Vision
The Henry Forman Atkinson Dental Museum is the oldest and most significant dental collection in Australia. The museum aims to collect, conserve, manage, exhibit, and promote the material culture relating to the development of dentistry and dental education in Victoria. It also aims to encourage access, research and engagement in order to promote further understanding of the development of the profession including its striving to improve the standard of dental education, dental health and dental care within Australia.
The Museum is named after Professor Henry Forman Atkinson, who held various positions at the University of Melbourne from 1953 to 2016 and was Dean of the Faculty of Dental Science from 1968 to 1978. While teaching at the Australian College of Dentistry Professor Atkinson developed an interest in the museum, and upon retirement he devoted his time to cataloguing the collection, researching and writing about the history of dentistry in Australia. He continued his involvement with the museum until his death on 5 January 2016.