In 1866, with dentistry still in its infancy as a recognized profession, Lucy Hobbs became the first American woman to earn a doctorate degree in dentistry. Given the lax laws of the times, Lucy Hobbs had been practicing dentistry in Cincinnati since 1861; she had been denied entry into  the Ohio College of Dental Surgery because of her female status in the male dominated profession. In 1862 she moved her practice to Iowa amidst the nation divided by the American Civil War.  She had joined the Iowa State Dental Society which helped her gain entry into the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, and in 1866 got her degree.

Source: ADA Mews, April 15th, 2019

Not even among dentists are the names Dr. Joseph Muhler and Dr. William Nebergall well known ( if know at all!).  Yet both have just been inducted into the Dental Hall of fame for developing and patenting fluoridated toothpaste in 1950. By 1955 Procter and Gamble launched Crest, the first clinically proven fluoridated toothpaste. The world has seen a tremendous reduction in caries, the disease of dental decay, thanks to Drs. Muhler and Nebergall.

Dentists have many many contributions in the world outside the realm of dentistry. Some were made with good intent, but later regarded in a most negative light. Take the case of the German dentist, Dr. Friedrich Krohn. In 1920 he designed the flag which would become the symbol of the Nazi party: the hakenreuz (swastika) flag.  Dr. Krohn was the director of the DAP ( the forerunner of the Nazi party) chapter in Rosenheim, and was a member of the Thule Society, a right wing anti-semetic group steeped in occultism and familiar with the swastika symbol. Dr. Krohn was probably influenced by this when he created the red, white and black flag using the colors of the old German Republic.

It should be remembered, when Dr. Krohn designed the flag in 1920, none of the horrors of the Nazi regime had occurred. Indeed, Hitler was largley unkown and struggling for control of the party, and had not yet committed any acts against humanity. Yet Dr. Krohn’s design was so bold and striking, Hitler stole the idea and the credit. Perhaps that was for the better.

What could be more relevant to Black History month than a famous Black Dentist? And what could be more relevant  to dentists than golf. Enter George Franklin Grant, the Harvard trained African American  dentist who invented the modern wooden golf tee.  Previously, there had been other objects and methods for teeing up a golf ball, but it took Grant to patent the forerunner of the modern golf tee.

Born in Oswego, New York in 1847, he entered Harvard’s School of Dental Medicine in 1868 and graduated in 1870. He was one of the first two graduates of Harvard University’s dental program .He later became Harvard’s first African American professor . He was a dedicated dentist, and patented a prosthetic device for cleft palate that was internationally recognized. He  was also  involved in dental organizations, as a founding member  Harvard’s Odontological Society, and as president of the Harvard Dental Alumni Association.

We don’t really know if Grant was an avid golfer.  Golf was not nearly as popular, or egalitarian back at the turn of the last century.  But then Grant was not one to be held back Grant’s patent,  issued on December 12, 1899 for an improved golf tee was a vast improvement over the mounds of sand previously used.  If you have ever hit a ball in sand , you know how messy that can be, not mention if the wind is kicking up.  So we offer our gratitude and humbly honor the man who helped modernize golf.  I just wonder  though, were golfers better at getting out of sand traps prior to his invention?

Sculpture by Otto Freundlich on the cover of “Entartete Kunst.”

Many dentists are creative and have an artistic inclination. Some become so successful, they leave the field of dentistry to pursue their artistic talents. Some give their lives for their craft.  One such tragic case is of Otto Freundlich.  Born in Germany in 1878, Freundlich studied dentistry only to  head off to pursue art in Paris in 1908. Later, one of his most famous works, a sculpture called “Der Neue Mensch” (“The New Man”) was used on the cover of the Nazi exhibition program called “Entartete Kunst”- “Degenerate Art.” The exhibition which ran from July to November in 1937 was intended to ridicule and denigrate modern artists, and particularly Jewish artists. The exhibition became heavily attended much to the dismay of the Nazis, who hoped the populace would embrace the Great German Art Exhibition instead. But the German people liked the modern art art more than the boring traditional German art. Hitler was outraged.  Freundlich was eventually arrested by the Nazi’s and murdered in Majdanek Concentration Camp in 1943.

