Dr. Martin Dewey (1881–1933) was an American orthodontist and a past president of the

American Association of Orthodontists Founded in 1900, the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) is the world's oldest and largest dental specialty organization. It represents nearly 19,000 orthodontist members throughout the United States, Canada and abroad. All orthodontists are ...

and the

American Dental Association The American Dental Association (ADA) is an American professional association established in 1859 which has more than 161,000 members. Based in the American Dental Association Building in the Near North Side of Chicago, the ADA is the world's ...

. Dewey represented the "New School" of

Edward Angle Edward Hartley Angle (June 1, 1855 – August 11, 1930) was an American dentist, widely regarded as "the father of American orthodontics". He was trained as a dentist, but made orthodontics his speciality and dedicated his life to standardizing ...

in the great Extraction Debate of 1911 held in New York City.

Life

He was born in 1881 in

Kingman, Kansas Kingman is a city in and the county seat of Kingman County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 3,105. History Kingman was laid out in 1874. Like Kingman County, it was named for Samuel A. Kingman, ch ...

. In 1899, he obtained his college degree from Wichita Normal School. He then enrolled in

University of Iowa College of Dentistry The University of Iowa College of Dentistry is the dental school of the University of Iowa. It is located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the only dental school in Iowa and is one of only two dental colleges in the United States to offe ...

. After graduation from dental school in 1902, he studied under

at the Angle School of Orthodontia in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. After completing the school, Dewey started teaching at the school as a faculty. During his time in teaching, he also obtained an M.D. degree in St. Louis. He eventually practiced as a private orthodontist in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

. There he became faculty at

University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Dentistry The School of Dentistry is a dental school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The School of Dentistry is located on Hospital Hill in Kansas City, close to the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Medicine, Truman Medical Center ...

. As a faculty he gained recognition as a teacher, debater and a writer on subjects pertaining to dentistry. Dewey eventually became a well-regarded public speaker.

Career

Dr. Dewey was the founding editor of International Journal of Orthodontia, later known as

American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics The ''American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering orthodontic research. It is published by Elsevier and is the official journal of the American Association of Orthodontists. ...

. He worked with Dr. C.V. Mosby to establish the journal in 1915. He served as editor for 17 years and wrote many interesting articles over his lifetime. His efforts were important in establishing the journal in its early years. Before his death, Dr. Dewey began publishing a journal called '' Orthodontic Review'' which was designed as an open forum journal to discuss orthodontic related topics. The journal was however discontinued later. He played an important part in opposing the "Arizona Orthodontic Law '' Dewey established the Dewey School of Orthodontics at the Dental School in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. The first classes were given in the summer of 1911 for a period of ten weeks. The school was moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1917 and then to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

two years later. He served as faculty member at both Chicago and New York dental schools. The school had annual orthodontic sessions until 1933 when Dewey died. Dewey wrote and co-authored several textbooks such as ''Practical Orthodontics'' and ''Dental Anatomy''. He was the co-author of ''Comparative Dental Anatomy'' textbook. There's also a Martin E. Dewey Award that has been established by the Southwestern Society of Orthodontists in his honor.

Dewey School of Orthodontia alumni

* John W. Parsons

Positions

* American Association of Orthodontists, President, * American Dental Association, President, 1931-1932 * American Board of Orthodontics, Founding Board Member, 1929 * American Journal of Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopedics, Founding Editor, 1915-1933 * Southwestern Society of Orthodontists, Honorary member

References

1881 births 1933 deaths American dentists Orthodontists University of Iowa alumni University of Missouri–Kansas City faculty People from Kingman, Kansas 20th-century dentists {{US-med-bio-stub