University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry

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The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry. (Photo courtesy UIC College of Dentistry.)

The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry evolved from the Columbian Dental College, founded in Chicago in 1891.

The College informally affiliated with the University of Illinois in 1901, and was chartered as an official College of the University in 1913. Since then, the College has endeavored to provide the most current technology to students, and often the College’s innovations in teaching and clinical programs have been models for dental schools throughout the country.

In teaching, the College has changed from a 20th Century discipline/specialty based educational approach that focused on surgical therapy performed by solo practitioners to a 21st Century model focused on integrated teaching of subject matter, preventive patient care, and collaboration and collegiality—all using the latest technology. The College offers a four-year DDS degree; a two-year International Dentists DDS degree; PhD and MS degrees in oral sciences; and six advanced education/residency certificate programs.

The College has a variety of research and treatment centers in various specialties: endodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, oral biology, oral medicine and diagnostic sciences, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, and restorative dentistry.

The foundation of the College’s health research programs, consisting of basic investigations and applied studies of the oral structures in health and disease, is the rich heritage established by renowned researchers throughout the history of the College. The work of several individuals has significantly expanded the scientific knowledge base of dentistry:

The College was the top dental school in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, as several members of dentistry’s “Vienna Group,” top dental faculty with European backgrounds, including Dr. Harry Sicher and Dr. Joseph-Peter Weinmann, joined the College’s faculty.

Dr. John V. Borden, a 1939 alumnus, was the inventor of the highspeed dental handpiece, the basic tool of modern dentistry.

The research of Dr. Bernard G. Sarnat, a 1940 alumnus, head of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the College from 1946 to 1956, is considered the basis for the modern understanding of craniofacial surgery.

Dr. Isaac Schour, Dean of the College from 1956 to 1964, was the discoverer of “growth rings” in teeth. He and Dr. Maury Massler, who established the College’s Department of Pediatric Dentistry and served as its Head from 1946 to 1965, created a seminal chart of tooth development.

Faculty members Dr. Earl W. Renfroe, a 1931 alumnus, and Dr. Thomas K. Barber, a 1949 alumnus, wrote what is considered the seminal article originating the concepts of preventive and interceptive orthodontics for the Journal of the American Dental Association in 1957.

Dr. E. Lloyd Du Brul, who taught oral anatomy at the College for 50 years, was considered the greatest dental anatomist of the 20th century. The College’s Du Brul Archives Room houses his collection of human, animal, and prehistoric skulls and jawbones―the finest collection of such artifacts prepared for teaching.

Dr. Allan G. Brodie Sr., who earned two degrees from the University of Illinois, was considered the greatest student Dr. Edward Angle, the “father of orthodontics,” ever taught. He established the College’s postgraduate program in orthodontics in 1929―one of the first in the nation. Dr. Brodie set the standard for orthodontics expertise through much of the 20th Century, and his book, The Dentofacial Complex, was considered so important that it was published nearly 30 years after his death.

As part of a public University, the College has a commitment to community oral health outreach service and to serving the underserved, providing nearly $1 million in uncompensated care to indigent dental patients annually.

With an emphasis on pediatric dentistry, faculty and students participate in health fairs and clinics in elementary schools, long-term care facilities, churches, and Head Start programs. The College also provides dental services for senior citizens and children in collaboration with the Chicago Department of Public Health. More than 100,000 patients are treated each year in the College’s clinics.