Ever since the early days of the dental profession in the United States, practicing dentists have recognized the relationship between dentistry and medicine.

In Colonial times, physicians lectured to medical students on dentistry. These men who had a knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and other subjects related to the practice of medicine, were the primary educators of dental practitioners in this country. This was in contrast to the apprenticeship training of many dentists. Dentistry had not yet reached the status of a profession. For the most part, it was considered a part of medicine, and as a result physicians extracted teeth and treated other dental problems.

Throughout the 18th century, most dentistry was performed by itinerants. However, late in that century, there were dentists living and practicing in large cities. According to the noted dental historian, Milton B. Asbell, "the fallacy that the dental art was founded upon the practice of barbers, bloodletters and mechanics should be laid to rest.Unfortunately this baseless notion persists, even today, a disservice to public and profession alike, obscuring the considerable contributions of competent and dedicated men with professional qualifications. The Colonial era was the germinal period of modern dentistry. The emergence of the surgeon ushered in a new day of professional health care. These were an elite group, whose contributions resulted in the development of several currents of dental practice, initially as a branch of medicine, later as an autonomous health care profession with advanced technical and social commitments."1

Most of the early books published on dentistry in this country were written by men with medical backgrounds. Examples of this are A Treatise on the Management of the Teeth, by Benjamin James, M.M.S.S. (member Massachusetts Society of Surgeons), 1814, and The Family Dentist, by Josiah E Flagg, M.D., M.M.S.S., 1822.

In 1829, eleven years before the first dental college in the world opened in Baltimore, Samuel Sheldon Fitch, M.D., Surgeon Dentist, first published his book, A Syst of Dental Surgery, in Philadelphia (second edition, 1835).2 This is considered the best text of its time in the United States a complete systematic American treatise on the practice of dentistry. It is believed to be a compilation of everything of importance then known and contains an impressive bibliography The author, a graduate of Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, was proficient in foreign languages, enabling him to quote extensively from the works of foreign authors. Fitch devotes a chapter to diseases produced by diseased teeth. He discusses Tic Douloureux, pain in the ear, inflammation of the eyes, nervous disorders, epilepsy, hysteria, headaches, etc .3,4

Although dentistry took a new direction in Baltimore in 1840, with the opening of the first college in the world devoted exclusively to dentistry, this change was gradual. The dental profession no longer wanted to be a branch of medicine, as was ophthalmology It was no longer necessary to go to