Canadian Dental Journals
The earliest form of dental literature supporting the curriculum of the Royal College of Dental Surgeons (the former name of the faculty) was mainly from the United Kingdom (U.K.) and the United States (U.S.). Books and journals that supported the curriculum at that time were written by physicians who took an interest in practicing dentistry and were trained in the profession of medicine and/or dentistry at schools outside of Canada.
Dr. George W. Beers, D.D.S., the first Dean of the McGill Dental School, is known as the first editor of a dental journal in Canada – the Canada Journal of Dental Sciences (C.J.D.S., established in 1868). Dr. Beers was an author featured in both American and British dental publications, and thus took on the leading role of editor of the journal from 1868 to 1879 (1, 2). After a few attempts at funding the journal, the Canada Journal of Dental Sciences ceased publication in 1879 (1).
Volume 1 of the Canada Journal of Dental Sciences
The C.J.D.S., after a few attempts at getting private funding from the editor and dentists, ceased publication in 1888 and was merged into the Dominion Dental Journal (D.D.J.), the voice of dentists across Canada. Dr. George W. Beers remained instrumental on the editorial board of the D.D.J.
Though the C.J.D.S. is known as the first Canadian dental journal, some sources show that a previous publication existed that was published by dentists for dentists in Ontario: The Family Dentist (1). This publication appeared around 1854 and was edited by S. S. Blodgett from Brockville, Ontario (1). Unfortunately, we do not currently have an existing copy of this publication. We are always looking to see if we can locate a copy anywhere around the world. If you or someone you know has any information, please let us know at library.dentistry@utoronto.ca.
Medical and dental literature grew at the turn of the 20th century. In 1897, Dr. Arthur D. Black, A.B., D.D.S., M.A., M.D. (President of I.A.D.R. 1929-1930), the son of Dr. Greene Vardiman Black, D.D.S. (Dean of Northwestern Dental School), undertook the challenge of filing the journals in his father’s library with the help of other dental students (3). At about the same time, the Northwestern University Dental School purchased the library of Dr. Jonathan Taft. Dr. A. Black became interested in organizing not only his father’s library, but the school’s library. After much work and organization, a formal effort was established for such an extensive task (3). In 1909, the Institute of Dental Pedagogics appointed a committee chaired by Dr. A. Black to index all English dental literature (3). The Bureau of Dental Literature was formed and published the first volume of the Index to Dental Literature (I.D.L.), covering literature from 1911-1915 (4), the second volume with articles from 1916-1920 (5), and finally the third volume going back to the beginning of modern American dental science from 1839-1910 (3). The Bureau decided to include Canadian periodicals with the U.S. periodicals, which speaks to their quality and importance at the time. The Bureau organized articles in two sections: by author and by dental subject. This work continued and was updated annually until 1999. Subsequently, this Index was combined with the Index Medicus of the National Library of Medicine. MEDLARS, and then MEDLINE, the online database, took over the print versions of the various health indices in the 1960s, and continues to be available for all to search online via PubMed. The print version of Index Medicus ceased to be printed in 1999, the same year as the end of the I.D.L. (6). The Canada Journal of Dental Sciences was one of the journals indexed in the I.D.L., establishing Canadian dental literature as an important part of the historical corpus of English dental literature in North America (3).
The Dominion Dental Journal was published from 1889 to 1934 (1, 2). It was edited by Dr. G. W. Beers from 1898 to 1900 and from 1901 to 1934 by Dr. Albert E. Webster, D.D.S. (1, 2). It merged with other publications to form the Journal of the Canadian Dental Association (J.C.D.A.). This journal is the only peer-reviewed journal in Canada, remaining in print for almost 8 decades, 1935 to 2014. Today, the J.C.D.A is available online and continues to be peer-reviewed. A different publication called CDA Essentials was established in 2014 (7), and is also available in print and digital, with online video and audio supplemental content. These C.D.A. publications remain the main source of knowledge transfer for practicing oral health professionals in Canada (7).
Revue Dentaire Canadienne
This publication, by the Sociétés Dentaires Canadienne-Françaises first appeared in 1915 under the title La Société d’Odontologie, but changed its name to Revue in 1916. It was published in Montreal from 1915 to 1934 (2). The library has issues from 1918 to 1934 at UTL@Downsview.