Royal Dental Hospital

This article is about the former hospital in London. For the hospital in Melbourne, see The Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne.

The Royal Dental Hospital was a dental hospital in Leicester Square, London, which operated from 1858 until 1985. In 1859, it opened the London School of Dental Surgery, later renamed to the Royal Dental Hospital of London School of Dental Surgery, which was the first dental school in Britain. When the hospital closed, the building was redeveloped as the Hampshire Hotel.

Royal Dental Hospital
The former Royal Dental Hospital at 31–36 Leicester Square, now the Hampshire Hotel
Geography
Location	31–36 Leicester Square, London, England
Coordinates	51°30′35″N 0°07′47″W / 51.50972°N 0.12972°W / 51.50972; -0.12972
Organisation
Type	Specialist
Services
Speciality	Dentistry
History
Opened	1858
Closed	1985
Links
Lists	Hospitals in England

History

The hospital was opened on 1 December 1858 as the Dental Hospital of London by the Odontological Society of London.^[1][2] The Odontological Society of London, founded in 1856, was one of the two main dental societies in mid nineteenth-century Britain and supported inclusion of dentistry in surgery.^[3] The rival College of Dentists of England, founded in the same year, supported a separate dental profession.^[1] In 1857 the Odontological Society petitioned Parliament to allow the Royal College of Surgeons of England to conduct dental examinations and a clause was included in the Medical Act 1858 to allow this by granting a new charter to the college.^[4] The Royal College of Surgeons was given a new charter in 1859 and introduced a dental qualification, the Licentiate in Dental Surgery in 1860. The College of Dentists founded their National Dental Hospital in Tottenham Court Road in 1861. The two societies merged in 1863 to form the Odontological Society of Great Britain and joined the Royal Society of Medicine as its Odontological Section in 1907.^[1]

The hospital was initially based at 22 Soho Square. It opened the first dental school in Britain, the London School of Dental Surgery, on 1 October 1859. Four days later, the College of Dentists founded their own Metropolitan School of Dental Science.^[1][2] In 1874 the hospital moved to 40–41 Leicester Square and in 1901 to a newly built larger building designed by the architects Young and Hall at 31–36 Leicester Square.^[5] In the same year, King Edward VII awarded the title of Royal Dental Hospital.^[1] The cost of the new building was funded by loans which were not repaid until 1930.^[6]: 70 The dental school was recognised as a school of the University of London in 1911.^[2] At first the school only admitted men, but it agreed to admit women in 1915. The decision was reversed between 1933 and 1939.^{[6]: 72, 94} In 1948 the hospital became part of the St George's Hospital Group under the National Health Act.^[2]

In the mid-1980s the dental services transferred to St George's Hospital, Tooting, and the dental school was merged with the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals. The hospital closed in 1985 and the building was redeveloped as the Hampshire Hotel.^[7] In 2022 City of Westminster Council decided to put up a plaque at the hotel to commemorate the hospital and medical school.^[8]

References

1. Gelbier, Stanley (1 October 2005). "Dentistry and the University of London". Medical History. 49 (4): 445–462. doi:10.1017/s0025727300009157. PMC 1251639. PMID 16562330.
2. "Royal Dental Hospital And School". British Medical Journal. 1 (5083): 1351. 7 June 1958. JSTOR 25380850. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
3. Papworth, J (January 2014). "Odontology and the history of medicine at the Royal Society of Medicine 1907-1960 and the contributions of Lilian Lindsay--Part One. The early years of the Royal Society of Medicine and the Section of Odontology". Dental historian : Lindsay Club newsletter (59): 25–30. PMID 24620437.
4. "Legislation". King's College London Archives & Special Collections. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
5. Sheppard, F. H. W., ed. (1966). "Leicester Square, South Side: Leicester Estate, Nos 31–42 Leicester Square and Spur Street". Survey of London: Volumes 33 and 34, St Anne Soho. London: London County Council. pp. 504–506. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
6. Smith, E; Cotell, B (1997). A History of the Royal Dental Hospital of London and School of Dental Surgery, 1858–1985. London: Athlone Press. ISBN 9780485115178.
7. "Royal Dental Hospital and School of Dental Surgery". London Metropolitan Archives. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
8. "Commemorative Green Plaque for the Royal Dental Hospital and School at the Edwardian Hampshire Hotel, 31-36 Leicester Square, WC2H 7LH". City of Westminster. 7 February 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2022.