William Harrison, the wax-carving dentist

William P. Harrison was a professor of dentistry at the University of Southern California between 1929 and 1963. He had an unusual way of teaching dentistry skills. He made his students create tiny wax carvings. He figured that if the students had the manual dexterity to make a good miniature carving, they also would have the skill to be a good dentist. Over the years, he amassed a collection of hundreds of wax carvings made by his students. I have no idea what became of them all. It's the kind of thing I'd like to see in a museum, if they were on display. Some text and images below, and more info here:


1955 image of one of Harrison's students making a carving.