Building on our accomplishments

The beginning of a new century affords a special opportunity to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. A dentist who left practice in 189 9 and was suddenly transported to 1999 would find a profession that little resembles his or her own experience of a century ago. The acceptance of loc al anesthesia, fluoride as a central element in preventive strategies, spec ialists, the concepts of focal infection and antisepsis, the demise of prop rietary schools of dentistry and the existence of 55 university-based schoo ls of dental medicine are but a few of the changes he or she would find.(1) But despite the scope and magnitude of these developments, when viewed fro m the perspective of a hundred years, change in dentistry-and certainly in dental education-has been slow, measured and incremental.