Celebrating 150 years of the Faculty of Dentistry
2025 is the 150th anniversary of the Toronto Dental School, established in 1875 as the Royal College of Dental Surgeons. Now known as the University of Toronto's Faculty of Dentistry, it remains the largest dental school in Canada. To honor this event, we have set up physical historical snapshots about the faculty in our Reading Room space as well as an online exhibit: Milestones in Dentistry: Celebrating our History and Advancements. Those who have visited the space know that the Library's Reading Room, as it was built in 1956, had nine windows facing north. In the mid-1980s, the nine windows were covered to make space for the addition to the building. These nine former windows came to be known as the "nooks". Over the years, there were many attempts to use them in a functional way. Finally, for this celebration we decided to fill the nine nooks with historical snapshots of the faculty’s accomplishments and milestones. These nine stories include:
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The history of the school's various location around Toronto
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A brief history of the Faculty's programs
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A brief history of the Faculty's research
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The Faculty's impact on Canadian dental public health
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Knowledge transfer activities, especially in China and Ethiopia
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A brief history of the dental office, chairs, and instruments
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The history of our library
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A selection of Canadian dental periodicals
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Dentantics (the student's theatrical show from 1921 to present)
This exhibit covers some of the accomplishments of the Faculty. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Our sincerest thanks to Jeff Comber, Senior Photographer, IITS; Dr. Anne Dale, Dental Museum Curator Emerita; Roshaan Hajira, Alumni Engagement Officer; and the U of T Faculty of Dentistry Advancement Office for their help with and contributions to this exhibit.