St Louis University - Archive Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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THE SCHOOL OF Dr. Thomas E. Purcel Dean of the School of Dentistry. Rev. Alphonse M. Schwi- talla. S.J., Regent of the School of Dentistry. ENTISTRY is built upon the three sciences of Chemistry, Physics, and Biology. The knowledge of these three sciences is a prerequisite to a study of either medicine or dentistry, since they are the tools without which the student cannot hope to succeed in his study of the medical sciences, of which dentistry is one of the more important. Because ol the mechanics attached to the practice ol dentistry, it was formerly classed as a vocation and commer- cialism crept into the early stages of its development. Greed and self- ishness led to hasty and inefficient service. Many faulty dental res- torations and the consequent dis- eases resulting therefrom caused the widespread and wholesale ex- traction of teeth. A focal infec- tion became recognized as a men- ace to the health of the whole world, and the demand tor a better qualified and a better edu- cated dentist became insistent. The result was that the dental course was changed from a three year to a four year course. It would have been much better for the profession had the course been lengthened from the other end at that time and higher academic preparation for admission to den- tal schools been required. In 1926, one year of college preparation beyond high school was required for admission. This came about when it became apparent that in order for the Below the entrance to the Dental Clinic, one of the best- equipped in the country. UNIVERSITY FORMAL Paee Twelve

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COMMERCE AND FINANCE beginner there comes a sense of interest, of competition, oi an on- coming struggle of wits in a great battlefield worthy of any man ' s prowess. There is an ill-de- fined suspicion on the part of those who stand without, that the stu- dent who pursues such a curriculum seldom attains in a large way that objective vaguely termed life. Yet somehow that same student when he has burgeoned into the lull plumage of a business man, often becomes a warm patron of art, education, science, so- cial uplift, religion, and a host of other beauti- The new School oi Commerce and Finance, one of the more modern Ituildiniis ol the University. ful things that shed rays of sunshine across this vale of tears. It would seem to any man of extended experiences wellnigh impossible to obliterate life ' ' from any large field of human activity. Few of us have seen bankers, manufacturers, or merchants who resembled Tut-an-khomen. The student of Commerce and Finance knows that somewhere on the road he will encounter lite in whirlwinds and deluges. The market place, the counting house, and the temples of industry have little in common with mausoleums, and the funeral dirge seldom emanates from their teeming and vibrant purlieus. UNIVERSITY FORMAL P.ige Eleven

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DENTISTRY The School of Dentistry, one oi the more modern dental schools in the country. student to be able to understand and assimilate the curriculum as first outlined under the four year course, he must have a better fundamental training. In 1930, the American Association of Dental Schools at its annual meeting, appointed a Curriculum Survey Committee to study the problem of dental educa- tion, to report its findings, and to make recommendations. The report suggested that there be two years of college work preceding the tour year course in dentistry. The American Association of Dental Schools at its meeting in Chicago in 1935, acting upon the suggestion of the Curriculum Survey Committee, passed a resolu- tion that, beginning with the opening of the school year in 1957, all dental schools in the United States would require two college years as an entrance requirement. The dental student should have a basic scientific background. The goal of dental edu- cation should not be graduation in medicine first and dentistry afterwards. Rather dental education should be further developed as an autonomous field of professional education even in view of the fact that the practice of dentistry is now and will be so closely asso- ciated with the prac- tice of medicine that some believe it should be considered a spe- cialized branch of that science. UNIVERSITY FORMAL P.ige Thirteen