11 March 2013

Dentists and Dentistry History in Canada

In 1873 the Journal of the British Dental Association reported there were 2,200 dentists in Canada, today there are roughly 18,000. There was barely a Canadian dental profession in 1873 the Ontario Dental Association having been formed in 1867.
To research a dentist in your Canadian family you might want to check in the first  census and city directories. Knowing when they practiced the 35 volumes of the Dominion Journal of Dentistry, available to 1923 on the Internet Archive, includes many names and lists of newly qualified dentists as well as those involved with the Dental Association of Canada and its provincial affiliates. Or search in for your ancestor's community and find which dentists were active there.
If you find dentistry history fascinating, it takes all sorts, check out the dental collection at the Museum of Health Care in Kingston, Ontario. A series of articles History of Canadian Dentistry published in 2002 are available from www.cda-adc.ca/en/cda/about_cda/history/. Also visit the British Dental Association Museum and the US National Museum of Dentistry.

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