14 JADA 144(1) http://jada.ada.org January 2013

Editorials represent the opinions of the authors and notnecessarily those of the American Dental Association.

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The Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), orig-inally published as the Official Bulletin of the NationalDental Association, is celebrating its 100-year anniversaryin 2013. Eighteen thousand copies of the first issue were

published in November 1913.1 JADA currently publishes and dis-tributes more than 150,000 English-language print copies permonth to members of the American Dental Association and othersthroughout the world. Very significantly, JADA is accessed by onlineusers more than a million times annually and it publishes overseaseditions in China, India, Mexico, the Middle East, Portugal, Spainand Russia.

Take a moment to think about the changes in the United Statesand in the world that have occurred since JADA was first publishedin 1913. Infants born in the United States when JADA was firstpublished could expect to live to about 50 to 55 years of age; infantsborn today can expect to live to about 75 to 80 years of age.2 Therehave been two world wars, and the population of the United Stateshas increased from about 97 million in 1913 to more than 313 mil-lion today. Heart disease was the most common cause of death in1913 (11 percent of all deaths3), and it remains so today (24 percentof all deaths4), but in 1913 tuberculosis, which is rare today, causedalmost as many deaths (10 percent) as did heart disease.3 Considerthe contrasts between the typical one-man dental practice of 1913and the typical dental practice of today that often is composed ofmale and female dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants,receptionists, office managers and others such as technology andelectronic information specialists.

Perhaps more than any other dental publication, JADA providesa living history that documents the evolution of dentistry from theearly 20th century to the present. Indeed, one can obtain anoverview of dentistry and the state of medical and dental scienceand even discern some prominent societal issues at any specifictime by reviewing the content of JADA. For example, many JADAarticles published during the first half of the 20th century dealtwith so-called focal infection and tooth extraction for treatment ofdiseases such as rheumatic fever, arthritis, heart disease, renal dis-ease and ocular disease—which physicians of the time attributed toinfected teeth. Articles published during World Wars I and II oftendealt with the role of dentists in the war effort and the treatment ofwar wounds in the oral and facial area. In the latter part of the 20th

Perhaps more than any other dental

publication, JADAprovides a living

history that documents the

evolution of dentistry from

the early 20th centuryto the present.

EDITORIAL

A century of progressThe Journal of the American DentalAssociation celebrates its centennial

Bruce Lee Pihlstrom,DDS, MS;

Michael Glick, DMD

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century, as disease preventionreceived more emphasis andnew methods of treating dis-eases were developed, manyarticles were published inJADA that focused on newmethods for preventing andtreating oral diseases. Throughthe vision and leadership of itseditors (Box), JADA has had acritical role in exchanging anddisseminating informationamong dental professionals andhas been an important sourceof peer-reviewed scientificinformation for all health prac-titioners. As such, JADA hashad a key role in guiding andshaping the direction of ourprofession and in the preven-tion and treatment or oral disease.

As noted in 1963 by Dr. LonMorrey1 in his chronicle ofJADA’s first 50 years, “few den-tists today … can visualize themanner in which den-tistry wasprac-ticed atthe turnof thecentury.Therewere nolocal anes-thetics asthey areknown today,no acrylicresins, no pro-cessing of deli-cate and intri-cate castings, noantibiotics, andno x-ray equip-ment.” As wereflect on 100years of progress indentistry and thecentral role that JADA has hadin communication among den-tists and the dissemination ofnew information to our profes-sion, we can add an amazingarray of new developments toDr. Morrey’s list that have had

an impact onhealth and thepractice of dentistry.

Every dentalprofessional coulddevelop his or herown list of develop-ments that havereshaped Americandentistry in thelast 100 years, buta few that come tomind include thechanges in dentaleducation thatemphasize a university-basededucation, anincreasedemphasis on dis-ease prevention indental practice, the trans-forming impact of fluoridation

in preventing dentalcaries, the evolutionof group dental prac-tice and third-partypayment for dentalservices, theemphasis on infec-tion control indental practice,development ofnew restorativematerials andtechniquesthat conservetooth struc-ture, thewidespreaduse ofdentalimplantsin pros-thetic

dentistry, theadvent of computer-

aided design/computer-aidedmanufacturing in dental prac-tice, digital electronic informa-tion systems and an increasedemphasis on evidence-baseddental practice.

