The Anschluss and the Problem of Refugee Stomatologists

Some 360 Viennese stomatologists applied to the General Medical Council to be placed on the Dental Register to practise in Britain. Their dental training was different to that in Britain and the majority were denied by the 1878 Dental Act. This article examines the dilapidated state of British dental health and dentistry during the 1930s, when it functioned as a 'cottage industry', and compares this situation with the philosophy and dental training at the University of Vienna. Only 41 were allowed to stay and re-qualify over a six-month period and were then allowed to practise. Many of those rejected by the General Medical Council, despite their excellent training, probably died during the Holocaust.