"[3] Riggs was born in Seymour, Connecticut and graduated from the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery in 1854.

[3] He was the personal dentist of an American writer Mark Twain.

[4] Riggs was an opponent of periodontal surgery, which at the time consisted of gingival resection.

He promoted the concept of proper oral hygiene and prevention.

[3] Riggs first demonstrated his method of conventional periodontal therapy in 1856: he removed salivary and serumal deposits and necrosed bone from the teeth with scrapers that he designed.