Biographical Sketches
WESTERN DENTAL COLLEGE
In 1890 the Western Dental College was established, beginning its existence with a faculty that included some of the foremost dentists and physicians of Kansas City. There is probably not a school of the kind in the country that is a parallel for its successful career. It entered upon its first year with 60 students and in 1895 228 students matriculated! All of the modern appliances of dentistry are used in the lectures and the courses of study. The management of the college is now completing a chemical lab to accommodate 100 students, and is establishing a dental library to be used for purposes of reference by the students and dentists in general. There is now at the college a valuable and interesting collection of specimens, showing the diseases to which the teeth are subject and also many nteresting specimens of dental work done by students, demonstrating their proficiency in the mechanical part of the professional labor.
The rapid growth of this school has necessitated a change of quarters, and plans are now being perfected for the construction of a larger college building to accommodate the increasing membership. The course of study is such that whether in lectures, operatives or medical dentistry, the student has every advantage known to modern dental science to fully equip him for practice, and the diploma of this school enables the graduates to practice anywhere in America. The Western Dental College became a member of the National Association of Dental Faculties in the United States in 1894. This school is conducted under the coeducational system, and many ladies are included among its students.
The faculty for the year 1895 is as follows: D. J. McMillen, DDS, Dean and Professor of Operative Dentistry, crown and bridge work; George Halley, MD, Professor of Oral Surgery; Robert L. Green, MD and C. E. Wilson, MD, Associate Professors of Anatomy; J. M. Allen, AB, MD, and A. M. Wilson, AM, MD., Associate Professors of Materia Medica, General Pathology and Therapeutics; R. R. Hunter, MD, PHG, Professor of Chemistry; W. F. Kuhn, AM, MD., Professor of Physiology; J. H. Thompson, MD., Professor of Histology; John Punton, MD., Professor of Neurology; John H. Johnson, MD., Professor of Hygiene and Clinical Professor of the Eye and Ear; J. M. Gross, DDS., and T. H. Cunningham, DDS., Associate Professors of Dental Pathology and Therapeutics; K. P. Ashely, DDS., Professor of Prosthetic Dentistry; Edward Bumgardner, DDS., Professor of Metallurgy and Demonstrator of Histology; and William J. Brady, DDS., Professor of Orthodontia and Dental Technics. In addition there is a large corps of special lecturers and demonstrators on the clinical staff.
To Dr. McMillen, who has served as dean of the institution from the beginning, the success of the college is largely due, and he certainly deserves great credit for the establishment of a school in the West that is the peer of any long established dental college in the East.
This page was last updated August 2, 2006.