Sumter Smith Arnim (1904 - 1990) was an American dentist and academic. He was dean of the

University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS), is a joint venture of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) and the University of Texas MD Ander ...

and he conducted significant research work on dental plaque.

Biography

Arnim was admitted to the

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

, and he quickly elected to pursue a Ph.D. in pathology instead of a medical degree. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Arnim was a faculty member at the

Medical College of Virginia The VCU Medical Center is Virginia Commonwealth University's medical campus located in downtown Richmond, Virginia, in the Court End neighborhood. VCU Medical Center used to be known as the Medical College of Virginia (MCV), which merged with the ...

, and he pointed out that dental disease was only coming into the spotlight because it was impacting the availability of soldiers for the war. He called for more dentists to be trained in research methods so that oral health could be better understood. Arnim later expanded on work from

Charles C. Bass Charles Cassidy Bass (January 29, 1875 – August 1975) was an American medical doctor and researcher on tropical medicine who made significant contributions to understanding malaria, hookworm, and other diseases.Rudolph Matas, New Orleans Medic ...

related to

dental plaque Dental plaque is a biofilm of microorganisms (mostly bacteria, but also fungi) that grows on surfaces within the mouth. It is a sticky colorless deposit at first, but when it forms tartar, it is often brown or pale yellow. It is commonly found bet ...

; he used

phase-contrast microscopy __NOTOC__ Phase-contrast microscopy (PCM) is an optical microscopy technique that converts phase shifts in light passing through a transparent specimen to brightness changes in the image. Phase shifts themselves are invisible, but become visible ...

and cinemicrography to more closely study plaque. He developed an early form of the disclosing tablet using

erythrosine Erythrosine, also known as Red No. 3, is an organoiodine compound, specifically a derivative of fluorone. It is a pink dye which is primarily used for food coloring. It is the disodium salt of 2,4,5,7-tetraiodofluorescein. Its maximum absorbanc ...

. Arnim worked with oral pathologist Barnet M. Levy at the Medical College of Virginia, and he recruited Levy to the University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston in 1957, where Levy later helped to establish a dental research institute. In the 1960s, Arnim directed graduate and postgraduate programs at the school, which included degree plans in

orthodontics Orthodontics is a dentistry specialty that addresses the diagnosis, prevention, management, and correction of mal-positioned teeth and jaws, and misaligned bite patterns. It may also address the modification of facial growth, known as dentofacial ...

prosthodontics Prosthodontics, also known as dental prosthetics or prosthetic dentistry, is the area of dentistry that focuses on dental prostheses. It is one of 12 dental specialties recognized by the American Dental Association (ADA), Royal College of Surge ...

and oral surgery, and continuing education classes for practicing dentists. Arnim was dean of the

(GSBS) from 1966 to 1970. By 1967, enrollment at the GSBS had doubled from its founding and Arnim was credited with improving faculty morale. From 1968 to 1972, Arnim was a preventive dentistry consultant to the

Surgeon General of the United States Air Force The surgeon general of the Air Force and Space Force is the senior-most Medical Service officer in the United States Department of the Air Force and thus serves as surgeon general for both the United States Air Force and United States Space Forc ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnim, Sumter S. 1904 births 1990 deaths American dentistry academics American pathologists Yale School of Medicine alumni University of Texas System people 20th-century dentists