Alfred Paul Rogers (July 5, 1873 – April 6, 1959) was an American orthodontist who was considered the father of the myofunctional therapy in orthodontics. He was the president of

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 American Academy of Dental Sciences. He was also instrumental in forming the

American Board of Orthodontics American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) is a non-profit professional association for orthodontists founded in 1929. History The organization was first established as ''the American Board of Orthodontia'' in 1929 and later changed its name to the A ...

Life

He was born in

Amherst, Nova Scotia Amherst ( ) is a town in northwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, located at the northeast end of the Cumberland Basin, an arm of the Bay of Fundy, and south of the Northumberland Strait. The town sits on a height of land at the eastern boundary of th ...

, in 1873. He was the youngest of 11 children of William Henry Rogers and Mary E. Rogers. He attended Horton Collegiate Academy for high school and

Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia ...

for undergraduate studies. He then went to University of Toronto's

Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO) is the regulatory college for dentists in the province of Ontario, Canada. The college was incorporated on March 4, 1868, when royal assent was granted to ''An Act Respecting Dentistry'' in ...

and

Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery The Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery (sometimes referred to informally as the Pennsylvania Dental College) was founded in 1856 in Philadelphia and was the second oldest operating school of dentistry in the United States by the time of its clos ...

, where he obtained his dental degree in 1896. He then attended

Angle School of Orthodontia Angle School of Orthodontia was the first school of orthodontics in the world, established by Edward Angle in 1899. The school taught its students orthodontics over a period of 3–6 weeks. The school graduated 183 students until it closed in 1927. ...

in 1903. He started his own practice of dentistry in 1896 before he attended the Angle School of Orthodontia. He moved to Boston in 1906 and he was the first person to exclusively practice orthodontics in New England.

Work

Alfred always had a deep interest in teaching and therefore he taught at

Harvard School of Dental Medicine The Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) is the dental school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to the DMD degree, HSDM offers specialty training programs, advanced trainin ...

from 1918 to 1945. He was the associate professor of orthodontic research along with director of Harvard-Forsyth Postgraduate School of Orthodontics. Alfred was greatly influenced by the work of pediatricians with children. He was impressed by the benefits from the early supervised exercises done in the treatment of children. He started exploring the effect of musculature of oral cavity on the structure of mouth. Alfred devised a system of exercises that stimulated growth in the maxillofacial region. He eventually called this therapy "myofunctional therapy in orthodontics". In 1918, at the annual meeting of American Association of Orthodontists, he presented his first paper that talked about effects of musculature on mouth. He published his last paper in 1950 which was titled "A Restatement of the Myofunctional Concept in Orthodontics". He received honorary degrees from Acadia University (1944), and Washington University (1941). Rogers resided with his wife in their home in New Hampshire after retirement. He was a Certified Tree Farmer and a charter member of the American Tree Farm Association. The forest around his house was eventually named Alfred Paul Rogers Forest, as a living memorial for Alfred. His love for nature was displayed by many essays written by him. One of the essays named "Notes of a Countryman" was published in a book form in 1938 by Bruce Humphries. He had two sons with his second wife, Georgina Crosby: Robert Page Rogers and Edward Saunders Rogers. Robert was a pediatrician in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Edwards was a professor of public health at the University of California. He married a third time to H. Evanel Haines in 1957.

Awards and positions

* America Academy of Dental Science – president * American Association of Orthodontists – president * Northeastern Society of Orthodontists – president *

Albert H. Ketcham Albert H. Ketcham (August 3, 1870 – December 5, 1935) was an American orthodontist and a past president of the American Society of Orthodontists. Life and career He was born in Whiting, Vermont, and attended high school at Vermont Academy, Sa ...

Memorial Award – 1938

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Alfred 1873 births Orthodontists 1959 deaths Acadia University alumni University of Toronto alumni Canadian emigrants to the United States