Edinburgh Dental Hospital and School

Management 1862-1975; administration 1890-1984; students 1879-1989; publications 1900-1992

In 1856 Dr John Smith gave a course on "physiology and diseases of the teeth" at Surgeon's Hall. The first special treatment of dental disease was carried out at the Royal Public Dispensary. The Edinburgh Dental Dispensary opened in 1860. In 1878 the Dispensary and the Scottish Dental Education Committee co-operated to found the Dental Hospital and School, which was incorporated in 1892. After occupying several sites, it settled permanently in Chambers Street, where a new building opened in 1927. In 1948 the Dental Hospital became part of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Associated Hospitals under the South Eastern Regional Hospital Board. In 1974 it came under the South Lothian District of Lothian Health Board. The Dental Hospital became part of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Associated Hospitals Unit in 1984. The School separated form the Hospital in 1948 and it finally closed in 1994.

Partially arranged

Public access to these records is governed by the UK Data Protection Act 1998, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the latest version of the Scottish Government Records Management: NHS Code of Practice (Scotland). Whilst some records may be accessed freely by researchers, the aforementioned legislation and guidelines mean that records with sensitive information on named individuals may be closed to the public for a set time.

Where records are about named deceased adults, they will be open 75 years after the latest date in the record, on the next 01 January. Records about individuals below 18 years (living or deceased) or adults not proven to be deceased will be open 100 years after the latest date in the record, on the next 01 January. Further information on legislation and guidelines covering medical records can be found on the LHSA webpage (http://www.lhsa.lib.ed.ac.uk/).

LHSA can support the use of records closed to public access for legitimate clinical, historical and genealogical research purposes. Please contact the LHSA Archivist for more details regarding procedures on how you can apply for permission to view closed records. Telephone us on: 0131 650 3392 or email us at lhsa@ed.ac.uk

John Southam, Dept of Oral Medicine, University of Edinburgh, July 1993

This is a joint collection with Edinburgh University Archives

Compiled by Mike Barfoot and Jenny McDermott using existing handlists

Manual itemised descriptive list available for arranged items

Unknown

No further accessions are expected

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (LHB1)

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Associated Hospitals Board of Management (LHB2)

South Lothian District, Lothian Health Board (LHB28)