The first 33 volumes of Dental Cosmos, from the premier issue of August 1859 through December 1891, have been transferred from a print publication that, in recent years, was seen and read by only a few, to an electronic publication that is now accessible to anyone with a computer and a connection to the Internet. There is no charge for accessing this priceless information.

Dental Cosmos was considered the source of information for practitioners for more than 70 years. It began as a publication designed to encourage dentists to use the products manufactured by the magazine’s founder, the Samuel S. White Dental Manufacturing Company. In time, it became the first enduring national journal for the American dental profession and one of the most significant in the early history of American dentistry. In 1936, the publication merged with the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA).

“Dental Cosmos is both informative and entertaining,” said School of Dentistry librarian Patricia Anderson. “There’s a wealth of knowledge in this publication that is now available online that will interest dentists, specialists, dental hygienists, students, educators, historians, and others.” Copyright protection for issues prior to 1923 expired years ago, consequently, the early volumes of the publication are now considered to be in the public domain.

Anderson said the online issues contain articles about the origins of some of the clinical techniques that are still used today, what kinds of interventions were used at the time to treat various conditions, discussions about herbal remedies that did and did not work, the importance of the fluoridation of water, and other interesting and fun things about the profession.

“Since dental schools were being created in several states, including Michigan in 1875, there is a significant amount of information in Dental Cosmos about what it means to be a dentist, the core competencies students needed to become dentists, how dentists should communicate with patients, and how to encourage parents to have their children treated by a dentist before the children lost their teeth,” she said. “Some of the early founders of the profession, such as Dr. Jonathan Taft, who was the first dean of the Michigan College of Dental Surgery, as it was called at the time, are quoted extensively in these issues.”

Transferring the content of the 33 volumes online from print was made possible with the generous support of the Colgate-Palmolive Company. Dental Cosmos is available online at www.hti.umich.edu/d/dencos.

The University of Michigan School of Dentistry is one of the nation’s leading dental schools engaged in oral health care education, research, patient care, and community service. General dental care clinics and specialty clinics providing advanced treatment enable the School to offer dental services and programs to patients throughout Michigan. Classroom and clinic instruction prepare future dentists, dental specialists, and dental hygienists for practice in private offices, hospitals, academia, and public agencies. Research seeks to discover and apply new knowledge that can help patients worldwide. For more information about the School of Dentistry, visit the Web at http://www.dent.umich.edu.

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