DISTINGUISHED FIGURES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF DENTAL CARE IN CROATIAN LITTORAL AND THE FOUNDATION OF A DENTIST ASSOCIATION IN RIJEKA

Abstract

Until the early 19th century, dental illnesses in the Croatian Littoral were treated by barbers and quacks. Mid 19th century saw the first seasonal dentists come from Vienna, Graz, and Trieste, and the first local dentists started to work full-time in the second half of the 19th century. Dr Frano Dabrović, Dr Niko Gjivović, Dr Dezider Dalma, and Dr Edmund Krausz were the first promoters of the profession, research, and education in dental hygiene of the local population. To further improve their profession, the dentists of Rijeka established a Society of the Littoral on 16 January 1909.
There were other dentists outside Rijeka, such as Dr Ljudevit Korewa who ran his office in Senj, and Dr Hans Pichler who worked in the Navy Hospital of Pula during the First World War. The first teacher of dental medicine at the Zagreb University School of Medicine was professor Eduard Radošević, and the first dean of the Zagreb University School of Dental Medicine was professor Živko Bolf, both born in Gorski kotar ( an inland region with close ties with Rijeka).