Dental Research

UNPROCESSED COLLECTION. Contents are 16mm film reels of varying length, all have soundtracks and image reels are a mix of color and black and white. All deal with dental, periodontal, orthodontic, or related topics and were circulated for showing in schools, community settings, and other venues by the American Dental Association (ADA). Producers included the ADA, regional dental associations, university dental schools, public health agencies, and individual practitioners.

H. Trendley Dean (1893-1962) was the first director of the National Institute of Dental Research and a pioneer investigator of fluorine in the prevention of tooth decay. His research focused on treatment of Vincent's disease, mottled enamel, and fluoridation therapy. Most of the documents in the collection are related to Dean's research at the National Institutes of Health (1931-1953) and as Secretary of the Council on Dental Research for the American Dental Association (1953-1959).

Two kinds of materials are found in the collection: copies of documents located in public repositories, such as the National Archives, the American Dental Association Archives, and the National Library of Medicine.