Research Issue - Harvard School of Dental Medicine

harvarddentalbulletinWinter 2010–11Volume 70Number 3Alumni FocusHistory of Oral and Maxillofacial SurgeryThis history is intertwined with that of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine.On september 1, Walter Guralnick, DMD ’41, professoremeritus and chair of the HSDM Department of Oral andMaxillofacial Surgery (OMS) from 1967 until 1982, made ahistoric appearance at OMS Grand Rounds to present “Historyof Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.” The standing-room-onlycrowd in the historic Ether Dome at Massachusetts GeneralHospital, home of the Department, included many Harvardfaculty who had been students of Guralnick’s—among themthe current department chair, Leonard B. Kaban, DMD ’69,MD ’69, and HSDM Dean Bruce Donoff, DMD ’67, MD ’73.This event kicked off a year of remembrance and celebrationof the history of OMS at Mass General, in conjunction withthe hospital’s 2011 bicentennial celebration. The history ofthe hospital is intertwined with that of HSDM, as the Schooloriginally resided adjacent to Mass General and shared outpatientfacilities for the dental service.The Department traces its origins to the world’s first demonstrationof ether, which occurred at Massachusetts GeneralHospital in 1846. Dr. William T. C. Morton, a dentist, anesthetizeda patient, while the senior surgeon, Dr. Warren, removeda tumor of the salivary gland. In 1867, Harvard Dental Schoolwas founded next to the Mass General campus; in 1868, theMassachusetts General Hospital Trustees report detailed theaddition of a “Dental Service in connection with the DentalSchool of Harvard College.” In 1893, the Harvard DentalSchool moved into the old Medical School building nearby onFruit Street, allowing it to absorb the care of dental patientsfrom the Mass General outpatient “Gray Ward.” It was called6