In 1872, Dr. John Gennings Curtis Adams opened a no cost dental hospital – the very first of its type nationwide
Acton is recognized historically for its ties to the leather-based industry, for this reason the title of ‘Leathertown,’ but number of, if any, people are mindful of its url to the entire world of dentistry.
As the month of March marks the beginning of a historical figure regarded as a philanthropist and the father of community dental health in Canada, we’re taking a closer glance at the lifetime of nearby indigenous Dr. John Gennings Curtis Adams.
The son of Ezra Adams, settler of Acton in 1825, and Amy Curtis, Dr. Adams was born on March 16, 1839 in Adamsville, now acknowledged right now as Acton.
Dr. Adams, 1st a farmer and then a missionary for the Methodist Church, was a dentist who was eager on furnishing a application of protecting against tooth decay as he experienced witnessed a lot of sufferers, specifically little ones from much less-fortunate family members, who endured from terrible enamel.
Ahead of Dr. Adams’ time, dentistry was a really primitive trade, as in those people times dentists have been regarded additional of “tooth-pullers” fairly than medical practitioners of oral health and fitness, and practices of brushing one’s teeth was not but commonplace, nor was the restoring of cavities.
While having been born and elevated in Acton, it was in Toronto the place Adams would work his dental observe. Convinced that a fantastic deal of struggling between the poorer lessons could be averted, significantly illness prevented and decaying of enamel stopped at an early phase, in 1872 Adams opened up the initially area of a no cost dental healthcare facility known as ‘Christ Mission Corridor and Dental Institute.’
This dental healthcare facility was located in Toronto at 57 Elm St., and was completely funded by Dr. Adams – the to start with of its kind not only in Canada, but in North The usa. Any cash produced from his non-public exercise was put towards the totally free clinic.

Together with giving absolutely free dentistry, his philanthropy get the job done was similarly matched by his lifestyle-very long commitment to preventative oral wellbeing by means of training, understanding the relevance of teaching families and medical professionals about dental training and prevention of decay in advance of resorting to extraction. Adams was even the creator of a number of textbooks on the subject of tooth decay prevention and properly trained missionaries to have out dental education all around the world, this kind of as in Asia and Africa.
In 1883, Adams grew to become the initially dentist of document at Toronto’s SickKids Clinic, although nonetheless functioning his very own methods, and it was for the duration of his time at the children’s clinic wherever he would proceed to advocate for cost-free dental test-ups for underprivileged kids and the implementation of dental examinations in general public faculties.
With his cost-free dental medical center getting a charitable business, he pleaded to be exempt from taxes and experienced requested for a grant from the Metropolis of Toronto to fund the clinic, but to no avail. His absolutely free clinic was compelled to close in 1899 due to a failure to pay out house taxes. It was not until eventually 1911 when the Metropolis would fund college verify-ups and two decades later on, Toronto would open up its very first publicly-funded dental clinic.
Immediately after 50 yrs of staying an lively dentist and advocate, Dr. Adams passed absent on May 21, 1922 at the age of 83 although traveling to spouse and children in Burlington.
In 2015, 93 many years adhering to his death, Dr. Adams was officially honoured by SickKids for his function with the unveiling of a plaque which was mounted at the web-site of his no cost dental medical center on Toronto’s Elm Road – a plaque symbolizing the Acton native’s lasting legacy on community dental health in Canada.
Report published by Scott Brooks, with information from Dills Selection/HHPL/The Adams Family Tree/The Healthcare facility for Sick Young children.