The PFA Hall of Fame : A Perspective

by Dr. Joseph Cappuccio, Former Chairperson

The International Hall of Fame was conceived to do more than just honor those who helped shape our profession. Recognizing these dental greats call to mind the ongoing evolvement of our profession from competitors to colleagues, from charlatans to scientists. Our PFA International Hall of Fame of Dentistry captures the real difference between dentistry and other fields in that we labor for the betterment of those we serve.

How right for the Pierre Fauchard Academy to sponsor this project and to first honor Pierre Fauchard of France, who gave birth to the selfless dental profession. In the time of yellow journalism and the six-o'clock news exposes, our Hall of Fame reminds us and the public we serve that , generation after generation, those we honor crafted the fine art and science of dentistry that the public takes for granted today. These advancements are practiced daily by neighborhood dental surgeons. We are all heroes.

We formed a blue-ribbon committee of past world dental leaders to select those we are honoring and the sites at which we can best honor them. Thanks to the French Dental Society, we established our permanent venue at their Paris Headquarters. Our second site is , fittingly, at the Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry on the campus of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery in Maryland.

Those individuals chosen for the Hall of Fame reflect a variety of disciplines that have influenced our lives - Drs. Burkhart, Wells, Black, Hillenbrand, Hinman, Hayden, Harris, Hollenback, Ward, Pankey, Godon, and Willmott.

The first formal dedication of the first location of the U.S. venue was at the National Museum of Dentistry and took place in October of 1997 in Baltimore. Wall plaques honoring these dental greats have been placed there for the interested public to appreciate their contributions.

UPDATE: On June 2nd, 2011, the second completely new installation of the PFA International Hall-of-Fame of Dentistry was unveiled at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in the United States. To mark the moving of the PFA Hall of Fame installation, a special dedication in honor of Dr. Joseph Cappuccio also took place on June 2nd, 2011 during the 75th Anniversary year of the PFA .

How right it is for our International Honor Society to reach back into our past and give proper homage to those who have shaped our lives today.

Originally Presented on October 17th, 1997 at the first formal dedication of the Academy's Hall of Fame in Baltimore Maryland, at the Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry. The Hall of Fame has now moved to the Univeristy of Maryland School of Dentistry, which is the direct descendant of the world's first dental college, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery (BCDS), which was chartered by an act of the Maryland General Assembly in 1840.