Inside Africa’s first dental museum

Daily Trust visited the Foundation for Dental Education Museums and Archives in Ile-Ife, set up by a professor of dentistry and discovered that it is the first of its kind on the African continent. Though not very big, the signpost was visible enough to indicate the location of the Foundation for Dental Education Museums and […]

Daily Trust visited the Foundation for Dental Education Museums and Archives in Ile-Ife, set up by a professor of dentistry and discovered that it is the first of its kind on the African continent.
Though not very big, the signpost was visible enough to indicate the location of the Foundation for Dental Education Museums and Archives located opposite the Ife City bus stop along Ilesa road in Ile-Ife. With a modest space and clean surrounding, the newly built flashy one-storey building painted in pink with a dash of cream paint on its sides could not be missed.
At the frontage of the museum, one is greeted by a well parked old dental van in the premises. Pointing to the vehicle, the owner of the museum, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede, explained that the vehicle was among the collections he acquired. He noted that the vehicle was a mobile dental van used for the provision of dental services in Ogun State in the early 70s.
He said: “As you see this van, it is very strong and rugged. It was used for mobile dental services in Ogun State in the seventies. It is a German vehicle and you cannot find such van anywhere again. It has complete facility required for dental services and it was meant to take care of people in the rural areas. Ogun State government eventually sold the van to someone. When I met the person that bought it from Ogun State government, I begged him to sell it to me and he obliged.”
Inside the museum, the interior of the building is tastefully furnished while various portraits of great dentists and pioneers in the field of dentistry including Dr Ewart Gladstone MacLean, a Canadian who established private dental practice in Lagos in 1903; Dr Sydney Obafemi Philips, the first Nigerian to practice modern dentistry in the country; Dr Grace Adaria Guobadia, the first female dentist who qualified in 1957; Chief Simisola Onibuwe Olayemi Johnson, the first female Nigerian that obtained Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) degree among others were posted on the wall and these blend beautifully forming an enthralling allure.
Apparently, Professor Ogunbodede did not just set up the dental museum without a purpose. He has vision and he has been pursuing the goal vigorously, spending his hard earned income to finance the project.
His words: “I feel that if we don’t preserve some of the equipment and tools used by dentists in the past, we will not have anything to show the future generations in terms of history. But I’m surprised that people just throw things away once they procure modern ones.  That is why set up this museum to preserve the history. I bought some of the items while some of them were donated by some individuals.”
The museum was divided into various sections and each section contains different collections of items acquired by Professor Ogunbodede over the years. The initiator noted that the worth of the exhibits in the museum is over a hundred million naira even though many of the items cannot be quantified.
Tracing the history of the development of dentistry in Nigeria from 1903, Ogunbodede who was the Dean of Faculty of Dentistry at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) between 1999 and 2002 and Provost of the College of Health Sciences in OAU between 2007 and 2009 exhibited some of the antiquities in his museum.
“In this room, I have the first dental chair used in Nigeria and it was manufactured in the USA on 10 of December 1907. This chair was used in Nigeria by Dr Ewart Gladstone MacLean. These are dental instruments used before the advent of modern dental forceps. This is the Foot-Pedaled Drill used in those days before the introduction of the Foot Controlled Drill that uses electricity in the early 20th century. Also, look at this computer, it is first generation PC without a hard disk and was used for dental services in those days. This computer is still functioning,” Professor Ogunbodede said.
Speaking on the objectives of the dental museum, Professor Ogunbodede said the initiative goes beyond the preservation of exhibits, explaining that he founded the Foundation for Dental Education Museums and Archives to motivate other people to realise the need to preserve antiquities.
Professor Ogunbodede said, “DEMA Foundation is meant to be a non-profit organization with the mission of promoting oral and general health with particular focus on the history, education, and research as well as information aspect. We shall also use the foundation to mobilise the society to play an active and significant role in expanding the frontiers of dental and general health. We hope to achieve the objective with the support of all and sundry.
“I must state clearly that the Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Mallam Yusuf Abdallah Usman, has been of tremendous help to this project. I will also like to acknowledge the support of the Artistic General and CEO of National Troupe of Nigeria, Mr Akinsola Adejuwon, and the management of the Obafemi Awolowo University and the OAU Teaching Hospitals’ complex,” the initiator said.