Dentistry

In the early 1800s, most locals in Singapore relied on home remedies or traditional physicians, such as the Chinese sinseh and the Malay bomoh, for their dental concerns.¹ After a British trading post was established in Singapore in 1819, the practice of Western dentistry grew.² Before the 20th century, oral health was often overlooked, as other healthcare woes such as malnutrition were deemed more important.³ Today, dentistry is a part of Singapore’s healthcare system.

History
When Stamford Raffles set foot in Singapore on 28 January 1819, he was accompanied by sub-assistant surgeon Thomas Prendergast, who was responsible for the health of the expedition team and was joined by assistant surgeon William Montgomerie in May 1819.⁴ Both doctors attended to medical and dental needs, as it was common for surgeons to perform dental procedures as part of their practice then.⁵

Traditional and visiting practitioners
In the early 1800s, home remedies for toothache involved gargling a mixture that included scrapings from buffalo horn, cloves, and sour vinegar, among other ingredients.⁶

As Western dental practices became popular particularly among the white population, itinerant dentists provided short-term dental services at hotel rooms, offices, residences or other makeshift workspaces and advertised through local English language newspapers, including the Singapore Chronicle and the Singapore Free Press.⁷ These travelling practitioners charged steep prices, as dental materials were costly and procedures could be time consuming.⁸ In the 1840s, the dentists charged around 5 Spanish dollars per tooth extraction, while medical apprentices earned between 7 and 15 Spanish dollars a month.⁹

Between 1850 and 1920, a growing number of foreign dental practitioners established their practices in Singapore.¹⁰ The lack of strict regulations enabled many to practise with no formal qualifications except for a short apprenticeship with qualified dentists.¹¹

Regulations

Prewar
The 1910 Deleterious Drugs Ordinance, which superseded the 1907 Ordinance, required healthcare practitioners, including dentists, to be licensed for the administration of deleterious drugs.¹² It defined “dentist” as a person who had practised dentistry for six months in Singapore or the Federated Malay States.¹³

Under the 1913 Deleterious Drugs Ordinance, certified dentists were no longer required to prove that they had practised in Singapore or the Federated Malay States for six months. On the other hand, this criterion was required of uncertified dentists.¹⁴

To tighten regulations on the local dentistry industry, the 1924 Dentists’ Registration Ordinance prohibited unregistered individuals from practising dentistry.¹⁵ A registered dentist had to possess qualifications from an examining body recognised by the Dental Register by the General Medical Council of Great Britain and Ireland, or the Dental Board.¹⁶ Along with the ordinance, the Dental Board was established with members of the Medical Council of the Straits Settlement and the Federated Malay States, along with a handful of certified dentists.¹⁷

The 1924 Ordinance was revised in 1933, to ensure appropriate representation of dentists on the Dental Board, the annual renewal of certificates bearing photographs of the registered dentists, and the maintenance of a unified register for dentists in Singapore and the Federated Malay States.¹⁸ Additionally, registered dentists without academic qualifications were permitted to use the term “registered dentist”, but not titles such as “dental surgeon” and “doctor of dental surgery”.¹⁹

Postwar
After the Japanese Occupation, the Registration of Dentists Ordinance 1948 was enacted to counter the proliferation of unregistered dentists during the war.²⁰ Individuals with qualifications from the Dental Surgery of the King Edward VII College of Medicine, or an examining body recognised by the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom or the Dental Board, were eligible for placement in the first division of the Dentists Register.²¹ Those without academic qualifications could be registered as second division dentists if they had resided in Singapore for at least seven years, practised dentistry for at least four years before 1948, and passed an examination.²²

To ensure compliance with the 1948 Ordinance, the role of an Inspecting Officer was created.²³ In 1950, Wong Mook Qui was appointed as the first Inspecting Officer and was responsible to inspect premises used for dental services.²⁴ A dentist who broke the law or fell short of professional standards would be deregistered by the Dental Board.²⁵

Public dental school and clinic

Prewar
Because of the Deleterious Drugs Ordinance of 1913, the King Edward VII Medical School (later renamed as King Edward VII College of Medicine) started classes for dentists, who had to be qualified and licensed to administer deleterious drugs in their practice.²⁶ In 1914, three dentists passed the inaugural qualifying examination held by the medical school.²⁷

