I have been unable to find out much about Dr. Joshua Stevenson Dorsey other than he was an 1867 graduate of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgety (BCDS) and was listed in practice on North Howard Street or West Biddle Street, Baltimore from 1882 till 1898 and since 1890 at the 813 N. Howard street address shown on the advertising trade card at right.
As a graduate of BCDS, he received a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) Degree.
The DDS degree is the one awarded by the majority of dental schools in the United States. The Baltimore College of Dental Surgery was established in 1840 and was THE FIRST DENTAL SCHOOL IN THE WORLD and thus the first to grant the DDS degree. The DMD degree was first used in 1867 when Harvard established the first university affiliated dental school. The reason this degree is DMD rather than DDM is that it stands for the Latin "Dentariae Medicinae Doctor."
The 1910 census has him living in a Baltimore boarding house. Listed as 71 years old and his occupation as a dentist and in real estate.
On his trade card pictured on the right, Dr. Dorsey offered to extract teeth without pain. This would not have been possible were it not for the discovery of surgical anesthesia by Dr. Horace Wells (1815-1848), a Hartford, Connecticut dentist.
Dr. Wells attended a laughing gas demonstration on December 10, 1844 where he observed the properties of nitrous oxide gas and recognized its potential. Gardner Quincy Colton (1814-1898) a showman and former medical student who later turned dentist had directed the laughing gas demonstration.
The very next day (December 11, 1844) Dr. Wells had Colton come to his office where he had a tooth painlessly removed by his colleague, Dr. John Mankey Riggs (1811-1885), using nitrous oxide gas. This discovery arguably represents dentistry's greatest gift to medicine and to humanity.
The Baltimore College of Dental Surgery conveyed an honorary Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree on Dr. Riggs in 1879. Dr. Wells was posthumously awarded an admittedly belated DDS degree during the sesquicentennial of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery in 1990.
It is ironic that a discovery made by dentists (general anesthesia) is used primarily today by physicians and a discovery by physicians (local anesthesia) is used primarily by dentists.
Dr. Dorsey did not mention the means he would use to make the proceedure painless but it could not have been local anesthesia as that was not in widespread use until after his death.
I have been unable to find out much about Dr. Joshua Stevenson Dorsey other than he was an 1867 graduate of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgety (BCDS) and was listed in practice on North Howard Street or West Biddle Street, Baltimore from 1882 till 1898 and since 1890 at the 813 N. Howard street address shown on the advertising trade card at right.
As a graduate of BCDS, he received a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) Degree.
The DDS degree is the one awarded by the majority of dental schools in the United States. The Baltimore College of Dental Surgery was established in 1840 and was THE FIRST DENTAL SCHOOL IN THE WORLD and thus the first to grant the DDS degree. The DMD degree was first used in 1867 when Harvard established the first university affiliated dental school. The reason this degree is DMD rather than DDM is that it stands for the Latin "Dentariae Medicinae Doctor."
The 1910 census has him living in a Baltimore boarding house. Listed as 71 years old and his occupation as a dentist and in real estate.
On his trade card pictured on the right, Dr. Dorsey offered to extract teeth without pain. This would not have been possible were it not for the discovery of surgical anesthesia by Dr. Horace Wells (1815-1848), a Hartford, Connecticut dentist.
Dr. Wells attended a laughing gas demonstration on December 10, 1844 where he observed the properties of nitrous oxide gas and recognized its potential. Gardner Quincy Colton (1814-1898) a showman and former medical student who later turned dentist had directed the laughing gas demonstration.
The very next day (December 11, 1844) Dr. Wells had Colton come to his office where he had a tooth painlessly removed by his colleague, Dr. John Mankey Riggs (1811-1885), using nitrous oxide gas. This discovery arguably represents dentistry's greatest gift to medicine and to humanity.
The Baltimore College of Dental Surgery conveyed an honorary Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree on Dr. Riggs in 1879. Dr. Wells was posthumously awarded an admittedly belated DDS degree during the sesquicentennial of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery in 1990.
It is ironic that a discovery made by dentists (general anesthesia) is used primarily today by physicians and a discovery by physicians (local anesthesia) is used primarily by dentists.
Dr. Dorsey did not mention the means he would use to make the proceedure painless but it could not have been local anesthesia as that was not in widespread use until after his death.
Inscription
Son of Benjamin and Rachel Dorsey
