A Dentist in the Family?

Individual dentists can be traced using the Dentists Register from 1879 onwards. Before this date trade directories from the early 19th Century onwards will give the names of local dentists. The Glasgow Post Office Directory for 1834-35, for instance, lists seven "Dentist-Surgeons." Both the Dentists Register and Glasgow trade directories are available in the College library.
Archives containing details about dentists include:

• Examination Registers
  Details of dentists who acquired their dental qualifications from the College may be obtained from the Examination Registers. The earliest of these is the register for Licentiates in Dental Surgery which dates from 1879-1961.
  
• Minute Books
  An index is available which gives details of dental issues within the College minute books from 1878-1921. Dental Committee/Council minutes are held from 1935 onwards.
  
• Private Papers and Records of Societies
  Dental treatments can be found amongst general medical notebooks and can also appear in the proceedings of Glasgow medical societies.  There are also the minute books of the Glasgow Odontological Society. See archive collections for further details. 

Dental Education in Glasgow
College's founder, Peter Lowe, wrote about the teeth and illustrated eight types of dental instruments in the second edition of his work The Whole Art of Chyrurgerie published in 1612. Recognition of any formal qualification in dentistry was not, however, achieved in Scotland until the passing of the Dentists Act in 1878 when both the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Faculty(now Royal College) of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow were empowered to grant licentiateships in dental surgery. On 19th January 1879 the Glasgow Faculty elected a 'Dental Board' and the first candidates presented themselves for examination for the Licence of Dental Surgery in April 1879. In 1948 the Dental School became part of the University of Glasgow and the LDS was superseded by the BDS.  Since that date the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow has concentrated on post-graduate dental qualifications.

The Glasgow college introduced the Higher Dental Diploma in1920. This was superseded in 1967 by the Fellowship in Dental Surgery.  In 1949 a Diploma in Dental Orthopaedics was established. This was the first postgraduate diploma in orthodontics to be awarded in the UK. The Membership in General Dental Surgery was introduced in 1982 and the Membership in Clinical Community Dentistry in 1989.

Following the passing of the 1921 Dentists Act, the Council of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow created a Dental Committee to advise Council on Dental matters. The Dental Committee was superseded by a new Dental Council in 1967. In 1990 the dental Fellows collectively became the Dental Faculty and the Convenor of the Dental Council the Dean of that Faculty.

Further information on dental history in the Glasgow and West of Scotland area can be found at the website of the Henry Noble History of Dentistry Research Group.