ABSTRACT
John Gennings Curtis Adams (1839-1922), Canada's first resident dental missionary, was the father of Dental Public Health in Canada. He established, personally funded and operated the first free dental hospital in North America for poor children and their mothers in Toronto from 1872, three years before the founding of The Hospital for Sick Children; he later became their first dentist of record. He was a visionary zealot for prevention of decay, dental education, and treatment over extraction. Dr. Adams understood that neither parents (rich or poor) nor physicians were aware of the extent of pathosis present in children's mouths. He petitioned individuals, lobbied politicians and unions and pressured dental organizations on the importance of twice-annual school inspections to demonstrate disease so that parents would seek care for their children. He wanted government-funded dental hospitals like his own to treat those who could not afford care. He realized his objectives and his reforms to prevent suffering, as Toronto school inspections began in 1911 and Toronto's first publicly-funded free dental clinic opened in 1913. He was Canada's first dental philanthropist and a visionary for preventive dentistry.
