On a rainy December 15, 1931, in the Warren Green Hotel in the hamlet of Warrenton, VA, the eighth component of the Virginia State Dental Association, the Northern Virginia Dental Society, was born (ten men came together for this purpose). The Society met once a year in different locations from 1931-1935. It met two times a year thereafter. Meetings during the war years of 1941-1945 were well-attended considering that as many as 25% of the Society members served in the Armed Forces. On November 14, 1945, at the Leesburg Inn in Leesburg, VA, Dr. J.D. Edmundson brought the annual Society meeting to order. Thirty-four members and eight guests were present.
In 1946, membership dues were $5 per year and four meetings a year became the norm. The Ladies’ Auxiliary was formed in 1951. The first membership directory with photographs was published in 1960-61. Honorariums were first paid to clinicians in 1962. The constitution was rewritten in 1965-66 and the membership reached three-hundred sixty members that year. During 1965-66, the Central Office was established and the very first edition of NOVANews was published. In 2021, our Society is larger than twenty-two state dental associations with 1,467 members.