Perhaps the most notorious figure of the Nazi concentration camps during WWII was Dr. Josef Mengele. Accused of experimenting on young twins (one would serve as the control for his experiments), he experimented, mutilated, murdered and dissected countless victims in Auschwitz, almost all without anesthesia. He was also responsible for the selection process when the Jewish refugees unloaded on the train platform at Auschwitz upon their arrival from all over Europe. His wave of the arm could mean life or death in the selection process. He was also a member of the team of doctors responsible for supervising the administration of Zyklon B, the gas that was used to kill people in the gas chambers at Auschwitz- Birkenau. He was sadistic and unempathetic. He became one of the most sought after war criminals after he was able to escape to South America when WWII ended. He changed his name and residences frequently, but was tracked by Nazi hunters.  He was known to be buried under the name “Wolfgang Gerhard” by his host family, the Bosserts in Sao Paulo, after a drowning incident. With the aid of dental records, Mengele’s death  was finally corroborated in 1985 by the efforts of Stephen Daschi, US Consul in Brazil.

This part of the story is little known. Daschi discovered Mengele, then using the pseudonym Pedro Hochbichler,  had visited Dr. Hercy Gonzaga Gama Angelo in the suburb of Sao Paulo, Brazil for a root canal in 1978. Dr. Angelo provided Daschi with the name of the referring dentist, Dr. Kasumasa Tutiya, who provided dental radiographs (X-rays).  The body of Mengele had been found previously though extensive tracking, and was then corroborated with the eye witnesses to the man and his teeth by the dentist!

When Anne Frank moved into hiding in Amsterdam (Prinsengracht 263), other Jews later joined them hiding. One such person was the dentist, Fritz Pfeffer, who was given the pseudonym Mr. Dussel (Dussel in German means “nitwit”) by Anne Frank in her diary. Dr. Pfeffer had fled Germany in 1938 and moved to Amsterdam where he set up his dental practice, but with the invasion of Holland and the persecution of the Jews, found himself in need of hiding. One of his Fritz’s brothers (Hans) escaped to New Jersey, and one to South America, but the rest of his family perished. Otto Frank and Miep Gies helped hide Fritz along with the increasing number of people in the crowded  secret annex. Dr. Pfeffer arrived with his dental equipment, including the pedal driven SS White drill, and became the roommate of Anne Frank. Dr. Pfeffer purportedly had to do a root canal treatment on Anne’s front tooth. Without anesthesia, Anne was not endeared to the man or his profession.

Unfortunately, someone betrayed the hiding place to the authorties, and the Dr. Pfeffer along with the Anne and the rest of the people hiding in the annex were arrested and sent to concentration camps. After a stint in Auschwitz, Anne and her sister Margo ended up in Bergen-Belsen, only to die shortly before the camp’s liberation. Dr. Fritz ultimately died in Neuengamme concentration camp from illness on December 20th, 1944.

Having had dinner at One if By Land on Barrow Street in New York was a visual as well as gustatory treat. The ambience was magnificent. Over the bar was a copy of the Grant Wood painting, “The Ride of Paul Revere.” It reminded me of the more famous Grant Wood Painting, “American Gothic,” you know the one of the man in overalls with pitchfork and his dour wife by his side. What most dentists may recall, and what most of the public seems unaware, is that the models for Woods painting were Wood’s dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby (1867–1950)  from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and  the artist’s sister, Nan.

On March 21, 1889 Bernard Cyril Freyberg was born.  He would later become Lieutenant General Bernard Freyberg, and would earn numerous awards in World War I and  II , including the Victoria Cross, the Croix de Geurre (France), the Legion of Merit (United States), and the Cross of Valour (Greece), to name but a few.  Bernard Freyberg went on to become the Governor General of New Zealand after World War II.  What is most amazing to me about this man is that he started his career in 1911 as a DENTIST in New Zealand, a career cut short by war. I think no one would dispute Bernard Freyberg  had a more brilliant military career. Nonetheless, Happy Belated Birthday to the dentist who went on to help save the world and govern a nation!