PRESIDENTS AMERICAN

ADDRESS SOCIETY

DENTURE

CHESTERPERRY,D.D.S.
Detroit, Mich.

WENTY-FIVE YEARS ago, a small group of men interested in the advancement of denture prosthesis began an organization to promote further development in that field. That society was named The American Full Denture Society. For many years it was comprised of a group of workers who produced the several phases of complete denture prosthesis by various techniques and their modifications. Its members have contributed much to the literature and science of prosthetics. The Society held meetings of this sort for twelve or fifteen years, and it was during this time that I was accepted into membership. There were never as many as a hundred members in those first few years. The Arrangements Committee needed to procure dental chairs, water containers, and heaters for tempering impression materials, instead of the projectors and screens used for our meetings today. Techniques were tried on four or five patients throughout the meeting. Such was our Society prior to this past world conflict, truly a workers group. During the five or six years of the war, one member, HartiId L. Harris, maintained the existence of the Society, by personal contact, correspondence, and travel. He was Secretary, Treasurer, Program Chairman, and the staunchest believer in the validty of its existence. There were no meetings of the Society during the war years because of travel restrictions. Immediately after the war, a get-together was held in Chicago, just prior to the Chicago Mid-Winter Meeting. Harold and many of his friends and workers could not wait until the time of the regular meeting which would have been held just prior to the meeting of the American Dental Association in Boston that fall. This was the beginning of the precedent of two meetings a year. Many fields allied to prosthetic dentistry were discussed from the podium. Partial dentures were included. The physioldgy of teeth and tissues became a part of the discussion. Thus, the word full was dropped, and your Society became known by its present name, the American Denture Society. Its growth was tremendous. In 1947, Dr. Louis Block became President and named an official Program and Clinic Chairman. This principle has been followed by each succeeding President. Perhaps it was this integration of the

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4 1

PRESIDENTS

ADDRESS.

AMERICAN

DENTURE

SOCIETY

,y;

program, perhaps it was a knowledge of the need for advancement in prosthetic dentistry, or a perpetuation of the friendliness of that little group of workrfclinicians, or perhaps it was all three that brought about the very unnatural growth of the American Denture Society. Invited guests who attended its meetings wanted to become members ; study clubs and clinic clubs in denturf, prosthesis sought membership. The Indianapolis Club? in which John Geller is so actively interested, requested that its members become members of the American Denture Society. In 1949, there were 383 members, and by 1951 thl< number had swelled to 629. Your officers became alarmed. Hotels could scarcely accommodate our gram. Ilie were not popular with the American Dental Association housing committee. Dr. Luzerne Jordan, perennial chairman of the Constitution and By-Law+ Committee, could not keep our constitution and by-laws current due to the need for repeated changes required because of the increase in membership. Finally, the officers placed a ceiling on membership at 850 members and cancelled t!llb guest privilege. The Membership Committee has been taxed terrifically. The work of our Secretary doubled and quadrupled. Lost is that smallt closely knit Society in which everyone served. Lost are the friendly and the not so friendly discussions in which we all took part at every meeting. Where we used to need just a room in a hotel for our meetings, we now take over the whole hotel. The cost to the Society has increased many fold. We are a different Society today. All of our members are interested in better dentistry, and specifically in better prosthetic dentistry. Most of us are spectators today, we are observers of the activities of the group. Perhaps not so much is gained by the individual, but more is gained by the membership and dentistry as a whole. Thanks to our capable program chairmen, the meetings have been wonderful. The role that the American Denture Society plays is one unique in dentistry, for no other specialty group embodies a Society such as ours. Our Society has, through the years, filled the need for the furtherance of prosthetic dentistry WI. a national scope by presenting advancement in the field to a larger group. I suggest these questions to you: Is our membership too large ? Should the time, place, duration, and type of meeting be altered ? These and perhaps many other questions will need to be answered by our members in the future. Whatever the future, may there always be an American Denture Society. hf ay its activities ever propose advancement of the art and science of prosthetic clentistrv.
16350 E.
DETROIT, WARREN MICH.