Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery - Dental Columbian Yearbook (New York, NY)

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GILBERT PERCIVAL SMITH, D.D.S. Professor of Dentistry dedication In stressing the need and the importance of a thorough grounding in the sciences of medi- cine when approaching health and disease from any specialized point of view Columbia has been a major force. And significant among those people who have been instru- mental in translating this concept into prac- tical educational terms is Dr. Gilbert P. Smith. A native of Minnesota, Dr. Smith took his undergraduate work at Hibbing Junior Col- lege and his dental degree at Minnesota in 1927. In November of that year he joined the Columbia faculty as an assistant in the prosthetics department, his particular interest since student days. In 1932 he established his

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Columbian Published by the Senior Class Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery of the Faculty of Medicine

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private practice in addition to teaching, and in 1945 became head of the department of prosthetics, his present position. He is a past chairman of the prosthetics section of the First District Dental Society. During the years Dr. Smith has been here, Columbia ' s place in the field of dental edu- cation has steadily risen, and his role in this development is a large one. His standards of education are an extension of his princi- ples of treatment: an inclusive survey of all relevant aspects of the clinical situation, with therapy planned always in respect to its con- tribution to the patient ' s general health. The comprehensive case program bears testimony to this as does the importance given the con- cept of oral rehabilitation. Dr. Smith ' s refusal to compromise with quality, and his keen knowledge of what is and what is not good dentistry and a good service have left their stamp on every facet of our educational program. The non-clinical side of Dr. Smith ' s person- ality is given full expression on his farm in New Jersey. An amateur architect of for- midable ability, he designed and built his own plant. He also functions as mechanic when necessary, and being an extremely handy man around the house, has set up an auxiliary power unit to be one step ahead of local meteorological conditions. The farm boasts some sixty cows who recently got something to boast about themselves by setting a record for butterfat content of the milk. Needless to say, it is hoped that this milk will do its bit toward caries prevention. Speaking as a practicing dentist of twenty- five years ' experience and as a teacher and counsellor who has watched the start of many careers, Dr. Smith suggests a basic principle: maintenance of the highest standards from the outset will insure a full measure of respect and satisfaction in our professional years. It was Dr. R. A. Millikan who said, In spite of all the new discoveries, there is a truth in the past which is not or cannot be ignored nor brushed aside. Much of the knowledge of the past is still eternal truth, and just as Ein- stein embraces all Newton, so presumably the truth of the present is merely a supplement to and an extension of the truth of the past.