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Robert Dunn
Orthodontic
Profiles
ROBERT
DUNN
T
HE first man on the Pacific Coast to limit his practice to orthodontics was Dr. Robert Dunn. It might also be stated by those who knew him well that he was a highly skillful practitioner and, as a pioneer, set high standards for those who were to follow.
ROBERT DUNN
He was born in Monmouth, Illinois, on March 22, 1872, and took his dental training in the Colorado College of Dental Surgery in Denver, graduating in 1898. He attended the spring session of the Angle School in 1902 and opened his office in San Francisco in the fall of the same year. Like many worth-while 59
60
OR’L’IIOl)O~TIC
PROFILES
and successful men, he found it necessary to work his way through college. Soon after his graduation he married Eleanor Benedict and of this union six children were born, three boys and three girls, all of whom are still living. Soon after Dr. Dunn became established in San Francisco the disastrous fire and earthquake of April, 1906, occurred so that, along with many others, he found life pretty rugged for a, number of years. During this period hc moved his family across the hay to Oakland and remained there until the time of his death in September of 1937. Because of the fire and earthquake, he continued having an ofice in both San Francisco and Oakland so that all of his patients could receive his care without interruption. He was one of the organizers of the Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists which had its origin in the spring of 1913. He served as its first president and was always a very active member as long as hc lived. In his practice hc believed that. no cast was completed until all of the teeth were brought into normal occlusion. He felt that this must include establishing a normal overbite and balance of all of the teeth and, in order to do this, he used t,o state that one of the keystones of success was gaining adequate vertical development in the lateral segments of the opposing teeth, especially where the bicuspids were involved. Because he advocated this principle so unremittingly, some of his close friends used to tease him in a good-natured way and nicknamed him “ Old Vertical Development. ’’ However, he could hold his own in any argument and prove his contentions by the results he obtained. He had tn-o hobbies, the principal of which was gardening. In this hc was \-WY successful ; hc maintained his WYII greenhouse in which he grew all of his plants from seed and thoroughly enjoyed it. The lesser hobby was golf, which he shared with his son, .J. Elliott Dunn, now in orthodontic practice in Oakland. All orthodontists Ilpon the Pacifir Coast should hc grateful to Dr. Robert Dunn who, in his pioneering, xct high standards for future orthodontists to s0110\v. ?JarnPs n. .~~c(!o?J.
Plan Now to Attend 1958 Meeting American Association of Orthodontists CommodoreHotel, New York City April 27-May 1, 1958
Profiles
ROBERT
DUNN
T
HE first man on the Pacific Coast to limit his practice to orthodontics was Dr. Robert Dunn. It might also be stated by those who knew him well that he was a highly skillful practitioner and, as a pioneer, set high standards for those who were to follow.
ROBERT DUNN
He was born in Monmouth, Illinois, on March 22, 1872, and took his dental training in the Colorado College of Dental Surgery in Denver, graduating in 1898. He attended the spring session of the Angle School in 1902 and opened his office in San Francisco in the fall of the same year. Like many worth-while 59
60
OR’L’IIOl)O~TIC
PROFILES
and successful men, he found it necessary to work his way through college. Soon after his graduation he married Eleanor Benedict and of this union six children were born, three boys and three girls, all of whom are still living. Soon after Dr. Dunn became established in San Francisco the disastrous fire and earthquake of April, 1906, occurred so that, along with many others, he found life pretty rugged for a, number of years. During this period hc moved his family across the hay to Oakland and remained there until the time of his death in September of 1937. Because of the fire and earthquake, he continued having an ofice in both San Francisco and Oakland so that all of his patients could receive his care without interruption. He was one of the organizers of the Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists which had its origin in the spring of 1913. He served as its first president and was always a very active member as long as hc lived. In his practice hc believed that. no cast was completed until all of the teeth were brought into normal occlusion. He felt that this must include establishing a normal overbite and balance of all of the teeth and, in order to do this, he used t,o state that one of the keystones of success was gaining adequate vertical development in the lateral segments of the opposing teeth, especially where the bicuspids were involved. Because he advocated this principle so unremittingly, some of his close friends used to tease him in a good-natured way and nicknamed him “ Old Vertical Development. ’’ However, he could hold his own in any argument and prove his contentions by the results he obtained. He had tn-o hobbies, the principal of which was gardening. In this hc was \-WY successful ; hc maintained his WYII greenhouse in which he grew all of his plants from seed and thoroughly enjoyed it. The lesser hobby was golf, which he shared with his son, .J. Elliott Dunn, now in orthodontic practice in Oakland. All orthodontists Ilpon the Pacifir Coast should hc grateful to Dr. Robert Dunn who, in his pioneering, xct high standards for future orthodontists to s0110\v. ?JarnPs n. .~~c(!o?J.
Plan Now to Attend 1958 Meeting American Association of Orthodontists CommodoreHotel, New York City April 27-May 1, 1958