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

Page 13 text:

The New . . . NOT until 18S2 did the University of Maryland establish a School of Dentistry, although the University claims to have given the first lectures on dentistry in America during the session 1821-1822. In 1837, a course of dental lectures was delivered by Horace Hayden to the medical classes. The failure ' of Hayden and Chapin Harris in their attempt to establish a dental department in the University resulted in their founding the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery. The opening session began with a student enrollment of over sixty, which steadily increased to well over a hundred per class. A building designed specifically for the new dental department was constructed during the year of its founding on the northeast side of Greene Street, adjoin- ing the Medical School. This structure was enlarged at least four times before it was finally demolished and a new building erected on the same site in 1904. This building now houses many activities of the medical school of the University. On the fifteenth of June, 1923, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery was merged with the dental school of the University of Maryland and the whole placed under the supervision of the state. Five years later, the present building on the north- west corner of Lombard and Greene Streets was com- pleted and became the home of all dental education in Maryland. This structure is shared with the School of Pharmacv. It contains 45,000 square feet of floor space, and is fire- proof. The operative clinic is the largest under a single roof and contains one hundred and thirty-nine chairs. Its laboratories and lecture halls are ideally arranged and equipped. Briefly, our Alu?a Mater is a school of which we ma) ' be proud. Page Nine

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The Old... I HE introductory lecture of the world ' s first dental school was delivered in a three-story brick building at 13 South Sharp Street, in Baltimore. The date was November, 1 S40. The lecturer was the young Dean, Dr. Chapin Harris. Five men made up the stu- dent bodv: two from New York, two from Baltimore, and one from Norfolk. These gentlemen pursued a course consisting of lec- tures and practical instruction over a session of four months ' duration, after which time, the two candidates from Baltimore, Robert Arthur and Covington Mackall, each having defended a thesis and sustained a satisfac- tory examination, the faculty resolved to admit them to the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. Dr. Horace Hayden, President of the School, con- ferred the first degrees on March 9, 1841. At the same time, many prominent dentists at home and abroad were the recipients of honorary degrees. That such degrees were granted only after the applicant ' s professional standing and ability as a dentist were thoroughly in- vestigated is borne out by the following excerpt from the minutes: D. S., a practitioner of dentistry of four- teen years, was admitted to the examination for the de- gree of D.D.S., and rejected as altogether unworthy of the honor, as he showed no acquaintance with the science of dentistry, being nothing but a dental mechanic. Thus was a profession born when two men recognized the need for formal and certified dental education. The indomitable energy of Dr. Harris, then a man of thirty-five years, coupled with the foresight and experi- ence of Dr. Hayden, supplied that need; and by so doing imbued the practice of dentistry with a new and higher dignity. Page Eight

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3 ,; ■ The University Hospital Regarded as one of the finest in the country, the Hospital provided many interesting and instructive hours. From Dr. Bay ' s clinic and from his oral surgery operations, we gained much practical knowledge concerning the more difficult problems in dental practice. Page Ten