Royal crowns and historic plaque: dentistry in Hawaii during the 19th century.

For island dentistry, 1903 was something of a landmark year, notable for the founding of the Dental Society of Hawaii and the enactment of legislation setting new, rigorous standards for professional licensing. When Dr. John Morgan Whitney, Hawaii's first resident graduate dentist, delivered the presidential address before the first annual meeting of the Society the following January, he in effect marked the beginning of the modern period of Island dentistry. The century preceding 1903, in contrast, was a pioneering period in this field, with uncertain origins and erratic progress. When it began, what little dental care existed was crude and primitive, for foreigners as well as the native population. Honolulu did not even see its first dentist until 1847. The following decades brought important strides in dental technology and growth in the professional community. These advances, largely overlooked by island historians, are the subject of this paper.