Back of the school's former home at the Marquam Hill campus
Oregon Health & Science University School of Dentistry is a part of Oregon Health & Science University. The school was established in 1899 when the Oregon College of Dentistry merged with the Tacoma College of Dental Surgery to create the North Pacific Dental College in Portland.[1] After being renamed as North Pacific College, that school merged into the then University of Oregon Medical School in 1945.[1]
After the merger, a controversy arose over the relationship between the dental school and the university. Eventually members of the Oregon State Dental Association sued the Oregon State Board of Higher Education for a declaratory judgment on the interpretation of the law that created the merger.[2] The issue was whether the dental school was a subdivision of (the former ) Oregon University System, or was it a subdivision of the University of Oregon.[2] In 1954, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the dental college was a subdivision of the higher education system.[2]
