Simon Hullihen

Simon Hullihen MD, DDS (December 10, 1810 – March 27, 1857) was a dental surgeon born in western Pennsylvania. He completed his medical degree first and then he was inspired to develop a career in oral and maxillofacial surgery. He helped to develop many modern techniques of maxillofacial surgery and contributed to the establishment of oral and maxillofacial surgery as a surgical specialty in the United States, regarded as the first oral surgeon in the United States.

He was born in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania in 1810 and had 2 younger male siblings. He was born into a family of farmers. At the age of 9, Simon fell into fire and hurt both his legs due to which he was bed-written for two years. It was during this experience when he was treated by local physicians, he decided to pursue medical for his career. He obtained his MD from Washington Medical College, Baltimore in 1832. He started his career as an instructor at this medical college but eventually moved to Canton, Ohio to practice medicine. He met his wife Elizabeth in Pittsburg and they got married in 1935. His life took him to Kentucky and eventually to Virginia where he settled in Wheeling, West Virginia. He devoted his time to the surgery of mouth, head and neck and opened a practice there.

Hullihen practice gained him accords with local physicians and he became well known due to his work on the treatment of cleft lip and palate. Hullihen advocated that a cleft lip can be repaired at the early age of an infant but a cleft palate cannot be repaired until a later date to the lack of cooperation of infants at the early age. In 1842, University of Maryland School of Dentistry or formerly known as Baltimore College of dentistry awarded an honorary Doctrate of Dental Surgery to Hullihen. He published a paper in American Journal of Dental Science named "Case of Elongation of the Underjaw and Distortion of the Face and Neck, Caused by a Burn, Successfully Treated" in 1849 which became to known as world's first published paper about an orthognathic surgery.

Hullihen also founded the Wheeling Hospital which established the first hospital based dental clinic in United States. In 1857 at the age of 47, Hullihen died of complications from typhoid pneumonia. During his career he performed around 1100 orthognathic surgeries. Due to his achievements, American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons dedicated the 55th annual meeting for Hullihen's memory.