Singapore’s first dental school was officially opened in the College of Medicine in 1926, though it received its first batch of students in the following year.²⁸ Of the seven students enrolled between 1927 and 1929, most withdrew from the four-year course within a year or less.²⁹

With the appointment of E. K. Tratman as the first Professor of Dental Surgery in 1929, the course was extended to five years to align with the British dental curriculum.³⁰ In 1933, the first two students graduated and were awarded a diploma in dentistry (Licentiates in Dental Surgery).³¹

To address the public’s growing demand for dental services and the need for better training facilities, the dental school and clinic, initially located in borrowed premises within the Singapore General Hospital, were moved to a newly erected building in 1938.³² The building was occupied by the Japanese forces for three years from 1942 and reopened in 1945 after the Occupation.³³

Postwar
The dental school was affected by wider changes in the local education landscape. In 1950, it was subsumed as a department under the Faculty of Medicine (formerly King Edward VII College of Medicine) within the newly established University of Malaya. Dental graduates were conferred with a bachelor of dental surgery instead of the licentiate.³⁴ When the Singapore campus of the University of Malaya became the University of Singapore in 1962, the degree title was changed to bachelor of dental surgery (Singapore).³⁵

In 1966, the dental school was separated from the Faculty of Medicine and reconstituted as the Faculty of Dentistry.³⁶ Subsequently, the dental programme was redesigned as a four-year course in 1969.³⁷

Following the Faculty of Dentistry’s relocation to Kent Ridge in 1986, the clinic continued to operate as the Government Dental Clinic.³⁸ The clinic was eventually demolished when the National Dental Centre, which offers comprehensive dental services, opened its doors in 1997.³⁹

Selected national initiatives

Dental health campaign
A dental health campaign was launched by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education in 1969 to promote healthy dental habits from a young age through compulsory toothbrushing in schools, lessons on proper toothbrushing, and a Dental Health Week.⁴⁰

Lease-a-dental-clinic scheme
To foster a robust private dental industry, the Ministry of Health rolled out a pilot scheme to provide young dentists with an opportunity to run selected outpatient clinics and gain business experience in 1984.⁴¹



