Board of Dental Studies
The Board of Dental Studies was constituted in University By-Laws Chapter XXVIII approved by the NSW Governor in Council on 9 April 1901.
The Board of Dental Studies was constituted by the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, the Medical Members of the Senate, the Professors and Lecturers in the subjects of the Dental Curriculum, and the Members of the Honorary Dental Staff at the Sydney Hospital.
The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine was responsible for the administrative business connected with the Board. The Board was responsible for considering and reporting to the Senate upon such subjects as had relation to the Studies, Lectures and Examinations in Dentistry, and upon such questions as were referred to it by the Senate. A School of Dentistry was established by the University with a license to be given after a three years' curriculum.
The Board continued to advocate for a degree of Bachelor of Dental Surgery and worked for the establishment of a degree program. Senate agreed and noted in its 1904 Report that the University curriculum in Dentistry had been revised, and that students would be required to pass the same entrance examination as that prescribed for students of medicine, and would have to devote their whole time to dental studies at the University and at the Dental Hospital for a period of four years, proceeding to the degree of Bachelor of Dental Surgery. The revised By-Laws were published in the 1905 Calendar. Under the new by-laws the curriculum was to be supervised by an enlarged Board of Dental Studies comprising in addition to the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and the medical members of the Senate, the professors and lecturers in dental subjects, and a representative elected from among the honorary dental officers at the Hospital. [See also Australia's First: a history of the University of Sydney, Vol 1, p.355; Footnote: Report of the Board of Dental Studies", Report Book 3, pp.27-28]
In 1910, all By-Laws were repealed and new By-Laws declared; the new By-Law relating to Dental Studies was Chapter XX, the wording of the By-Law remained unchanged. In May 1915, following the appointment of a Director of Dental Studies, paragraphs 1 & 2 of the By-Laws were changed; the Director replaced the Dean of Medicine as superintendent of the administrative business of the Board.
The Faculty of Dentistry was established in 1920, under Chap. XV of the By-Laws, following the report of a committee appointed by the Professorial Board to consider the constitution of existing faculties; the report recommended the establishment of 6 new faculties including Dentistry. At its meeting on 16 December 1919, the Professorial Board resolved to recommend the report to the University Senate. The Professorial Board Report was adopted by Senate at its meeting in February 1920. With the establishment of the Faculty of Dentistry in 1920 the Board no longer existed.