Sir, it is good to see the current series of articles by Professor Stanley Gelbier covering the amazing progress of some of the aspects of dentistry over the last 125 years, many of which we take for granted (BDJ 2005; 199: 389–395).

However, the truth is, as instilled into me by my predecessor and former curator of the BDA museum, Mr Archie Donaldson, the journal published by the BDA is older than the Association because it is 134 years old. The reason is that when the BDA acquired the title Monthly Review of Dental Surgery in January 1880, it did not alter the previous publication's volume numbering and boldly stated that the journal was in its ninth year of publication. Fortunately, the confusion was dispelled when it was decided to renumber the April issue Volume 1 Issue 2 and incidentally at the cover price of 6 pence!

It may be of further interest to know that the original intention of the founders of the BDA was to purchase the prestigious British Journal of Dental Science. This had already enjoyed success for 24 years under the owner-editorship of Charles James Fox, who had not only espoused the cause of the College of Dentists but also campaigned for compulsory education and registration in the 1870s, ideals favoured by the Association's founders. It was because negotiations to purchase this journal failed that they turned their attention to the Monthly Review of Dental Surgery.1

Professor Gelbier responds : Thank you for the opportunity to respond to Dame Margaret's letter welcoming my series of historical articles. Of course she is correct in the historical detail. Readers might like to know that my original draft title was indeed 134 years of developments in dentistry. However, I decided to change it to 125 years because that accurately reflects the time span of BDA ownership of the journal. Nevertheless my article confirms that both a journal (Monthly Review of Dental Surgery) and the title of British Dental Journal preceded 1880. I look forward to seeing other points of clarification from readers about events featured in the series.