An effective barrier of body fluids used to prevent the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and other diseases transmitted through sex, is the dental dam.

Less known than its present-day role in disease prevention, and that it was originally created in 1862 as a tool allowing dentists a saliva-free space on which to grind or drill teeth, is the fact that it was invented in Monticello, New York, about three blocks east of the offices of Choices Counseling Services PLLC.

The beneficent inventor donated the intellectual property rights to his invention for the public good. It got him internationally recognized, but it never earned him a dime.

Sanford Christie Barnum, son of George W. and Caroline Griswold (Clowes) Barnum, was born in Oakland Valley, Town of Forestburgh, Sullivan County, New York, on August 24, 1838. Dr. Barnum obtained his early education at the public schools, and at the Monticello Academy, a well known private educational institution of that time. The academy was located at the corner of Landfield and Bushnell avenues, the present site of a county-owned parking lot near the Lawrence H. Cooke Sullivan County Court House.