A free oral health education museum is due to open next to the West China Hospital of Stomatology in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, in October.

"The museum is the first of its kind in China," said Fu Tianxing, an official responsible for the museum.

The museum will be housed in an old, traditional-styled building built in 1936 and will have an exhibition area of 1,000 square meters.

The West China Hospital of Stomatology and the Chengdu city government jointly established the museum to teach people about oral health and to protect Chengdu's culture, according to Fu.

People of Chengdu and Sichuan province are very proud of the West China School/Hospital of Stomatology, which is affiliated with the West China Medical Center of Sichuan University.

The hospital is a clinical treatment center for oral diseases and maxillofacial surgery in western China. It is considered the birthplace of modern dentistry in China and has long been ranked as one of the top hospitals in the field.

The West China School of Stomatology has top educators and leading scholars in dental science, many of whom become backbones of the nation's stomatology schools.

The International Journal of Oral Science, published by the school in 2008, was China's first English journal on dental science. The journal was included in the databases for Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) and Pub Med (MEDLINE).

Bone Research, another international journal published by the school in 2013, was China's first English journal in the bone field and was co-published with the Nature Publishing Group since its first issue of 2014.

The West China Medical Center is also affiliated with other hospitals, which are the best in the country.

The West China Hospital was ranked second among China's large general hospitals in the China's Best Hospitals list, which is annually released by Fudan University, for four consecutive years. The Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing was ranked first.

Official statistics show that the hospital is the second largest hospital in the world, with a total service area of more than 400,000 sq m and 4,800 beds.

The hospital publishes nine different academic periodicals, all of which are included in the resource periodicals for national scientific publications and three are included into the MEDLINE database.

The West China Women's and Children's Hospital owns China's only national office for maternal and children's health surveillance and the national center for birth defects monitoring. The network consists of 783 member hospitals in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, covering a whole population of 140 million.

Century old

The history of the affiliated hospitals of the West China Medical Center reflects the modern medical developments of Chengdu and western China.

The hospitals were originally established by a group of volunteers from Canada and other western countries more than a century ago.

Dr Omar L Kilborn and his wife arrived in Shanghai on Nov 3, 1891, and came to Chengdu on May 21, 1892. Kilborn opened the first Western clinic in western China in Sishengci Street in Chengdu on Nov 3, 1892.

Dr Retta Gifford Kilborn, Kilborn's second wife, was the first female doctor to work in western China.

In 1896 she opened the first women's hospital in Sichuan, near Sishengci Street, which developed into what is known today as the West China Women's and Children's Hospital.

Dr Ashley Woodward Lindsay graduated from the Royal College of Dental Surgeons in Toronto in 1906 and left Canada for Chengdu in the autumn of 1907 with his newly married wife. With help from Kilborn the Lindsay couple opened a dental clinic in Sishengci Street, marking the start of China's modern dentistry in Chengdu.

In 1910 volunteers from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada jointly founded the West China Union University, which today is known as the West China Medical Center of Sichuan University.

In 1914 Kilborn founded the Medical School of West China Union University - today's West China School of Medicine and West China Hospital. In 1917 Lindsay established the Dentistry Department of West China Union University, which is now known as the West China School/Hospital of Stomatology.

The West China Medical Center of Sichuan University has become a national medical center that combines higher medical education, medical research and a treatment center for difficult and severe illnesses.

"Although it has been a long time and all those earliest foreign volunteers have passed away, we will never forget their unselfish contribution to China's modern medical service and education," said an official from the West China Medical Center.

Contact the writers through liyu@chinadaily.com.cn

The Chengdu Oral Health Education Museum in a traditional-styled building will open in October. Peng Chao / For China Daily

Dr Omar L Kilborn and Dr Retta Gifford Kilborn, pioneers in modern medical service and education in Chengdu. OLD CANADIAN PHOTO PROJECT TEAM, PEACE TO THE WORLD BEIJING GALLERIES