New Dental-Medical School Will Admit 15 Next Year

Out of the 110 applicants for the Medical School from this year's Senior Class, 15 will be selected to become the first men to be educated as both dentists and doctors in a five-year course, Dr. John W. Cooke '15, chairman of the subcommittee on curriculum for the School of Dental Medicine announced at a convention of the Massachusetts Dental Society recently.

The purpose of the school is to give the general practitioner in medicine a knowledge of all parts of the human body, and to remove the dental profession from the narrow limits which force it to deal only with teeth. "It is equally important for a doctor to be able to attend to his patient's teeth as to his ruptured appendix, or broken leg," Cooke said. The school aims to "offer dentists a fundamental training identical with medicine."

Requirements Same as Medical School

The entrance requirements for the new school, the first of its kind to be established in the country, will be the same as for the present Medical School. At least two years of college work is demanded, although in actual practice this usually becomes three years or more. The potential doctor must have at least two years of chemistry, one of biology, and one of physics. The requirements for the present Dental School are very similar, so men applying for admittance to the School of Dental Medicine will be considered by a joint committee of the two schools.

More details of the particular qualifications for the 15 students to be chosen this year have not yet been announced. No changes will be made in the premedical curriculum now in effect for undergraduates who plan to become doctors.

Double Time in Two Fields

Two Particular fields, not before stressed, will be emphasized by the instruction in the School of Dental Education. Orthodontics will have twice the time devoted to it as now, while the number of clock-hours devoted to Oral and Plastic Surgery, has also been doubled.

The preliminary plans for the new school were announced last June, and have been developed since then. A number of appointments have been made to the faculty, and all is in readiness for the 15 "guinea pigs" to begin their work in the fall. These men, when they graduate in five years, will be awarded two degrees, a D.D.M., and an M.D.

Dr. Cooke made this announcement in the course of a speech at the Hotel Statler Tuesday night. His speech was a substitute for an address to be given by President James B. Conant, who did not return in time to appear at the meeting.