Dentistry came out of the Dark Ages, thanks in part to the efforts of Greene Vardiman Black, who was born on this date in 1836. He started studying medicine at the age of 17 but later switched to dentistry. In 1857, Black opened his own practice in Illinois. After serving in the Civil War, he joined the faculty of the Missouri Dental College. Later, he became professor of dental pathology at the Chicago College of Dental Surgery and then dean of the dental school of Northwestern University. Some of Black's contributions to dentistry include the development of an amalgam alloy for fillings and a method of enlarging the area around the cavity to be filled to prevent further decay. For many years his textbooks, including "Dental Anatomy," published in 1891, were regarded highly.

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