Fernando Emilio Rodríguez Vargas was born on February 24th, 1888, in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico and traveled daily to Ponce for his early education. He received his Teaching Certificate at the University of Puerto Rico, before working at the IRS an inspector, and then the US War Department as a translator. He obtained his DDS (1913) from Georgetown University School of Dentistry, and held a private practice in Washington DC until 1915.
He joined the US Indian Medical Services in 1915 and was relocated to Arizona to study the epidemic of mottled enamel affecting the Native American population. He joined the United States Army in 1917 as a First Lieutenant in the Army Dental Reserve Corps. Near the end of World War 1 he was stationed in the U.K.
In 1921, he was sent to Washington DC, as a member of the Army Dental Corps. He identified three types of bacteria that contribute to dental carriers and published this work in 1922. Subsequently he developed other techniques and methods to disinfect mucous membranes. Fernando attained the rank of Major before dying in 1932, at the age of 44, after complications from pneumonia.
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