Beginnings:
How it all began
by Richard A. Schaefer

More than 50 years ago, many individuals prayed and worked diligently for what would one day become the School of Dentistry. Here, the new dental school building rises above the orange groves that once abundantly grew throughout the area, and on the Loma Linda campus.

As we approach the 50-year milestone commemorating the beginning of the School of Dentistry, it is interesting to look at some of the events that made it possible for the School to open.

It is difficult to look at these historical events and not feel that a providential spirit led the way.

Even though it took a long time to accomplish, the foundation of a dental school at Loma Linda was the dream of many over the years and the result of inspired leadership.

On December 9, 1909, the Articles of Incorporation for the College of Medical Evangelists (CME) authorized the granting of degrees in the liberal arts and sciences, dentistry, and medicine. On December 1, 1921, the CME Board of Trustees first considered a proposal to organize a School of Dentistry.

In 1932, Dr. R.G. Hosking, an Adventist dentist from San Francisco, California, and other interested dentists and prospective dental students, promoted the building of a School of Dentistry at CME. However, the institution's leadership at that time could not undertake such a major project.

Between 1934 and 1942 Drs. John and Gerald Mitchell, practicing dentists in Atlanta, Georgia, arranged with Atlanta Southern Dental School to accept ten Seventh-day Adventist dental students each year, excusing them from attending classes on Sabbath, making it feasible for a number of Church members to join the profession and actually form the core of the organization—NASDAD—that provided tremendous support to the development of the School.

Meanwhile, in 1938 CME commissioned Dr. Herbert G. Childs Jr., a Los Angeles dentist, to prepare a "brief" promoting a Church-operated dental school. Mrs. Helen Childs once reported, "That School was ‘doodled' on my kitchen table." Dr. Childs was considered by many to be ahead of his time.

A problem then arose at the onset of World War II when American dental schools started accepting only students residing in their regions. In 1942, when Atlanta Southern Dental School merged with Emory University, it limited admissions to applicants from the southern states. The need for a Seventh-day Adventist school of dentistry became imperative.

On August 15, 1943, at the denomination's Michigan camp meeting, Drs. John and Gerald Mitchell and a Detroit dentist, Dr. M. Webster Prince, organized the National Association of Seventh-day Adventist Dentists (NASDAD). Dr. Prince had distinguished himself as president of the Michigan State Dental Association and as a member of the Council on Dental Education of the American Dental Association.

NASDAD's membership and attendance increased during the early post-war years. In 1949 NASDAD held a pivotal meeting conjointly with the American Dental Association's national meeting in San Francisco. Dr. Prince, then president of NASDAD, presented a paper stressing the need to take immediate steps to organize an Adventist school of dentistry at the College of Medical Evangelists in Loma Linda, California. NASDAD attendees enthusiastically received Dr. Prince's address.

The momentum of public opinion increased. Even CME's medical students got involved when the senior class of 1950 created a resolution stating, "that we petition the Board of the College of Medical Evangelists to give renewed consideration to the question of establishing a school of dentistry."

However, because such a major endeavor needed denominational approval, and reconstructing the Church's international mission programs following World War II placed demands on every dollar, a million-dollar school of dentistry was not a priority.

Undaunted, in May, 1951, Dr. Prince made another powerful appeal for a denominational School of Dentistry.

Finally, on October 21, 1951, the General Conference authorized CME to organize such a school and voted to contribute $750,000 to the project.

It became the eighth school at CME, the 43rd school of dentistry in America, and the sixth west of the Rocky Mountains.

NASDAD members immediately pledged $67,800 to help establish the School.

On January 31, 1952, M. Webster Prince, DDS, became its first dean. The rest is history.