A large, heavy glass dispenser, filled with dental floss, is featured at the Benco Dental museum in Northeast Pennsylvania. This "Champion" dental floss dispenser (shown), from Johnson & Johnson, circa early 1900s, is much different from the lightweight, small floss dispensers we use... CONTINUE READING
While we generally profile great women from dentistry's past, we do not want to neglect any woman of the past who has advanced the cause of equality for women and the advancement of society in general. On the run-up to Women's History Month (March) we are profiling a woman who worked tirelessly for... CONTINUE READING
A young California duo, Dr. J. Alexander Somerville and Dr. Vada Watson Somerville (shown in the group photo, courtesy of the UCLA Library for Oral History Research at the Hotel Somerville groundbreaking in 1928) made a conscious choice to bring the challenges of the workday home, much like in... CONTINUE READING
A group of dentists working together in a central location and offering all sorts of dental procedures, painlessly - that's a modern invention, right? Wrong! Back at the turn of the last century, there were several dental groups that advertised "Painless Dentistry". False Advertising How... CONTINUE READING
In the early days of the twentieth century, SS White ruled dentistry like a colossus. Well, that was then. In Incisal Edge dental lifestyle magazine, Benco Dental Chairman and Chief Customer Advocate Larry Cohen discusses this in an installment of Larry's Collection, a showcase of unique... CONTINUE READING
On March 10, 1869, just four years after the Civil War's end, Dr. Robert Tanner Freeman, the son of enslaved parents, opened a door of opportunity for future generations of dentists. Two decades later, a resilient young woman, Dr. Ida Gray, rewrote the rules for African American women in... CONTINUE READING
Ever wonder where the legend of the Tooth Fairy comes from? You know, the little entity that takes away a baby tooth and exchanges it for money or a small gift? Are Americans the only people with a crazy ritual to mark the loss of a primary tooth? Apparently not! Illustration from an antique... CONTINUE READING
Early film showcased everything from horror to zany comedy to ... dental education films. Yes, that's right, one of the uses of early silent film was to educate children on proper dental hygiene! One of the first films of its kind, Tommy Tucker's Tooth (1922) was produced by none other than Walt... CONTINUE READING
To celebrate Black History Month, let's shine a spotlight on this unsung groundbreaking woman. Biographical information was in short supply, but The New York Age, an African-American newspaper, featured Dr. Gertrude E. Curtis prominently in its society pages. [caption id="attachment_37621"... CONTINUE READING
"Barrier breaker." In 2019, The Washington Post aptly described the first woman and first African American to serve as president of the American College of Dentists. Dr. Joan Bluitt Foster, 1938 - 2019 (Photo courtesy The Island Funeral Home) Dr. Juliann Bluitt Foster "served as a role model...... CONTINUE READING
