History of Dentistry in Hk

History of dentistry in Hong Kong

MEDICAL HISTORY

The historical development of dentistry in Hong Kong

GKC Chiu, WIR Davies

Dentistry in Hong Kong during this century has advanced from an informal streetside practice to a

discipline that now serves the community by way of registered oral health care personnel. Throughout

the years, public attitudes towards dental care have also changed: from a palliative approach involving

the extraction of teeth when pain arose, to the prevention of dental disease even at the formative stage of

dentition through water fluoridation, regular therapeutic care, and oral health maintenance. The education and professionalisation of practitioners has evolved from apprenticeship to the establishment of a

structured university curriculum and postgraduate specialist training of international standards.

HKMJ 1998;4:73-6

Key words: Dentistry, History of medicine, 19th cent.; History of medicine, 20th cent., Hong Kong.

The early years

In traditional Chinese medicine, the mouth is regarded

as a mirror of the general systemic health of the body.

Diseases of the soft tissues of the oral cavity were

treated by medical practitioners, whereas teeth causing pain were extracted in the market place by tooth

removers—the predecessors of dentists.

After Hong Kong became a British Crown colony

in 1842 and with the subsequent establishment of

the City of Victoria, traders soon flocked to Hong

Kong. The population grew rapidly to about 33 000 in

the 1850s. 1 More and more foreigners moved to

Hong Kong such that by the 1870s, there were over

1 000 resident foreigners. Attracted by the local population’s dental demands, Dr Herbert Poate, who had

graduated with a professional dental degree from

the University of Pennsylvania, set up the first formal

dental practice in the early 1880s. 2 In 1887, Dr

Joseph Noble, another Pennsylvania alumnus, joined

the Poate practice. 3 Doctors Poate and Noble became

prominent among the...