The Odontoblasts

The Glasgow Odontological Society owes its origins to a meeting of eight dentists in March 1902 at the Bath Hotel in Glasgow.

After “heated discussion” the name, Odontoblasts Club, was adopted. The membership was initially limited to fifteen, all of whom were to be Licentiates in Dental Surgery of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Only those qualified after the first of January 1900 were eligible to join.

Meetings were to be monthly on the third Tuesday of each month from September to April (later changed to March). By September 1903 the Club agreed to widen the membership. A special meeting was held on 27 October 1903 at the Dental Hospital, 15 Dalhousie Street, Garnethill to consider the advisability of having, in Glasgow, a Society devoted to the interests of the Dental profession.

As a consequence of this meeting, membership was widened to those who held a Licentiate in Dental Surgery regardless of where they qualified and the name of the group was changed to the Odontoblasts Society. The name was further changed in  November 1903 to the Glasgow Odontological Society. A golf section was formed in 1908. The Odontological Prize was created in 1910. By this date  there were 73 members and an average attendance of 24.

In 1911 a library was inaugurated with £20 worth of books purchased in the first year. In 1952 the council decided to assemble a collection of photographs of each member who had served as president and to ask future presidents to provide a photograph for this collection. The album for mounting these photographs was made by a grateful patient. In 2016 the membership of the society is over 200, with an average attendance at meetings of from 80 to 90 members.