1959 4c American Dental Association: Dental Health

This stamp was issued on the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the American Dental Association. On August 3, 1859, twenty six dentists gathered in Niagara Falls, New York, for the organization's first meeting, held during the fifth annual conference of an earlier group called the American Dental Convention. Dissatisfied with how that older organization operated, this group of dentists set out to build something new, one grounded in scientific standards and organized representation for the growing dental profession.

The stamp's design features a smiling child alongside other children playing in the background, a fitting image for an organization dedicated to promoting oral health and dental care nationwide. By the time of this stamp's issue, dentistry had grown from a loosely organized trade into a recognized medical profession backed by scientific research and formal standards of practice. The centennial celebration offered an opportunity to recognize how far the field had come since that first small gathering a century earlier.

Today the American Dental Association has grown into the largest and oldest national dental association in the world, with more than 161,000 members and headquarters in Chicago. The organization continues to publish research and guidance on oral health through its monthly journal, carrying forward the same mission that brought those twenty six dentists together in 1859.