The development of oral surgery in Canada has been guided, stimulated and assisted by our colleagues in the United States.

Hullihen (1810-1857) has been credited as being the first specialist in oral surgery, and is widely regarded as the Father of Oral Surgery on this continent. Although Dr. Hullihen's degrees were both Honorary, during 22 years of practice, he operated on cases of hare lip, cleft palate, and carcinoma; reconstructed jaws, and performed 1100 major head and neck operations. He was also considered the first to report correction of mandibular prognathism.

Garretson, born 18 years after Hullihen, must have been greatly influenced by him. He was Professor of Anatomy at the Philadelphia College of Anatomy and was appointed Oral Surgeon to the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. A gifted and dynamic teacher, he published the first book on oral surgery, Garretson's System of Oral Surgery, which ran through six editions between 1869 and 1890.

Garretson's teachings reached far afield, influencing such notables as Brophy, Gilmer and Cryer. He devised improved methods for operating on the jaws, including a method of sectioning the jaw for the correction of prognathism. An anatomist of worldwide reputation, he produced the chapter on the anatomy of the face and jaws in Gray's Anatomy, and his own book on facial anatomy is a classic. He also had some 100 papers published in the Dental Cosmos, a superlative journal that recognized the significance of oral surgery and which was widely read by dentists in Canada. 

In Canada Dr. George Beers of Montreal is recognized as the first dentist to specialize in oral surgery. Prior to his death in 1900, he was widely regarded as the most outstanding dentist that Canada had yet produced. He founded and edited the Canada Journal of Dental Science, a publication of high scientific and literary standard for the period. It provides the only reliable history of the profession in Canada during the period of its publication.

Why A Specialty?

Oral surgery was the first specialty of dentistry because it is the only area of dental practice where cases could tum fatal from rampant infections or severe traumatic injury. Dental practitioners were grateful to be able to refer such patients to a colleague who exclusively practised oral surgery, and who could offer the experience and facilities that would best serve the patient.

Early in the 20th century, the number of dentists restricting their practice to oral surgery had greatly increased. They were located in the larger centers of population across Canada, with the exception of Newfoundland and the central prairie region.

Canada did not offer many dental schools at that time. Consequently, these pioneer specialists often had to "wing it" alone with the limited knowledge and training that was available to them at that time.

Some of the pioneers in Canadian oral surgery include: Johnson and Cox of Vancouver; Henniger of Halifax; Roger McMahon in Montreal; E.W. Paul in Toronto; George Everett in Hamilton; Roy Beer in Winnipeg and Doug Coupland in Ottawa. Coupland played a most effective role in organized dentistry and contributed many fine papers on oral surgery to the literature.

Those best remembered for their contributions to teaching include Henniger at Dalhousie, Beers and McMahon at McGill and Henderson and Paul at Toronto.

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