Before independence of the USA, diagnosis and treatment, including surgical operations of oral and maxillofacial lesions were performed by medical doctors of European emigrants and their American disciples.
The first American dental school was founded in 1840 and exodontia was established to be the core of most educational programs in oral surgery for almost 100 years. The earliest American dental schools did not contribute to the development of oral surgery. The Journal of Oral Surgery, which was the first specialized journal of oral surgery in the USA, was published in 1943 by the American Dental Association.
Many emigrants played an important role in upgrading educational programs in oral and maxillofacial surgery, including AJ Asgis (Russia), RH Ivey (1881 UK), VH Kazamjan, (1879 Armenia), CW Waldrom (1887 Canada), and K Thoma (1883 Switzerland). In 1938 Asgis emphasized the importance of including basic sciences in American dental education programs. The same opinion was asserted by Thoma in 1957. These opinions stressed that the educational programs of American dentistry should include basic sciences. Lack of knowledge about basic sciences would be unsuitable for dental medicine and might impair the development of oral and maxillofacial surgery.
