The first American College of Dentistry is chartered in 1840 by the Maryland Assembly through the efforts of Dr. Horace H. Hayden (1769-1844), the first licensed American dentist and his student, Dr. Chapin A. Harris (1806-1860), the first dean of the College. Before the College, there is no successful effort to turn dentistry into a formal profession. The two founders “recognized the need for systematic formal education as the foundation for a scientific dental profession. Together they played a major role in establishing and promoting formal dental education, and in the development of dentistry as a profession.” A series of consolidations leads to the present Maryland School of Dentistry as part of the University of Maryland Baltimore.
