4 Famous Americans You Didn't Know Were Dentists
These 4 famous Americans prove that you just never know who might have a dental background. Here are 4 famous Americans that you might never suspect practiced dentistry.
These 4 famous Americans prove that you just never know who might have a dental background. Here are 4 famous Americans that you might never suspect practiced dentistry.
1. Paul Revere
Famous for his midnight ride in 1775 that announced “The British are coming,” Paul Revere also had a successful career as an amateur dentist. Using his skills as a silversmith, Revere would take walrus ivory and animal teeth and wire them into his patient’s mouths to replace missing teeth.
Revere can also be known as America’s first forensic dentist after he was able to identify the body of Dr Joseph Warren, who was killed during the Battle of Bunker Hill in June of 1775. After he was buried in an unmarked grave, Revere was able to identify the doctor based on the dental work he’d done for Dr Warren.
While he’s known mainly for his famous ride, Revere contributed a lot more to the cause of liberty during the American Revolution. He’s credited with starting 1 of the first intelligence networks on record, a Boston-based group known as the ‘mechanics’. The mechanics collected intelligence and resisted British authority long before Revere’s ride through the countryside.
Image courtesy of history.com.
2. Doc Holliday
Born John Henry Holliday in Georgia in 1851, Doc Holliday was a famous gunman, gambler, and icon of the American West. But before he became known for gunslinging, Holliday moved to Philadelphia to attend what is now known as the University of Pennslyvania School of Dentistry and graduated in 1872. He then set up practice in his hometown of Griffin, Georgia, but was soon diagnosed with tuberculosis. Holliday was told he had just months to live, but a drier, warmer climate might ease his symptoms.
He spent time in Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, and New Mexico, and along the way, Holliday soon befriended Wyatt Earp. After moving to the Arizona Territory, the 2 men headed to a silver boom in Tombstone. After becoming involved in politics and violence in the area, both Holliday and Earp were involved in the infamous shootout at the O.K. Corral.
After cultivating a reputation as a drinker, gambler, and frontiersman, Holliday eventually made his way to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where he would soon die from tuberculosis on November 8, 1887, at the age of 36.
Image courtesy of biography.com
3. Edgar Buchanan
Long before Green Acres was the place to be, Edgar Buchanan was a practicing dentist in Oregon and California. Buchanan was born in Missouri in 1903 and attended North Pacific College School of Dentistry, now known as Oregon Health & Science University School of Dentistry. He graduated with his DDS in 1928 and married 1 of his dental school classmates that same year. Buchanan and his wife set up a practice in Eugene, Oregon, which they then relocated to Altadena, California in 1939. He quickly joined the Pasadena Playhouse as an actor and made his first film appearance, after which he turned his dentistry practice over to his wife.
Buchanan would go on to star in over 100 films with other screen legends, including John Wayne, Doris Day, and Cary Grant. His television credits include Leave it to Beaver, Gunsmoke, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres.
Buchanan died from complications related to a stroke in April 1979 in Palm Desert, California.
4. Steve Arlin
Major League Baseball pitcher Steve Arlin most famously came close to a no-hitter with the San Diego Padres in 1972. But Arlin was also a celebrated college baseball player. He led his Ohio State Buckeyes to 2 consecutive College World Series appearances in 1965-66 as a pre-dental student—Arlin was named the CWS most valuable player during the 1966 series when Ohio State won the title. His number was the first to be retired by OSU’s baseball team and he was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.
After his college baseball career, Arlin signed with the Philadelphia Phillies’ farm team in 1966 and enrolled at Ohio State University’s School of Dentistry, where he received his DDS in 1971. He soon made his way to the Padres, where he came close to a no-hitter (his no-hitter was broken up in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs). Arlin was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 1974 and retired after that season.
He would go on to return to university to become an endodontist and run his own practice for the next 25 years before he retired in 2004. Arlin died in 2016 at the age of 70.