To celebrate JADA’s 100thbirthday, 11 “landmark” arti-cles published in The Journal

in its first 100 years have beenselected for highlighting in itscentennial year. Each issue ofJADA in its centennial year,from February throughDecember, will feature anonline link to an original articlethat was published in JADAand a commentary about thearticle written by someone whoeither has first-hand knowledgeabout the article or its topic orby a person who has a par-ticular interest in the topic ofthe selected landmark article.The landmark articles wereselected by using one or more ofthe following criteria: dthe article summarized (atthe time of publication) thestate of knowledge of a topic ofmajor interest in dentistry;dthe article presented or sum-marized research, knowledge orboth that led to increasedunderstanding of oral diseaseor its prevention and treatment;dthe article presented or sum-marized research or knowledgethat changed dental or publichealth practice.

The authors of the commen-taries about the selected land-mark articles highlighted in the

Editors of The Journal of theAmerican Dental Association,1913-present.*

Otto U. King, 1913-1925

Charles N. Johnson, 1925-1938

L. Pierce Anthony, 1938-1944

Harold Hillenbrand, 1944-1947

Lon W. Morrey, 1947-1963

Leland C. Hendershot, 1963-1973

Herbert C. Butts, 1974-1977

Roger H. Scholle, 1978-1986

William Wathen, 1987-1990

Lawrence H. Meskin, 1990-2001

Marjorie K. Jeffcoat, 2001-2004

Michael Glick, 2005-present

* Compiled by the Archivist, American Dental Association, August 2008.

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upcoming 2013 issues of JADAwill briefly discuss the effect ofthe article or its main topic interms of its impact on dentistry,dental practice or health. Weespecially wish to express ourgratitude to the authors of thecommentaries, who so gener-ously agreed toshare theirthoughts aboutthe 11 selectedlandmark arti-cles that haveappeared inJADA since1913.

We recognizethat manylandmark arti-cles that havebeen publishedby JADA in thepast 100 yearshave had atransformativeeffect on den-tistry. Indeed,whether a par-ticular articleis considered tobe a “land-mark” articledepends onone’s perspec-tive. Forexample, a den-tist who practices mainlyrestorative dentistry might giveprimary consideration to arti-cles that focused on advances inrestorative methods and dentalrestorative materials; a publichealth dentist probably wouldfocus on JADA articles thatdealt with prevention in popu-lations at risk of developingdisease; and a dental specialistprobably would focus on arti-cles that dealt with his or herspecialty. Because the reader-ship of JADA involves all facetsof dentistry, selection of just 11so-called landmark articles forhighlighting in its centennial

year has been a challenging,yet fascinating process. Itinvolved hand and electronicsearches of the JADA archives,consultation with generaldental practitioners, specialtypractitioners, dental educators,the JADA Editorial Board and

JADA staff members. Manysuggestions were made and allwere given serious considera-tion. Clearly, many other arti-cles could have been selected tobe highlighted as part ofJADA’s centennial year. Ourselection of 11 articles is justthat … a “selection” of land-mark articles from JADA’s first100 years. It is hoped thatthese articles and the accompa-nying commentaries will givereaders a brief snapshot of afew developments that havechanged dentistry and thatthey will cause readers toreflect on the advances in den-

tistry during the past 100years, as well as on the rolethat JADA has had in shapingand bringing these develop-ments to our profession and thepatients we serve.

Finally, we also hope thatreaders will take a few

moments tothink about thenext century ofJADA—and howdentistry will beviewed when the200th anniver-sary of JADA iscelebrated in2113. !

Dr. Pihlstrom is aprofessor emeritus,Department of Surgicaland Developmental Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of Minnesota, Min-neapolis. He also is the associate editor,Research, for TheJournal of theAmerican Dental Association, as well asan independent oralhealth research con-sultant. Addressreprint requests to Dr. Pihlstrom, 4801Fairmont Ave., #902,Bethesda, Md. 20814,e-mail bpihls@umn.edu.

Dr. Glick is the dean,School of Dental Medi-cine, University at Buf-

falo, The State University of New York. Healso is the editor of The Journal of theAmerican Dental Association.

Disclosure. Drs. Pihlstrom and Glick didnot report any disclosures.

1. Morrey LW. The Journal of the AmericanDental Association: a fifty year chronicle.JADA 1963;67:619-643.

2. Arias E. United States life tables, 2007.Natl Vital Stat Rep 2011;59(9):48. www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr59/nvsr59_09.pdf.Accessed Dec. 10, 2012.

3. U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention, National Center for Health Sta-tistics. Leading Causes of Death, 1900-1998.www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/lead1900_98.pdf.Accessed Nov. 12, 2012.

4. Kochanek KD, Xu J, Murphy SL, MiniñoAM, Kung H-C. Deaths: final data for 2009.Natl Vital Stat Rep 2011;60(3):65. www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_03.pdf.Accessed Nov. 12, 2012.

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