Dr. John M. Harris in 1828 started the world's first dental school in Bainbridge, Ohio, and helped to establish dentistry as a health profession. It opened on February 21, 1828, and today is a dental museum. Visitors can see a variety of antique dental instruments and sets of false teeth.
Harris started out as a medical doctor in Cincinnati, and then moved to Bainbridge in the mid-1820s. In 1827, he started offering classes for those who wanted to study "preparatory to their entering a medical college." By 1828, however, his courses began to specialize in studying dentistry, a medical specialty that Harris focused on in his practice as well.
Toothpaste Pioneer
Toothpaste can be traced back to 500 BC in China and India. Our modern toothpastes were brought into popularity in 1824, by a dentist named Peabody, who added soap to toothpaste. Then, in the 1850's, John Harris added chalk, and soon the S.S. White Company introduced a paste in a collapsible tube. But it wasn't until 1873 that toothpaste was mass-produced when Colgate introduced the first toothpaste in a jar. Fluoride was added to toothpaste in 1956, when Proctor & Gamble launched its Crest product.
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