Chapter XXVII: The Canadian Army Dental Corps

That Dental Services are a necessity in the army is one of the many lessons taught us by the War and it has been amply proved that the Canadian Army Dental Corps was responsible for placing at least 10 per cent of the Canadian and British troops at the Front who, but for the excellent dental services provided, would not have been there.

LIEUT.-COL. B. L. NEILLY.]

Members of the dental profession in Nova Scotia were among the first to offer their services, and in August, 1914, three of them, Drs. B. L. Neilly, F. W. Bruce Kelly and H. L. Mitchener, were on duty at Valcartier Camp. Drs. Neilly and Kelly proceeded Overseas and were the first dental surgeons at the Front. So far as can be learned these were the only dental surgeons with the Canadian troops at that date, Captain Bentley of Ontario reporting early in September.

For eight years previous to the War a Committee of the Canadian Dental Association on “Dental Services in the Army” repeatedly approached the Federal Government with regard to a definite Army Dental Association to be administered by the Medical Services or otherwise, but were finally informed that the organization then existing, which consisted of twenty-six Dental Officers attached to the Army Medical Corps as Honorary Captains and Lieutenants, was quite satisfactory.

On the outbreak of the War members of the profession throughout Canada, realizing the necessity of dental services for recruits, voluntarily provided dental treatment for thousands of men who, otherwise, could not have been accepted.

The attention of the Minister of Militia, Sir Sam Hughes, was directed to the importance and value of this work by Generals Fotheringham, Lessard, Loggie and others as well as by a sub-committee of civilian dentists from Toronto, who proceeded to Ottawa early in 1915 under the direction of Dr. George Kerr Thomson of Halifax, Chairman of the Canadian Dental Association’s Committee on “Dental Services in the Army,” with the result that the Minister immediately issued orders for a Dental organization, similar to that of the Medical, but entirely separate.

To this action by the Minister is due the fact that Canada was the first country in the world to organize an Army Dental Corps separate and distinct from other military organizations. Dr. Thomson was first recommended by the Toronto Committee and the dental profession for Director of Dental Services, but Dr. Armstrong of Ottawa received the appointment, and in June, 1915, proceeded Overseas with thirty-five officers, thirty-five N.C.O.’s and thirty-five privates. This organization was increased from time to time until there were over one thousand Dental Officers and other ranks on duty Overseas.

It was realized that while it was necessary to provide dental services for men Overseas, it was even more important that they be made dentally fit before sailing; and in October, 1915, the Home Service organization was authorized with a Director at Ottawa and an Assistant Director in each Military District together with a strength of one officer, N.C.O. and private for each 1,000 men. This necessitated an organization of at least sixty of all ranks in Military District No. 6, which at that time included New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.

Members of the dental profession in the three provinces responded notably to the call of duty, and, while it does not come within the scope of this history to mention the services of men in other provinces, it is desirable to put on record great appreciation of the excellent services rendered by members of the dental profession in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island who were on duty in Military District No. 6. One of the most prominent practitioners in St. John, N.B., Dr. James M. Magee, ex-President of the Canadian Dental Association and Dominion Dental Council and a member of the Nova Scotia Dental Association, who, before the War, was attached as Honorary Captain to the Army Medical Corps, was one of the first to join the Home Service organization in Military District No. 6.

OFFICERS OF THE C.A.D.C., M.D. 6.]

Major Thomson was appointed A.D.D.S., Military District No. 6, on November 1st, 1915. During his absence at Valcartier Camp in the summer of 1916, Captain Magee acted as A.D.D.S. in Military District No. 6 and later was appointed A.D.D.S. of Military District No. 7 when New Brunswick became a separate Military District.

The C.A.D.C. in Military District No. 6 was administered on a most economical and business-like basis, and at the Camp Hill Army Dental Surgery, one of the finest and best equipped in the world, many thousands of men were made dentally fit, not only before going Overseas, but also on their return to Canada, when a great many of them needed extensive restorative dental appliances.

For several weeks after the great explosion, which occurred on December 6, 1917, the Staff of the Camp Hill Dental Surgery rendered services and co-operated with the medical officers, part of the dental surgery being used as an operating room for the eye specialists. Some of the dental officers on duty were severely but not seriously injured, and during the first thirty-six hours after the explosion rendered valuable first aid to the injured, with whom Camp Hill was overcrowded.

In 1916, at Aldershot Camp, two appendicitis operations were successfully performed in the Camp Dental Surgery, which was completed long before the Camp Hospital. These cases would probably have proved fatal had it not been for the foresight of the dental Staff in expediting the construction of this dental surgery.

Through the efforts of Dean Frank Woodbury arrangements were carried out by the Dental Faculty of Dalhousie University for rendering dental services to the men of the navy before the work was performed by the Dental Corps.

The following is a list of dental officers who served Overseas and at home:

CANADA.—Major G. K. Thomson, Major H. E. Mann, Capts. H. L. Mitchener, H. G. Dunbar, W. W. Woodbury, G. Tingley, J. M. Magee, A. G. Wicks, J. E. Sewell, J. B. Brown, J. E. Blanchard, F. C. Bonnell, I. K. Farrar, F. A. Godsoe, F. E. Burden, W. H. Steeves, L. O’Leary (Q.M.), J. E. Jewett, A. Gasson, R. I. Robertson, F. W. Johnson, H. S. Allen, G. R. Smith, F. T. Bowness, Y. E. Gaudet, McIntyre, F. G. Mann, F. W. Barbour, R. I. Irving, Lieuts. A. J. Cormier, H. Adamson, Guy Stultz, L. M. Finigan, A. K. Wade, A. J. Couglin, F. W. LeFugery, A. B. Crowe, H. C. McIntosh, Regtl. Sergt.-Majors, F. E. Fahie, I. K. Jackson, F. B. Miller, Quartermaster Sergts. J. M. Blanchard, Laurie Blanchard, L. H. Jenkins, G. Sommers, Staff Sergts. A. H, Churchill, J. H. McLaughlin, E. S. Dexter, Sergts. A. W. Allen, L. M. Withrow, C. W. Burgoyne, Staff Sergts. E. E. Hatfield, Neil Flannery, F. H. Phinney, Sergts. J. L. Sears, R. H. Wilby, Cox, C. R. McLellan, R. C. Wall, J. St. C. Smith, C. E. Cantelope, T. Ranford, W. Hazelwood, Percy Rennels, W. R. Gunn, Quartermaster Sergt. L. McGuire, Company Quartermaster Sergt. W. H. D. Bence.

OVERSEAS.—Lieut.-Col. B. L. Neilly, Major F. W. B. Kelly, Major C. E. McLaughlin, Capts. R. J. McMeekin, Karl Woodbury, C. D. Desbrisay, S. S. Harvie, E. A. Randall, H. Clay, E. S. Millett, H. O. Harding, Arthur Viets, T. E. Robins, R. W. Frank, W. R. Fraser, Karl Damon, Otto Nase, J. P. Gallagher, J. McDonald, McNeil, W. R. Wilkes, R. C. Crosby, E. A. Randall, K. C. Dobson, H. C. McDonald, Staff Sergts. J. E. Fraser, C. Garrett, R. B. Horton, Sergts. S. W. Hatfield, C. A. S. Carlow, H. O. Lord, F. A. McGarrigle, G. Lowine, Phillips, G. A. Barter, W. Dyer, Raymond King, W. Joy, J. McLean, McGibbon, J. L. Rogers, I. D. S. Ross, G. E. McDonald, H. E. Grey, V. D. Crowe, Collier, Jones, Butterworth, Doucette, Quartermaster Sergt. Richards.