Guillermo Vargas Paredes: father of Colombian dentistry.

This paper presents a short biography of dentist Guillermo Vargas Paredes, honored by the Federación Odontológica Colombiana (Colombian Dental Federation) as the Father of Colombian Dentistry. Dr. Vargas was born in the city of Bucaramanga and graduated from the New York Dental School. In 1887, he and several colleagues founded the Sociedad Dental Colombiana (Colombian Dental Society). A year later, he founded the Colegio Dental de Bogotá (Dental School of Bogotá), which was the first dental school in South America. In 1988, at the Colombian Dental Federation's centennial commemoration of the establishment of the first dental school in that country, Dr. Vargas was honored for his numerous and unselfish efforts towards the advancement of the dental profession in Colombia.