Kells'
Legacy on Display in
Dental Library
Eighty-four years after
his death, Dr. C. Edmund
Kells Jr. is still known
as New Orleans' most
famous dentist. A prolific
inventor, writer, and
dental crusader, he is
best known as a pioneer in
demonstrating the
application of x-rays to
dentistry. Son of
prominent New Orleans
dentist Charles E. Kells,
he graduated from the New
York Dental College in
1878 and then returned to
New Orleans to practice
dentistry
In 1896, shortly after
the discovery of
radiography, Dr. Kells was
the first dentist in the
U.S. to take x-rays of a
living patient. His
experiments with x-rays
caused lesions on his
hand, eventually leading
to the amputation of his
entire left arm. Learning
that the cancer had spread
to his heart and lungs,
Dr. Kells committed
suicide on May 7, 1928.
On January 19, 1927,
Tulane University
dedicated the C. Edmund
Kells Memorial Library and
Museum in the Hutchinson
Memorial Building. At this
ceremony, Tulane also
conferred the honorary
degree of Doctor of Laws
upon Dr. Kells.
Dr. Kells created the
nucleus of the library by
donating his private book
collection and dental
objects and appliances,
including models and
examples of his own
inventions. He then sent a
"chain letter" to other
dentists requesting books
or "some old, old
instruments, now well out
of date; or some dental
anomaly..."
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Gold crowns carved and cast by Dr. Kells in
1890
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Tulane's dental school
closed in 1928. Later on,
Tulane dispersed the
contents of the library
and museum. Dr. Major B.
Varnado, Dr. Kells'
associate for 10 years,
said that he found the
equipment stashed in a
storeroom under Tulane
Stadium in the 1950's and
sent much of it to the
Smithsonian Institution.
When Dr. Varnado died in
1971 at the age of 89, the
dental office in the
Maison Blanche Building on
Canal Street in New
Orleans, where Dr. Varnado
had practiced with Dr.
Kells, was dismantled.
This was the end of a
dental practice started in
1850 by Dr. Kells' father.
The late Dr. A. Peter
Fortier, long-time faculty
member in the LSUHSC
School of Dentistry
Department of Oral
Diagnosis/Medicine/Radiology,
transported equipment,
furniture, and instruments
to the school, where the
office was re-created in
the library.
In 2011 Opelousas
dentist, Al Huguet, LSUSD
'73, donated a collection
of dental antiques to the
LSUSD library. He had
found the boxes,
containing over 100 items,
in an antique shop on
Magazine Street in 1972.
Included in the collection
were objects that clearly
belonged to Dr. Kells,
such as the printing
blocks for the
illustrations in his book,
The Dentist's Own Book,
published in 1925, and a
set of four gold crowns
that he carved and cast in
1890. Tags, labels, and
notes tucked among the
objects further indicated
that this collection had
been part of the Kells
museum.
The equipment, tools, and
materials contained in Dr.
Huguet's treasure trove
represent early 20th
century dentistry and
complement the Kells'
objects and other
donations that were
already in the LSUSD
library exhibit. Among the
items from the Kells
museum are:
- A small trunk
containing Dr. Kells'
suction apparatus for
the aspiration of fluids
from the human body
during surgical
procedures. According to
Dr. Rudolph Matas of New
Orleans, Dr. Kells "has
won the eternal
gratitude of every
working surgeon in the
world".
- Four gold foil
mallets. In addition to
the lead hand mallet
preferred by Dr. Kells,
the collection contains
three electric pluggers:
an S.S. White Electrical
Mallet, 1875-1880; a
Lewis Plugger no.8,
1899-1920, from the
Buffalo Dental
Manufacturing Co.; and
an unidentified engine
mallet.
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19th
and early 20th
century amalgam
pluggers |
- Five hinged and
flanged brass impression
trays patented by Bowen
K. Bowen of Nashville,
Tennessee in 1922
- A vulcanite denture
with porcelain teeth and
gold springs
- A jaw bone with five
teeth, described on the
accompanying label as
"found under five feet
of debris in a cave on
the Guatemala border
with Mexico, probably
about 1000 years old."
We are grateful to Dr.
Fortier and to Dr. Huguet
for their passion for
preserving the Kells
legacy and making the
LSUHSC School of Dentistry
the repository of these
artifacts.
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