GAAM

WLMD ID: arcx

Dr. Louis L. Greenblum practiced dentistry in Akron, Ohio for over thirty years. He received a patent for his invention, the Greenblum Adjustable Anesthetic Mask, or GAAM, in 1941. He formed the Gaam Anesthetic Supply Company in Akron to sell the mask. In the 1950s and 1960s, the GAAM was offered in the medical instrument catalogs of Edward Weck and Company, and the Sklar Manufacturing Company.

The GAAM is an open-drop anesthesia mask, intended to be used with ether. The front half of the mask slides over the back half and is held in place by a screw. By loosening the screw and tugging back, the mask could be extended to fit a larger patient. A piece of cloth would be draped over the struts on the top of the mask and held tightly in place by the spring. The mask would be placed over the patient's nose and mouth, and the cloth would then be saturated with drops of ether. When the GAAM was introduced, closed-circuit anesthesia was gaining wide acceptance for general surgery, but open-drop ether continued to be used in doctors' and dentists' offices until volatile anesthetics were banned in the 1970s.

Catalog Record: GAAM Contact [email protected] for catalog record.