author
Solyman Brown
1790–1876
A Yale-educated teacher, minister, poet, and dentist, he helped turn American dentistry into a more organized profession. He is especially remembered for linking science and verse in Dentologia, a long poem about the care of teeth.
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About the author
Born in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1790, Solyman Brown led an unusually varied life. He graduated from Yale in 1812 and worked as a teacher and clergyman before becoming a dentist in New York. That mix of literary and professional interests shaped the rest of his career.
Brown is remembered as one of the early figures who helped organize dentistry in the United States. Reliable sources credit him with an important role in the creation of the first American dental school, the first national dental society, and the first dental journal. His reputation was strong enough that later writers called him the "poet laureate of dentistry."
His best-known book is Dentologia, a poem on diseases of the teeth and their treatment, which captures both his love of writing and his commitment to dental education. He died in 1876, leaving behind a legacy that is part literary curiosity and part genuine professional history.