among these is his discourse on the deciduous teeth. His prescriptions for dentifrices, which are re- volting to our own highly sensitive stomachs, are never- theless basically quite practical: Take the head of a hare, and three mice, two of these having the entrails removed; incinerate them and reduce them to ashes, then mix with equal weight of powdered marble. The shops where doctors plied their trade (and it was in reality no more than just that) always had a specialist of some sort to take care of dental ills, who, if he was not a medical man, was at least a member of a group which devoted its time and efforts to dentistry as a specialty. There were fillings and artificial replacements, but these specialists concerned themselves only with pre- scribing remedies or extractions — artisans of another sort filled teeth or bound loose ones to stronger supports. Soon Rome took her place In the realm of civilization, and her Etruscan ancestry left her the fruits of Phoeni- cian and Egyptian conquests. Tombs of wealthy Etrus- cans divulged evidences of a highly skillful dental tech- nique designed mainly to supply artificial substitutes where needed. In Italian museums we see that the most widely used type of appliance was that covering most of the teeth with rings of gold, one of which held the sub- stitute, which, in turn, was secured by a pin of some sort passing through the tooth and gold ring both. It was only natural for Rome, always quick to absorb cul- ture or advancement of any sort from the areas of her numerous conquests, to take for her own these advances in beautification of the oral cavity. Of these prosthetic efforts, we have good proof in the writings of Martial, the poet, who brings out the fact that even as today, people of good taste avoided gold for more natural- looking substitutes: and, If tectli like tliine, lady, wc would display. With purchased bone and horn of India Our mouth must be arrayed. Thais has teeth so black; Lecania wliite; Seek you the cause? Lecania ' s teeth are bought. While Thais wears her own. The Romans added to the natural store of dental knowledge, also; for Galen, the most famous of Roman physicians, was the first to discover that the teeth have nerves. He also was responsible for naming the cuspids eye-teeth, thinking as he did that the nerves of these teeth were connected to those of the eyes. Toward the dawn of Christianity, when the glory of Rome was be- ginning to fade, dentists were filling teeth with lint and lead, but merely as a stop, and with no consideration of arresting the progress of decay. But when filled, these teeth were supported in such a way as to withstand the pressure of the extractor ' s forceps. We may call the Romans the first orthodontists, too; for they realized that after deciduous teeth were extracted, it was the force of a pressing finger that helped to guide its suc- cessor into place. Aulus Cornelius Celsus, the Latin Hippocrates of the first century A. D., left us the most accurate ac- count of medical knowledge at that time. In his De Medicina, libri acto, discussions of dental diseases and their treatment occupy a large part. He was also the first to sense that certain oral diseases were but mani- festations of systemic disorders, and he sought to build up the body accordingly. Whenever ulcers of the mouth arc attacked by gan- grene, it is necessary to first consider whether the whole body be unhealthy, and in that case, to do what is neces- sary to strengthen it. I ' or toothache, the worst of tortures, Celsus pre- scribed a narcotic of castorcum, cinnamon, mandrake, and poppy, with further instructions to abstain entirely from wine; if the pains were violent he advocated pur- gations and hot cataplasms on the check. For abscesses, he gave the following directions: It also happens, that from an ulcer of the gums — whether it follows a parulis or not — one may have for a long period a discharge of pus, on account of a broken or rotten tooth, or else on account of a disease of the bone; in this case there often exists a fistula. Then the latter must be opened, the tooth extracted, and if any bony fragment exist, this should be removed; and if there be anything else diseased, this should be scraped away. So much for a cross-section of the dawn period of dentistry. At most, our profession had become merely a part of the general medical knowledge of those times and was far from being an entirely separate science, a boon which it did not receive until the 16th century in France, as we shall see. The knowledge of these early sages of sciences was meagre, and yet, how great an advance over that of the savage who was our first an- cestor! Methods were still crude; but there was at least a keystone, a beginning, on which succeeding genera- tions could build an edifice of scientific advance. As civilization bloomed, dental caries also flourished and became more rampant; theories sprang up of small worms that ate away the dental substance, causing the throb of toothache. Perhaps we are amused at anything so foolish, but is man much farther advanced today in his researches as to the cause and control of caries? Man has advanced — yes: he has temples of learning built all over the world in which he can search out many a problem; but the knowledge of man is still dwarfed beside that of omniscient Nature. The First Bridgevork — Greek in Origin Page Nine

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3n m mnnam Oren H. Gaver, D.D.S., F.A.C.D. The members of the dental profession suffered the loss of one of their most popular and respected colleagues. On March 28, 1940, Dr. Oren Henry Gaver, Professor of Physiology in the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, Dental School, University of Maryland, died in the University Hospital, following an operation. To the dental student, Dr. Gaver was a sincere friend and adv isor, as well a? an educator. It is significant that he was among the members of the faculty who teach the Freshman Class. In this capacity he was able to give assistance and encouragement to the youngest students of the School during a year of study which, at best, involves some discouragements. No student failed to appreciate his earnest, sincere personality, his serious consideration of even insignificant student problems and the eager thorough- ness with which he taught his subject. In his active work in dentistry, he not only set a high standard for his accomplish- ments, but was an interested student and critic of all modern advancements in dentistry and its related subjects. Dr. Gaver, son of Mr. Lewis F. Gaver, was born on May 18, 1892, in Myersville, Frederick County, Maryland. After attending the county public schools, he studied a business course at Columbia College, in Hagerstown, Maryland. He then became em- ployed in a bank in Thomas, West Virginia. Soon afterwards, he entered the School of Dentistry of the University of Maryland, from which he was graduated in 1918, receiving the University Gold Medal for the highest scholastic rating in his class. He continued to study physiology and biochemistry in the Johns Hopkins University and in the School of Medicine of the University of Maryland. In the summer of 1918, he was appointed instructor of Clinical Operative Dentistry in the Dental School. Subse- quently Dr. Gaver held the positions of Superintendent of the Dental Clinics and then Professor of Physiology. At the time of his death, he also taught Physiological Chem- istry and Dental Materials. Among his other professional accomplishments he was a Fellow of the American College of Dentists. He was also an active member of Psi Omega Fraternity, Omicron Kappa Upsilon Fraternity, and the Gorgas Odoniological Society; and he was a past president of the Maryland State Dental Association. Dr. Gaver was a member of the board of St. John ' s Lutheran Church, in which his funeral services were held. He was also a member of the Board of Education and the Board of Police Examiners of Anne Arundel County. Surviving Dr. Gaver are his widow, formerly Miss Mable Bovd of Rogersville, Tennessee; his son, Oren Henry, Jr., who is a first-year predental student at the Uni- versity of Maryland in Baltimore; his father, and his eleven brothers and three sisters. Three of his brothers are pharmacists. One of the brothers. Dr. Grayson W. Gaver, is assistant professor of Prosthetics at the Dental School, and another. Dr. Leo Gaver, is a physician, now interning at the Universitv Hospital. Undoubtedly, Dr. Gaver ' s services and accomplishments were appreciated while he still lived. He had the ability and the desire to make use of his knowledge and experience to help mankind by training men to become good dentists. — R. S. Williamson-, ' 42. Page Eleien