History

Kansas City Dental College, founded in 1881, was originally the dental department of Kansas City Medical College.  In 1888 K.C.D.C. filed for incorporation and in 1889 became an independent entity.  Nineteenth-century graduation lists show numbers in the 30’s and 40’s.  The 1916 Molar shows a student body of around 180, taught by a faculty of 26.  The three-year program graduated 51 students that year—most from Kansas or Missouri.

The Most distinctive of the professional fraternities at K.C.D.C. was Cabletow.  In 1916 forty K.C.D.C. students, who belonged to the masons, founded their own fraternity, hoping to bring the traditions and the mutual support of the parent organization to their careers.  Some Cabletow members were also members of one of the two national fraternities—Delta Sigma Delta and Psi Omega.  In addition to creating a network of dental brothers for professional support, these fraternities—including Cabletow—provided social opportunities for students through smokers and dinners.  Each also had its house, where many students lived together.   For social functions, K.C.D.C. also had chapters of the Elks and the Knockers.  Many students were also members of the Y.M.C.A.

With the outbreak of World War I, Dentists found themselves in considerable demand.  The Molar noted that about fifteen percent of all K.C.D.C. graduates were military dentists.  Students were being offered an accelerated path to prepare them for military service as dental officers.  In addition, the Student Army Training Corps had chapters at both K.C.D.C. and its sister college Western Dental.

After the war, the two dental colleges merged to form Kansas City-Western Dental College.  This merged entity survived independently until 1941.  At this point, pressure to become a part of an established university led to the school’s becoming the School of Dentistry of the University of Kansas City and then moving with that school into the University of Missouri system in 1963.