John Herbert Hovell (1910-1988), TD, MRCS, LRCP, FRCS, FDSRCS (Eng), FFD (Ire), DOrth.

When the author studied at the Royal Dental Hospital from 1957 to 1961, John Hovell was a highly respected teacher and consultant, very popular with both patients and undergraduates. Hovell uniquely practised two widely different specialties at consultant level: oral surgery and orthodontics. Moreover, his story is one of a great dental clinician, a dental politician and a charismatic and caring man.

The history of orthodontic education: A century of development and debate.

The history of orthodontic education in the United States spans more than 100 years. A number of exhortations have been repeated over the years by some of the best minds in orthodontics. First, our standards of excellence must be maintained. Angle set a standard for the specialty by demanding that students in his proprietary school achieve a high level of knowledge in growth and development, biomechanics, and mechanical skills; that standard is no less important today in postgraduate orthodontic departments. Second, orthodontics is not just moving teeth. Throughout our history, authors have stressed that teeth are "incidental" to orthodontics, and we need to be concerned with bone and the dentofacial complex. To be sure, much has changed about our specialty and its biologic foundations; we must adapt along with the discoveries in biology and the innovations in technology. But we should always strive for excellence--in ourselves and our specialty.