History of the Department of Orthodontics

John Frederik van der Sandt de Villiers was born in 1909. He obtained the following dental qualifications: LDS and RCS (England), MDS and DPP (Rand) and Certificate of Training in Orthodontics (Columbia). In 1951 he received a part-time appointment at the University of Pretoria, after which he became a lecturer, senior lecturer and finally professor in the Orthodontic Department which was formalised in 1962. Prof van der Sandt de Villiers filled the post as Head of the Department from 1963 to the end of 1967 after which he was succeeded by Prof Matie Grobler. 

Prof Grobler was a senior lecturer in the Department of Orthodontics and from 1968 until 1975 he assumed the position as Head of the Department. He designed and implemented the new Orthodontic Department and has been involved in the teaching of under- and postgraduate students for the past 54 years. Although retired, Prof Grobler is still actively involved with the training of registrars as an honorary professor.

In 1976, Prof Grobler was succeeded by Prof Salomon Theodorus Zietsman. Prof Zietsman was born in 1928 in the Orange Free State. He obtained the BDS degree in 1961 and a Dip Dent in 1963 at the University of the Witwatersrand and the MChD in Orthodontics at the University of Pretoria. In 1982 he became the full-time Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry and was succeeded in 1983 by Prof Johan de Mûelenaere as the Head of the Department of Orthodontics. Prof de Mûelenaere resigned in 1992 to enter the private sector, but was retained as an honorary professor in the Department.

Prof de Mûelenaere was instrumental in adding an international flavour to the Department. At the end of 1992, the Department consisted of three honorary professors, namely Proff de Mûelenaere, Grobler and Nel; one visiting professor, Prof Mizrahi from the University of the Witwatersrand, and five visiting specialist consultants. A full-time lecturer post was filled by a non-specialist who was mainly involved in undergraduate training. There were also four posts filled by registrars in the Department. 

New courses such as the MSc(Odont) and Dip(Odont) were introduced in Dentistry for non-specialist study in Orthodontics and a number of postgraduate students enrolled for these. In 1992 an honorary professor in the Department of Orthodontics, Prof SJP Nel, obtained the PhD(Odont) degree. This was the first doctoral degree achieved in the Department of Orthodontics at the University of Pretoria.

From 1993 Prof William Wiltshire became the acting Head of the Department until his permanent appointment in 1994. He made a remarkable contribution to the local and international development of the Department and it was left a void when he resigned at the end of 1997 to take up an equivalent post at the University of Manitoba in Canada. 

Prof Wiltshire trained many postgraduate students and under his tutelage training was revised by the re-curriculum of undergraduate courses in Orthodontics as well as postgraduate courses.

During his tenure the Department retained and extended its association with other institutions, and the first two foreign candidates registered for the post-graduate course. Prof Wiltshire also initiated transformation within the Department through the intake of candidates from previously disadvantaged communities.

In 1998 Prof Zietsman, the Faculty’s former Dean, returned to serve as acting Head of the Department after Prof Wiltshire’s departure. Prof Zietsman served as acting Head of the Department until 2000 when, as a result of poor health, Dr Antoinette du Toit became the acting Head. Prof Zietsman’s passing in 2006 was a sad loss to the Department and Orthodontic fraternity.