PDA 150TH ANNIVERSARY
This commemorative issue of the Pennsylvania Dental Journal is dedicated to our members and your dental teams all over this great state . It is you and your predecessors who have built the 150-year legacy of the Pennsylvania Dental Association that we celebrate in 2018 .
In this PDJ we remember the decades of accomplishments and milestones , and reflect on the challenges and changes that have helped shape PDA . We do it largely through the memories of many of our esteemed leaders . Throughout the issue you ’ ll see excerpts of interviews conducted with former presidents , speakers of the house and other leaders , where we asked about their most memorable experiences , the defining moments for PDA , the greatest achievements of the profession and what advice they have for new dentists today . We are also pleased to have our three award-winning editors emeritus , Dr . Judith McFadden , Dr . Richard Galeone , and Dr . Bruce Terry , providing their perspective .
In addition to 150 years worth of publications and photographs , one particular book provided a goldmine of information that greatly enhanced our research , and that was a special issue of the Pennsylvania Dental Journal , titled “ History of Dentistry in Pennsylvania ,” written by former PDA president Dr . Isaac Sissman , published in March 1968 . Dr . Sissman ’ s historical account of the early years and decades of this organization provided a great foundation for capturing the origins of organized dentistry in Pennsylvania .
We also learned via the first publication of Transactions Of The Pennsylvania State Dental Society , published in 1875 , that the formation of this organization on December 1 , 1868 , “ was not the result of a preconceived idea that was worked up and developed by a succession of conferences and meetings held for that purpose by its authors . Nor was the usual mental labor of the plan and objects of such movements bestowed upon it . It sprung , almost Phoenix-like , from the deliberations of a body of men , met together in a small town in the interior of the state for mutual , social and scientific improvement in the profession of dentistry .
“ A convention of dentists , consisting of the Harris Dental Association of Lancaster , the Lebanon Valley Dental Society and a number of professional gentlemen from other local societies , was held at the Lititz Springs in July , 1868 . The formation of an extended or general organization was in no way connected with the inception of this movement , but the idea being suggested in the progress of the proceedings was at once acted upon , with the most happy results .”
Finally , a note of appreciation . The information and images presented in this issue came about not just through the research and work of PDA staff , but through the generous assistance of other PDA leaders as well as the dedicated staff of our component societies . Many thanks to all of you who contributed to this issue and helped us bring 150 years of history to life .
MARCH / APRIL 2018 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL 17