Solyman Brown (AM, DD, MD, DDS), known as "the poet laureate of dentistry," was born in Litchfield, Conn., on November 17, 1790. He graduated from Yale College in 1812 and took up teaching (including one year at the Litchfield Female Academy) and preaching. In 1822 he went to New York City and embraced the doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg, becoming a regular preacher of the New Jerusalem Church. In 1832 he met Dr. Eleazer Parmly and began studying dentistry. In 1834, he and Elizabeth Butler Brown were married. He was a writer and poet of some note.  One of his poems, Dentologia, written in 1833 on diseases of the teeth and their remedies, attracted wide attention. He was instrumental in the formation of the first dental journal, the first dental society, and the first dental school. Dr. Brown practiced dentistry, was involved in the manufacture and sale of false teeth, and preached, residing in cities in New York State, including Binghamton, Danby, Ithaca, and New York City. He died in 1876 in Dodge Center, Minn.

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