The Henry Forman Atkinson Dental Museum is unique in Australia for its age and comprehensiveness and its ability to provide insights into the social history of health, the history and development of the dental profession, and the history and development of dental education in Victoria. It aims to inspire, engage and educate audiences about the changes that have taken place in dentistry from the mid-1800s, when unregulated practice was widespread, through numerous developments to the eventual establishment of the Australian College of Dentistry in 1897 and the emergence of an organized, qualified profession.