Inside the Dental Practice: 1860-1940

Ann Arbor, MI — March 22, 2011 — Dentistry experienced profound changes from the mid 19th through the early 20th centuries that had a dramatic impact on the profession and ultimately the health and well-being of the public. The University of Michigan School of Dentistry, established by the state legislature in 1875, was in the vanguard of many of those changes.

A new exhibit at the School’s Sindecuse Museum depicts and describes many of those transformations — the rise of dental education and professionalism, the advent of scientific discoveries, the application of innovations in technology, the growth of dental hygiene, the introduction of equipment sterilization techniques, the impact of fluoridation on public health dentistry, and others.

Inside the Dental Practice: 1860-1940 showcases the evolution of dentistry from a trade initially practiced by barbers, blacksmiths, and occasionally quacks to a profession that required higher education and the ability to apply new scientific discoveries and breakthroughs in technology for the benefit of dental patients.

The exhibit is accompanied by narratives, historical photos from the Sindecuse Museum and the Bentley Historical Library, dental office equipment gifted by U-M School of Dentistry alumni, along with letter and journal entries written by dentists and faculty members to colleagues and friends, including Dr. Gordon Sindecuse, for whom the Museum is named.

The exhibit, which spans 80 years, highlights four eras: 1860-1890, 1890-1915, 1915-1930, and 1930-1940.

Each era features some of the equipment dentists used in their offices including upholstered dental chairs, ivory-handled dental instruments, overhead lamps, brass spittoons, and wooden cabinets, many with small pullout drawers. Different flooring — rugs, wood, black and white square tiles, and linoleum — and partitions that angle slightly outward also provide other visual cues that distinguish each era.

U-M’s Important Role

"Our new exhibit vividly shows how dentistry in this country evolved to become the respected profession it is today and the role the University of Michigan School of Dentistry played in helping to shape the education students received before they could become dentists who were licensed to practice," said Shannon O'Dell, museum curator. "At Michigan, students were becoming grounded in science so they could apply their knowledge and information about new discoveries to help their patients."

During the 19th century, for example, O’Dell said it was common for those who practiced dentistry not to have a dental degree.

"The exhibit shows how the College of Dental Surgery at the University of Michigan, as it was called when it was created, played a significant role in advancing the profession with its emphasis on education," she said. "In fact, W.H. Jackson, a practicing dentist in Ann Arbor, thought it was so important to set an example for others who were practicing dentistry that he enrolled and was one of our first graduates in 1876."

Also included are two complementary displays, The Dental Laboratory and X-rays in Dentistry. Both are prominently showcased on the ground floor lobby of the Kellogg Building.

Innovations in making dentures and restorations also affected dental laboratories between 1860 and 1940. Materials, tools, and equipment that were used by dentists in the 19th century were antiquated by 1940. With growing pressure to see more patients, many dentists outsourced their orders to a new service, commercial dental laboratories, which were becoming increasingly popular.

X-ray technology, on the other hand, remained in the dental practice and, over time, was standardized and streamlined so it became a key diagnostic tool used in every dental office.

Work on the new exhibit began nearly two years ago, in the summer of 2009.

O'Dell enlisted the support of a local exhibit specialist, Brynn Raupagh, who has worked extensively with curators at the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Automotive Hall of Fame, Charles Wright Museum, and The Henry Ford. “I thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to showcase some very interesting dental history,” Raupagh said.

Simultaneously, O'Dell was working with so many other contractors "that it reminded me of building a house because there were so many people doing so many different things at the same time," she said with a smile. The list included Raupagh, exhibition designer Lawrence Hutchinson, the Museum team from Exhibit Works International, and U-M electricians who removed the old lights to install longer lasting and environmentally friendly LED fixtures and new light tracks.