Author Information

Dr. Greene Vardiman Black is known as "one of the founders of modern dentistry." Dr. Black was Dean of Northwestern University Dental School. In 1900 he was elected President of the National Dental Association, now the American Dental Association. He received his first honorary D.D.S. Degree from the Missouri Dental College in 1877. He had been practicing dentistry for 20 years and lecturing on dentistry for seven years before he was awarded that degree. In 1881, the first Dental Practice Act in Illinois was enacted. From 1881 to 1887, Dr. Black served as President of the State Board of Dental Examiners. He received honorary degrees from Illinois College in 1892 and Northwestern University in 1898 and was bestowed a Sc.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He was the author of many dental textbooks, research important to dentistry including definitive work in dental anatomy and histology, providing the basis for the principles of cavity preparation. He also invented and designed many instruments used in dentistry. He was a pioneer in the use of the microscope for studying dental disease.