A look back in time. The training of dental students in Sheffield before the opening in 1953 of the Charles Clifford Dental Hospital.

A review of the archive material held by the School of Clinical Dentistry at the University of Sheffield has revealed how the dental training facilities in Sheffield were arranged before the opening of the Charles Clifford Dental Hospital in 1953. The archive also provides an interesting insight into some of the priorities of dental training in the first part of the last century. This archive information was then supplemented by discussions with four local dentists who qualified in the late 1940s and early 1950s and provides some interesting personal reflections on what it was like to be a dental student during and immediately after the Second World War.

Algunas consideraciones sobre un caso de aneurisma de la arteria dentaria inferior / Some considerations on a case of inferior dental artery aneurism

Este trabajo fue escrito por el primer profesor de la Escuela Dental de Buenos Aires en 1910. Relata un caso clínico interesante que él considera como aneurisma.

Algunas consideraciones sobre un caso de aneurisma de la arteria dentaria inferior / Some considerations on a case of inferior dental artery aneurism

Este trabajo fue escrito por el primer profesor de la Escuela Dental de Buenos Aires en 1910. Relata un caso clínico interesante que él considera como aneurisma.(AU)

Benjamin Franklin and the dentist: the story of R. C. Skinner.

Among Benjamin Franklin's papers was a letter from a young British immigrant, R. C. Skinner, asking for a loan of only twenty dollars to help this young man begin the practice of dentistry in this country. Although we don't know what the great man's response was to this appeal, Skinner went on to achieve fame in his profession. He was the first dentist ever, in this country, to be appointed to a hospital staff; he established the first free dental clinic for the poor; and he authored the first book on dentistry ever published in America, earning him the title "The Father of American Dental Literature." From a newspaper advertisement of 1794, further information has been gleaned about Skinner's practice: he not only did conventional dentistry, but also supplied missing eyes, ears, noses and legs. This was a forerunner of the contemporary subspecialty of prosthodontics termed "maxillofacial prosthetics". An interesting list of Skinner's services and his fees for each, gives us a good picture of what dentistry was like in Colonial America.

Icons of dentistry: Dr Leon Eisenbud.

Dentistry has a long, often well documented history. Evidence of tooth pullings has been discovered in crude carvings on the walls of caves that are over 10,000 years old. The ancient Egyptians, the Athenians, and the early inhabitants of Rome required oral health care; in addition to tooth extractions, they underwent tumor removal, tamponade for hemorrhage, reduction of jaw fractures with gold wire ligatures, cautery using white hot platinum loops, and an additional variety of remedies and nostrums. Pain relief was offered, with courses of treatment as varied as postural change, alteration of ambient temperature, and vegetable and organic medicines in poultices or via oral and rectal routes. Through the centuries, great surgeons and physicians introduced various methods of treatment: Hippocrates codified ethical standards; Maimonides established pragmatic rules for physicians; LeFort categorized facial fractures; Pasteur clarified the need for sterilization; Semmelweis standardized antiseptic conditions in the operating theater; Morton and Wells discovered safer methods of analgesia; Freud explored the theraupeutic uses of narcotics; Roentgen championed X-ray imaging; Curie pioneered the use of chemotherapy; and Barton and Nightingale were models of empathy and patient care. In more recent times, we have profited from the genius of Watson and Crick (DNA); Fleming (penicillin); Venable and Stuck (Chrome-cobalt--molybdenum alloy); Gershkoff and Goldberg (the subperiosteal implant); Chercheve, Branemark, Linkow, Misch, Tatum, and Niznick (innovative root forms, titanium and its alloys, and sinus floor grafting). The 20th century has brought to us phenomenal imaging, breathtaking intrauterine fetal surgery, wildly promising stem cell research, and astonishing CADCAM techniques. We've had great teachers and clinicians who have introduced us to new forms of therapy and advanced methods, including the role of the hemidesmasomes, the essential elements of bone grafting, the importance of microscopic analysis, and the benefits to patients of physical diagnosis by their dentists. To recognize and celebrate some of my heroes' contributions to the health and well-being of humankind, editorials will occasionally appear on these pages that explore their various contributions.

Hospital dentistry and GPRs. A relationship with a past.

Dental programs have evolved from an occasional component of hospitals to fully recognized departments within the structure of most institutions. A review is presented of some of these developments, including the initiation of general practice residency (GPR) programs and training in a residency program as a substitute for the standard licensing examination.

The changing role of specialist care in NHS dentistry.

Specialisation and Specialist Training in Dentistry in the UK have been central issues for debate in the last few years. The profession has emerged stronger in understanding the respective roles of the generalist who should remain free to practise across the whole spectrum of dentistry and the specialist who can work in primary and secondary care. The overriding principle is that the patient remains the true beneficiary of a specialised service within the NHS.