Dentists and Dentistry in the British West Indies in the Late 1800s and Early 1900s.

Abstract

This review explores dental care in the British West Indies (later termed the Commonwealth Caribbean) during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Information on dental care is limited for this region at that time. First-hand accounts of dentists who visited and worked in the region, newspaper items and documentation of the early steps towards dental laws and regulation in some territories provide some insights. Dentistry in the region was influenced by international developments in the profession and visiting dentists, particularly from the United States of America and United Kingdom, where dental training, qualifications and laws pertaining to registration and regulation were being established, along with advances in techniques and materials. These developments continued into the late colonial and post-colonial period leading eventually to the establishment of dental schools and locally qualified dentists in the region.