An exhibition of the life and works of Sir John Tomes is now on diplay at the BDA Museum, London. The exhibition marks the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society. Tomes was the first dentist to be elected on the basis of his dental research.

John Tomes was born on 21st March 1815 at Weston-on-Avon, Gloucestershire. In 1836 , after a five year apprenticeship with an apothecary in Evesham, he entered the medical schools of King’s College and Middlesex Hospitals. During his training he extracted many teeth and, although he was doing well at his medical studies he decided to abandon them to pursue dentistry. At that time no qualification was needed to be a dentist. In 1840 he was appointed dental surgeon to King’s College Hospital and opened his own practice in Marylebone. Three years later he became Dental Surgeon at Middlesex Hospital, where he gave a course of lectures on ‘Dental Physiology and Surgery’. These were published in a book in 1848.

Research
Tomes began his research into teeth whilst still a medical student. He used objective data collection and personal experience as the basis for his papers. He kept a register at the hospital of every case he treated and used these to analyse which teeth were most at risk of disease. His advice on dental surgery was partly gleaned from his experience of removing the decayed portion of two of his own wisdom teeth and filling them with amalgam.

In 1838 he submitted his first paper to the Royal Society. It described the microscopic structure of human and animal teeth and compared teeth with bone. He submitted four more papers to the Royal Society between 1849 and 1856 and was elected a Fellow in 1850. His final paper was his most famous. In it he proposed that dentine is sensitive because it has structures containing fibres connected to the pulp. These became known as ’Tomes fibrils’.

Technical Inventions
Tomes was a practical man as well as an academic. His experience of extractions, along with his study of the shape and size of each tooth and their roots, spurred him to design new styles of forceps adpated for different teeth. Although it seems unlikely that Tomes was the first to develop this design, as Cyrus Fay had presented a similar design to the Society of Arts in 1824, he must be credited with popularising them. Crucially Tomes published his designs and collaborated with the instrument maker Jean Marie Evrard ensuring his forceps appeared in dental catalogues. Tomes other major invention was the dentifactor. This was a mechanical way to carve ivory dentures. The dentifactor was quicker and produced a more accurate fit than carving by hand. Unfortunately for Tomes it was overshadowed by the introduction of new denture material – vulcanite .

Politics
Early in his career Tomes saw the need for official recognition of dentists as professionals but it was not until the mid 1850s that he could devote much attention this matter. Numerous letters were written by leading dentists to the Royal College of Surgeons of England urging that a qualification for dentistry should be established. Tomes was encouraged to set up a proper body to negotiate with the College. The Odontological Society was formed and the College finalled agreed to establish a specialist deaprtment and create the award of a Licence in Dental Surgery (LDS).

The College had not organised any training however. Therefore Tomes and others founded the London School of Dental Surgery where he became the first lecturer in dental physiology and surgery. The first exams were set for March 1860. As the College wanted Tomes as an examiner it quickly made him a member and awarded him an LDS.

Tomes now turned his attention to ensuring that only qualified persons could practise and this required registration. He managed to obtain support for an Act of Parliament which was passed in 1878 restricting the use of the word dentist to suitably qualified  persons. To enforce the act, Tomes and other leading dentists formed the British Dental Association in 1880 and he was as our first president.

Final Years
In 1886 Tomes was knighted for eminent services rendered to his profession. Soon afterwards he resigned from the BDA retiring to his home in Caterham, Surrey. The last honour bestowed on him was the creation in February 1894 of a triennial prize in his name by the Royal College of Surgeons for scientific work by a licentiate in dental surgery.

‘He was a great original investigator, a great mechanical inventor, a great operator and a great leader of his profession’. Sir Harry Baldwin

The exhibition of the life and works of Sir John Tomes finishes at the BDA on 4 March and tours to the East Surrey Museum, Caterham  and the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons.

This exhibition and its associated events have been made possible through funding from the Royal Society.