From the Collections: A Brief Overview of Dentistry, Notable Dentists, and the U.S. Military from the American Revolution to World War II Through Portraits

Signed Poster of Chiefs, Dental Corps United States Army 1901-1986

Dentists have long provided services to and been members of the United States military dating back to the Revolutionary War. With early ties to the necessity of musketeers to be able to tear powder packets and for sailors to have enough teeth to act as an extra hand when climbing to adjust sails, oral health has always played a role in American military history. By the Civil War, a dentist’s firearms inventions and connections to the White House laid the foundations for a shift in how the military perceived the dental profession, however, that foundation would not be officially recognized until almost 50 years later when Congress passed “An Act To increase the efficiency of the permanent military establishment of the Unted States,” on February 2, 1901, which included an amendment to establish a dental corps of contract dental surgeons.