Gidney , Eleazer , 1797-1876 , dentist x Gedney , Eleazer

Eleazer Gedney was born in New York, in 1797. Under the altered name of Gidney rather than Gedney, he was apprenticed to Dr James L van Kleeck, of Poughskeepsie, in 1811. He transferred to Dr Abel Catlin, of Litchfield, Connecticut, from 1813-1817. In 1816, while still in Litchfield, Gidney advertised a remedy for cancer using handbills with testimonials from patients. He began to study dentistry at Baltimore and New York, in 1817. He published A Treatise on the Structure, Diseases and Management of the Human Teeth while living in Utica, in 1824. He travelled to Canada, where he practiced in Toronto and then Quebec in 1826. He then travelled to London and Paris to increase his professional knowledge. He attended courses of lectures in dental science and practice including those by Thomas Bell, James Snell and A F Talma in 1831-1832. He began to practise in Manchester in 1832. He was elected an honorary Fellow of the newly formed American Society of Dental Surgeons in 1840. He died in 1876.