University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine - History

History

Originally founded as the Pittsburgh Dental College, the school was organized and chartered simultaneously with its establishment as a department of dentistry at the Western University of Pennsylvania, the former name of the University of Pittsburgh. The School of Dental Medicine welcomed its first class of 119 freshmen that September. The school grew quickly and moved into increasingly larger facilities. Under the leadership of Dean H. Edmund Friesell, the Dental College was renamed the School of Dentistry when it became an integral part of the university when the university assumed charge of the Dental Department and property following the implementation of an agreement on October 5, 1905. By the 1920s, the dental school was reported to be, for at least a time, the largest in the world.

The School of Dental Medicine has occupied its current space in Salk Hall, which was converted from a former municipal hospital facility to house Pitt’s dental and pharmacy schools, since 1967.

Noteworthy events in School of Dental Medicine history:

• The Pittsburgh Dental College admitted its first female student, Ms. Mary L. Glenn, in 1898. In 2008-09, 34 percent of the students in the School of Dental Medicine’s entering freshman class were women.
• The School of Dentistry awarded its first master’s degree in dentistry to Nora E. Murry in 1935. The School of Dental Medicine now awards advanced degrees in 10 different disciplines.
• In 1963, the school graduated its first class of dental assistants. Pitt’s dental hygiene program is the only such program in the state of Pennsylvania that is part of a major university and accredited dental school and affiliated with a medical center.
• In 1965, five of the dental school’s chairs were dedicated to the treatment of children with disabilities. Today, the School of Dental Medicine bears the reputation of leadership and innovation in treatment of patients with special needs.
• The Doctor of Dental Medicine (D.M.D.) degree replaced the Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1967 and the school was renamed the School of Dental Medicine to reflect the profession’s evolution.