Members of the Jewish Faith have been practitioners of dentistry since the beginning of the nineteenth century. The early dentists were products of the preceptorial method or institutional graduates and had learned their dentistry either in Europe or in the leading cities of America. The drive for education was innate in the Jew. It was the dream of every poor Jewish ghetto dweller to see that their sons became doctors and their daughter’s teachers.

Despite the nobility of these sentiments, there existed an undemocratic attitude towards minority groups at the graduate level of education. This was so, particularly in the professions and most markedly in medicine and dentistry. Men of Jewish faith with patience and perseverance completed their dental education undaunted by anti-Jewish feelings whether from student body or faculty. However, after the turn into the twentieth century, it became evident that only be concerted effort on the part of a unified group could anything resembling fair play be affected.

The founding of Alpha Omega Fraternity was the result of this need - the need for the Jewish student in the dental school to seek mutual assistance, to foster self-improvement and to repel the undemocratic policies allowed to exist on the dental campus.

Provoked by the unjustifiable discrimination against them in the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in Philadelphia, a few Jewish students banded together in 1907, to protect their interests, to study collectively and to foster a genuine fraternal spirit by assisting one another in their scholastic endeavors. This group called itself "Ramach" which represents in Hebrew the two hundred and forty eight parts of the human body. This original "Ramach" organization was the forerunner of Alpha Omega.

Shortly thereafter, another Jewish 'group with similar objectives, known as Alpha Omega, was organized in Baltimore. To further strengthen the concept of unification and broaden its sphere, these two groups amalgamated in December, 1909, as the Alpha Omega Fraternity; the Philadelphia group became known as the Ramach Chapter and the Baltimore group as the Zeta Chapter - the first two chapters in Alpha Omega.

From this humble beginning, with its modest objectives, our organization began to grow and prosper. The creation of the Pi chapter at the University of Toronto, in 1921, imparted international stature to the fraternity. Amalgamation and expansion continued as we absorbed the Alpha Zeta Gamma Fraternity, the Mt. Sinai Dental Society, the Gilead Dental Society, three groups in Israel, as well as numerous additional undergraduate and alumni chapters, extending our perimeters to Israel, Europe and England

Periodic requests from dental students at schools where no chapter of Alpha Omega existed led to the establishment of a National Undergraduate Chapter in 1956, an open proclamation to all that no individual who is qualified and interested need be denied the opportunities of Alpha Omega. The year 1957 also marked the fiftieth anniversary of our formation which was fittingly commemorated at the Golden Age Convention in Baltimore which honored the founding fraters of the fraternity.

While we were formed as a means of combating and eradicating anti-Jewish actions, we became increasingly cognizant of other prevailing discriminatory barriers. To demonstrate our belief that prejudice, in any form, is contrary to true fraternalism we altered our constitution to extend membership to "any male of sound mind and good character thereby making Alpha Omega a non-sectarian organization. Our total objective was finally realized when, in 1972, the "male" was stricken from our qualification for membership.

Today, Alpha Omega is organized into more that 125 student and alumni chapters and is truly international in scope. The fraternity is recognized widely as representing more than 13,000 professional men and women and, within this membership, numerous individuals, dental educators and researchers, have greatly aided the promotion and advancement of the profession.