Oscar Dean was educated at the St. Louis Dental College, 1905; and at the University of Southern California, where he did research and post-graduate courses in dental surgery. He perfected the metal guard to prevent tongue pressure in surgical closure of cleft palates. Dean was the author of "Intra-Septal Alveolotomy Technic," 1918; "Submerged Teeth," 1949; and the booklet, "Surgical removal of Impacted Lower Third Molars," 1917. He was a member of the Washington State Dental Society, and Seattle District Dental Society, among others.