Herbert Schilder (8 September 1928 in Brooklyn, New York – 25 January 2006 in Newton, Massachusetts)''Herbert Schilder, 77, Surgeon Who Refined the Root Canal, Dies''
Obituary from the '' New York Times'', 5 February 2006. was a

dental surgeon A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofacial comp ...

. Schilder is best known for the improvements he made to root canal therapies ( endodontic therapy) in the 1960s when he taught at the Boston University School of Dental Medicine. Herbert Schilder received his D.D.S. from New York University, and taught at Tufts University and Temple University prior to permanently joining Boston University in 1958. In his early years after joining Boston University, he founded the specialty program in endodontics to train dentists to become endodontists. He also developed a new technique to fill root canals after disinfection, now known as "Schilder's warm gutta-percha vertical compaction technique." This technique is now widely used by most endodontic programs. He was president of the American Association of Endodontists and the Massachusetts Dental Society. He was also the first vice president of the

American Dental Association The American Dental Association (ADA) is an American professional association established in 1859 which has more than 161,000 members. Based in the American Dental Association Building in the Near North Side of Chicago, the ADA is the world's ...

. Dr. Schilder was a very influential scholar and educator in endodontics. His level of popularity in the field led to the use of his name in the movie ''

Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was writ ...

'', in which the "Schilder technique" was mentioned in the conversation between the fish.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schilder, Herbert 2006 deaths American dentists American dentistry academics Boston University faculty New York University College of Dentistry alumni Tufts University faculty Temple University faculty 1928 births 20th-century dentists