Rafiuddin Ahmed

Rafiuddin Ahmed (24 December 1890 – 9 February 1965) was an Indian dentist, educator and later minister in the West Bengal cabinet, who founded the first dental college of India,'The Calcutta Dental College', later named Dr. R. Ahmed Dental College and Hospital, where he remained its principal until 1950. He established the Indian Dental Journal in 1925, and played a key role in founding the Bengal Dentist Act in 1939. In 1946, he established The Bengal Dental Association which was then renamed as the Indian Dental Association. The Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan in 1964. Remembered as the father of modern dentistry in India, in 2016, the Indian Dental Association declared 24 December as National Dentist's Day in his honour.

Early life

Rafiuddin Ahmed was born on 24 December 1890, in Bardhanpara, East Bengal, British India; the second child of the deputy collector Maulvi Safiuddin Ahmed and his wife Faizunnesha. He had four brothers and one sister, and completed his early education at the Dhaka Madrasa, later Collegiate School.

In 1909, after his father's death, Ahmed travelled at first to Bombay (now Mumbai), then the UK, and subsequently the United States, where he gained admission to the University of Iowa College of Dentistry. In 1915, he received his dental (D.D.S) degree. Until 1918, during the First World War, he practised at the Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children in Boston, Massachusetts.

Career

In 1919, at the end of the First World War, Ahmed returned to India.

Dentistry In 1920, with funding from the New York Soda Fountain, he founded and served as the first principal the first dental college of India, Dr. R. Ahmed Dental College and Hospital, a European-style establishment where he remained its principal until 1950. For the first three years, it had 11 students, one of whom was Fatima Jinnah, a future founder of Pakistan.

In 1964, he became the first Indian dentist to be awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award of the republic of India.

Ahmed's honours and memorial tributes include an inscription on the ICD Memorial Roll in 1965. The Indian Dental Association recognized his contributions to Indian dentistry by establishing the Dr. R. Ahmed Memorial Oration at the 1977 Annual Indian Dental Conference. The Pierre Fauchard Academy (PFA) dedicated its 1987 quarterly PFA Journal in Ahmed's memory, and the University of Iowa College of Dentistry Alumni Association presented their First Distinguished International Alumnus Award to him in 1989.

Death and legacy Statue of Ahmed inside the old campus of the Dr. R. Ahmed Dental College and Hospital Ahmed died on 9 February 1965.

Notable students Fatima Jinnah