Author
Benita Lim



References
1. Ministry of Health, Dentistry in Singapore 1819–1996, 19.
2. Lee Yong Kiat, Dental Practice in Early Singapore (1819–1869) (Singapore: n.p., 1972), 1. (Call no. RCLOS 617.6095957 LEE)
3. Ministry of Health, Dentistry in Singapore 1819–1996 (Singapore: Times Editions, 1996), 13. (Call no. RSING 617.009 DEN)
4. Lee, Dental Practice in Early Singapore (1819–1869), 1.
5. Lee, Dental Practice in Early Singapore (1819–1869), 1.
6. Xu Yunqiao 许云樵, trans., “Malaiyan fang hui bian” 马来验方汇编 [The Medical Book of Malayan Medicine], 4, (Call no. RCLOS 615.3209595 MED)
7. Ministry of Health, Dentistry in Singapore 1819–1996, 21; Lee, Dental Practice in Early Singapore (1819–1869), 2; “Advertisements,” Singapore Chronicle and Commercial Register, 20 June 1835, 1; “Advertisements,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1835–1869), 8 December 1842, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
8. Lee, Dental Practice in Early Singapore (1819–1869), 2.
9. Ministry of Health, Dentistry in Singapore 1819–1996, 21; Lee, Dental Practice in Early Singapore (1819–1869), 2; “Advertisements,” Singapore Chronicle and Commercial Register, 20 June 1835, 1; “Advertisements,” Straits Times, 12 August 1845, 34. (From NewspaperSG)
10. Ministry of Health, Dentistry in Singapore 1819–1996, 22.
11. Ministry of Health, Dentistry in Singapore 1819–1996, 22.
12. Lee Yong Kiat, “Jottings on the History of Dentistry in Singapore,” Singapore Medical Journal 47, no. 4 (2006): 346. (Call no. RCLOS 617.6095957 LEE); “Deleterious Drugs Bill,” Straits Times, 20 August 1910, 9. (From NewspaperSG)
13. Deleterious Drugs Ordinance 1910, No. 27 of 1910, Lee, Straits Settlements Government Gazette on King Edward VII College of Medicine, Registration of Dentists, Deleterious Drugs and Registration of Pharmacists, 1905–1937 (Call no. RCLOS 344.5957041 STR); “Jottings on the History of Dentistry in Singapore,” 346–355; “What Is a Dentist?” Straits Times, 23 August 1913, 9. (From NewspaperSG)
14. Deleterious Drugs Ordinance Amendment, No. 14 of 1913, Straits Settlements Government Gazette on King Edward VII College of Medicine, Registration of Dentists, Deleterious Drugs and Registration of Pharmacists, 1905–1937; Lee, “Jottings on the History of Dentistry in Singapore,” 346–347.
15. “Registration of Dentists,” Straits Times, 28 June 1924, 8. (From NewspaperSG)
16. “Registration of Dentists,” Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle, 30 June 1924, 8; (From NewspaperSG)
17. Ministry of Health, Dentistry in Singapore 1819–1996, 23; “H.E. the Governor,” Straits Echo (Mail Edition), 1 December 1924, 1253. (From NewspaperSG)
18. “Dentists in S.S.,” Malaya Tribune, 1 May 1933, 2; “Cracker Bill Passed,” Straits Times, 1 May 1933, 11. (From NewspaperSG)
19. Registration of Dentists Ordinance 1933, No. 16 of 1933, Straits Settlements Government Gazette on King Edward VII College of Medicine, Registration of Dentists, Deleterious Drugs and Registration of Pharmacists, 1905–1937.
20. Ministry of Health, Dentistry in Singapore 1819–1996, 23.
21. Ministry of Health, Dentistry in Singapore 1819–1996, 23; “Bill May Make 1,000 Workless,” Straits Times, 9 July 1948, 5. (From NewspaperSG)
22. Ministry of Health, Dentistry in Singapore 1819–1996, 23; “New System of Registering Dentists,” Singapore Free Press, 14 September 1948, 5; “123 Dentists Register with Govt,” Singapore Free Press, 2 December 1948, 5. (From NewspaperSG)
23. Ministry of Health, Dentistry in Singapore 1819–1996, 23.
24. Ministry of Health, Dentistry in Singapore 1819–1996, 23.
25. Ministry of Health, Dentistry in Singapore 1819–1996, 23.
26. “Jottings on the History of Dentistry in Singapore,” 347.
27. “Jottings on the History of Dentistry in Singapore,” 347.
28. Ministry of Health, Dentistry in Singapore 1819–1996, 27.
29. Ho, Keng and Tay, 60 Years of Dental Education (1929–1989), 9.
30. “Jottings on the History of Dentistry in Singapore,” 348; Ho, Keng and Tay, 60 Years of Dental Education (1929–1989), 17.
31 Ho, Keng and Tay, 60 Years of Dental Education (1929–1989), 17; “King Edward VII College of Medicine,” Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle, 12 April 1933, 4. (From NewspaperSG)
32. Ho, Keng and Tay, 60 Years of Dental Education (1929–1989), 17.
33. “The First Public Dental Clinic and School,” National Heritage Board, updated 27 October 2021 (From NLB’s Web Archive Singapore)
34. Ho, Keng and Tay, 60 Years of Dental Education (1929–1989), 18.
35. Ho, Keng and Tay, 60 Years of Dental Education (1929–1989), 19; “Founded by the Community for the Community,” National University of Singapore, archived 18 April 2023. (From NLB’s Web Archive Singapore)
36. “Dr Tay Elected First Dean of Dentistry Faculty,” Straits Times, 2 September 1966, 11. (From NewspaperSG)
37. Ho, Keng and Tay, 60 Years of Dental Education (1929–1989), 19.
38. National Heritage Board, “The First Public Dental Clinic and School.”
39. Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, “Opening of the National Dental Centre,” press release, 3 February 1997 (From National Archives of Singapore document no. 1997020303); National Heritage Board Singapore, “The First Public Dental Clinic and School.”
40. Ministry of Culture, “Dental Health Campaign,” press release, 17 December 1968. (From National Archives of Singapore document no. PressR19681217e); “World Dentists for S’pore Congress,” Straits Times, 21 February 1969, 4. (From NewspaperSG)
41. “Dental Clinic Scheme Extended,” Business Times, 1 October 1985, 3. (From NewspaperSG)



The information in this article is valid as of 29 December 2023 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.