UK Dentists Gather to Mark the 200th Birthday of the World’s First Dentist
Dentists from all over the UK are gathering today (the 3rd June) to celebrate the 200th birthday of the world’s first proper dentist, Sir John Tomes.
Sir John Tomes was born in Weston-on-Avon in 1815 and dentists are meeting at his grave to mark the landmark anniversary of his birth.
When Sir John Tomes, fondly regarded as the founder of modern dentistry, first started out, dental care was provided by people with no qualifications and teeth were pulled out using basic instruments without any pain relief or anaesthetic. After spending five years as an apprentice at an apothecary in Gloucestershire, Sir John Tomes went to read Medicine at King’s College London and later chose to specialise in Dentistry, becoming the college’s first dental surgeon and laying the foundations for modern practice.
During his long and rewarding career, in which he owned his own dental practice, Sir John Tomes carried out extensive research and compiled a host of research books, which are still referenced and used in dentistry courses up and down the country today.
The president of the British Dental Association, Prof Nairn Wilson, claimed that Sir John Tomes brought dentistry from the back streets to the safety of hospitals and clinics and laid the foundations for the major advances in dental care that have occurred in the last 120 years.
Dentists will celebrate the life of Sir John Tomes at his grave, which is set to be reconsecrated, in Surrey today.
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