The Evolution of Dental Public Health Exhibit is located in the Mural Room.  The field of Dental Public Health, a marriage of two health professions, is dedicated to improving the overall health of the population by focusing on diseases of the teeth and gums.  The main contribution of Public Health to this discipline is the application of the public health model of disease prevention and control to oral health.

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Our interest in dental health is as old as the human race and there is extensive evidence that the Egyptians, Etruscans and Romans practiced forms of dentistry including tooth repair and replacement. Unfortunately these practices were only available to the upper classes and it was not until the 20th century that attempts were made to provide dental education and services to the general population.  Among the earliest leaders in this area were four brothers named Forsyth who established a clinic in 1910 for treating dental disease in Boston schoolchildren. The Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children continued to be the main provider of services to the poor until the opening of the first City of Boston Comprehensive Neighborhood Health Center in the 1960s.

In 1946 the Massachusetts Department of Public Health established a Division of Dental Health to prevent tooth decay.  The impetus for this was the alarming statistics generated during World War II by the Selective Service System showing how many men were rejected for poor dental health.  By the end of the 1950s, the Division's leaders became convinced that fluoridation of public water supplies was the most effective means of preventing dental caries.

This exhibit is designed to re-awaken public awareness to the importance of good dental health and access to those services that promoted it. The need for a re-awakening was highlighted again in May 2000 by the Surgeon General.