HE prosthetic section of the curriculum of the dental course has undergone a great change in recent times. At present it is the cause of much controversy and still further changes seem likely in the future. No doubt, in being to a very large extent technological in character this section is looked upon as a problem child, and as being the area most likely to mar the concept of dentistry as a University discipline. How did this position develop and how is it likely to be resolved ? When I came to consider the choice of subject for my address to you the time seemed appropriate for a review of past endeavours, for an assessment of the present position and for the expression of a ~iewpoint, perhaps controversial, on the trend in the field of prosthetic dentistry. In 1858 and 1859 the first two dental schools in Great Britain were founded by those great rival organisations, the Odontological Society of London and the College of Dentists. These were private schools, completely independent o~ a university, a genera] hospital, or a medica'l sc.hool. The ~bject was to provide some dental care for the poor and to provide some training in addition to that derived under the apprenticeship system which then obtained. After many years of bitter controversy between these two bodies as to ho~" best a formal course of training could be provided and equally of ~course as to who should provide it, dentistry as a profession may be said to have been born when in ]~59 a charter was granted to the Royal College of Surgeons of England empowering it to examine and grant certificates of fitness to successful candidates. The members of the Odontologica'l Society, or the Memorialists as they were usually called, because some years previously this group had petitioned the Council to establish a dental ct:urse and grant a ~di,ploma, thus won the day and by doing so, hmugurated that close liaison between medical and dent~l teaching which still exists in these islands. It i's worth noting, on the other hand, that in America the Independents had their way and so gained, for better or for worse, autonomy in their professional training. The first qualifying examinations were held in 5~[arch of 1860. It was soon realised, however, that qualification alone was not enough to confer professional status and so efforts were next directed towards establishing a code of ethics, and towards deriving control of those desiring entry into this newly established profession. The first Dentist's Act of 1878 granted power to the General Medical Council to prescribe a curriculum and to keep a record of successful candidates. This act made no effort,