Temple University School of Dentistry - Odontolog Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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general surgeons who lacked familiarity with dental methods and requirements possessed by Dr. Garretson. He was the first surgeon to successfully use the Bonwill dental engine in surgical operations. As a result of his dental training and experience Dr. Garretson at once appreciated the applicability of the dento-surgical engine in bone operations. He made constant use of it and its efficiency is reflected in his superior results as well as by the fact that he could perform certain operations within the brain case that would be impossible of performance without it. The practical development of surgical uses of the engine is inseparably connected with the history of surgical development. Garretson's System of Oral Surgery , his greatest literary work, is a permanent record of his surgical achievements. Though some critics regarded it as unnecessarily voluminous it remained for years as the only publication of its kind. It passed through six editions, the first appearing in 1869 and the last in 1895. The earlier editions exhibit the evolution of a professional division which began in toleration, but it is in the last edition that the culmination of his life’s endeavors to place dental surgery upon a parity with the officially recognized dental specialties is seen. The eminent dentist did not limit his literary contributions to works of his profession, but also contributed to general literature. Among his earliest writings was an article on Dental Hygiene and another on the Ether Question , published in the Dental News Letter of 1855. Upwards of one hundred articles from his pen appeared in the Dental Cosmos besides a large number Continued on Page t82 11

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satisfied. Seeing other fields that he might conquer and others whom he might help he gave up his position as head of the school of surgery and returned to his first educational interest, The Philadelphia Dental College. In 1864 he was made professor of anatomy and surgery at that college. At this point war broke into what was then a well ordered life dedicated to his profession. For a time during the Civil War Dr. Garretson was in active military hospital service. After the war he was appointed oral surgeon to the hospital of th University of Pennsylvania. In 1880 he became dean of the Philadelphia Dental College which position he filled until his death. Dr. Garretson filled a unique place in the special field of his activities. He was a pioneer in a new department, Oral Surgery, and the creator of its technique. He brought to the practice of his life's work the skill and manual dexterity of the trained dentist, to which was added the broad culture and intimate knowledge of his subject required by the educated surgeon. With this educational equipment grafted from his rich natural endowment of personable characteristics, a combination resulted which easily accounts for his phenominal success and wide reputation as a surgeon and a teacher. Cur subject was a striking example of the self made man. His love for his work, his faith and respect for the possibilities of the development of dentistry, and his ambition to secure for it the status and recognition it deserved bore abundant fruit in the example of success which he has left as an example to and a heritage for his profession. This eminent doctor recognized the crudity which characterized the method of performance of the earlier operations done upon the head, face and jaws. He saw that the special training and many of the operative methods of the dentist were, with suitable modification, applicable to surgery within his selected territory. Putting these principles to a complete and practical test soon showed that he had struck the keynote of success. The entire technique, as well as the character of his results, differed from the work done by any of his predecessors as well as the majority of his contemporaries. His work was conservative, always keeping in mind the importance of the cosmetic features of the results. As a result it was necessary for him to design his operations for the purpose of attaining the least possible amount of permanent mutilation. It was Dr. Garretson's custom, as far as possible, in operations upon the jaws, to perform them within the mouth. He carried out this principle to the extent that he frequently operated for the removal of the entire superior maxilla through the mouth without exterior incision. His conservatism was farther manifested in respect to tissues of the oral cavity. One of his cardinal principles was never to remove healthy tissue that might in any degree help to bring about normal restoration of function within the region of operation. When conditions permitted, his operations upon the inferior maxilla always involved this feature. Therefore, it was his custom to leave a thin basiler rim of bone and periosteum for inducing the reformation of the maxillary ridge to be utilized as a base of support for an artificial denture. The doctor's success in operations of this character is in strong contrast with the results shown by the 10

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CI titles (L-. (J euTif, A.B., L.L.B., L.L.D. President of Temple University 12