The Progressive Era.

Abstract

The American College of Dentists was founded in 1920 for the purpose of encouraging young dentists to continue study and to apply science to their practices. This ideal emerged in the Progressive Era, which lasted roughly from 1895 to 1920. The animating spirit of this period was that the human condition could be improved and that the way to achieve this was through science and the use of experts working together. The Progressive Era saw inventions, such as automobiles and airplanes, telephone and radio, that required mass production and brought people together. It also spawned many political and legislative innovations that we now take for granted. Among these are the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Commerce, and the Federal Trade Commission. Workers' compensation and other social protections were introduced, as were city commissions; the income tax; women's suffrage; and initiative, referendum, and recall. Medicine, for the first time, became an effective way to treat disease as it developed a scientific foundation.