“With his passing,
an era has gone”
Dal Boston Globe del 30 Gennaio 2006
Bryan Marquard, Globe Staff | January 30, 2006
When Herbert Schilder graduated from dental school in
the early 1950s, there were no graduate programs in endodontics and only a few dozen dentists nationwide who
focused their practices on this specialty.
By the time Dr. Schilder retired in 2003 from the Boston
University School of Dental Medicine, which he helped
found, he had trained hundreds of endodontists. He had
also invented a widely used approach to a dental procedure
the mere mention of makes many cringe. No one may wish
to undergo a root canal, but for those who do, the Schilder
technique makes the process less painful and the healing
more effective.
Dr. Schilder, who had lived in Newtona for several decades,
died Wednesday of Lewy body dementia. He was 77.
Although he was a respected lecturer who had spoken in
many countries, it takes nothing away from Dr. Schilder’s
professional renown to note that outside dental circles his
name and root canal technique are best known for a scene
in the movie ‘’Finding Nemo.”
About a half hour into the 2003 film, Nemo is in an
aquarium in a dentist’s office when the fish line up against
the glass to watch a squirming, yelping patient.
‘’Root canal, and by the looks of those X-rays, it’s not
gonna be pretty,” says Peach, the starfish. A moment later,
Peach adds, ‘’Now he’s doing the Schilder technique.”
The scene -- less amusing, perhaps, for the dentally squeamish -- made Dr. Schilder’s name world famous in a way
only achieved through popular culture. Someone associated
with the script had undergone a root canal, then quizzed
the endodontist about the particulars, according to Dr.
Schilder’s family and colleagues, and the Schilder technique ended up in the movie.
The family took Dr. Schilder, who was ill at the time, to
a theater to see ‘’Finding Nemo,” said his son, Richard
of Belmont.
‘’He was tickled pink,” his son said. ‘’He finally made it
to Hollywood.”
Dr. Schilder grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y. He followed his
older brother to Washington Square College, which is now
part of New York University, and then to the NYU College of Dentistry.
‘’But I never reached the place of my brother, who was outstanding in many ways” said Stanley Schilder, a retired
dentist in Forest Hills, N.Y.
Dr. Schilder, who served for two years in the Army Dental Corps, became a professor and chairman of the Boston
University School of Dental Medicine’s department of
endodontics in 1966.
‘’He was a pioneer in the specialty of endodontics,” said
Spencer Frankl, dean of the BU School of Dental Medi-
L’Informatore
Endodontico
Vol. 9, Nr. 1
cine. ‘’He was able to lift the specialty to a whole different
level because of his understanding of the anatomy of the
tooth structure and how materials could be used for the
treatment of a diseased dental pulp.”
Harold Levin, a North Shore dentist who was in the
second graduating class trained by Dr. Schilder, became
a lifelong friend of his mentor. He said Dr. Schilder’s
research developed instruments many specialists still use to
open and clean root canals.
‘’A root canal is a space inside a tooth,” Levin said, ‘’and
when it gets infected it raises hell.”
Root canal therapy involves cleaning out the infected tissue and treating the remaining area so it won’t become
reinfected. In the Schilder technique, gutta-percha -- a
plastic substance from Malaysian trees -- is heated and
pushed into the space vertically, then compacted. The substance expands as it cools, filling the area.
Dr. Schilder’s use of these steps and materials is an effective way to ease the pain of the procedure and ensure
long-term success, Levin said.
Along with his research, Dr. Schilder was known for his
engaging and incisive lectures, which his brother said
were extemporaneous. Dr. Schilder, he said, had a nearphotographic memory and never seemed to need notes.
‘’When he lectured, no one took their eyes off him or went
to sleep,” Stanley Schilder said. ‘’He controlled the audience. I always said he should have been an actor.”
As a leader in his field, Dr. Schilder ‘’basically spoke on every continent except Antarctica,” his son said, ‘’and if they
had built a university, he would have spoken there, too.”
Said Levin, ‘’He was one of those bigger-than-life people
who, even though he was a little guy, when he walked into
a room everyone listened to what he had to say.”
Dr. Schilder was also a runner most of his life, a passion
he passed along to many of his students -- some of whom
returned to visit him on Boston Marathon weekend -- and
to his son, who became a running coach and has run 15
Boston Marathons. On Marathon Day, the family would
walk a few blocks from their Newton home to cheer runners up Heartbreak Hill.
Along with his academic work, Dr. Schilder also was involved in many philanthropic endeavors, including Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the American Jewish
Historical Society, and Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston. The Herbert Schilder chair in
endodontics was the first named chair at BU’s School of
Dental Medicine, where he and his wife, Joan, donated a
laboratory dedicated to endodontic research.
‘’He was really a giant in his field,” Frankl said. ‘’With
his passing, an era has gone.”
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2006