Bernhard Gottlieb's impact on contemporary endodontology

Bernhard Gottlieb, physician and dentist, was born in 1885 in Kúty, Galacia (later Czechoslovakia). He received his doctor of medicine degree from the University of Vienna and a doctorate in medical dentistry from the University of Bonn. He belonged to a group of Viennese scientists who originated periodontics, orthodontics, pedodontics, endodontics, and oral surgery. In the 1930s he began to address in the European sector, root canal treatment in teeth with a vital pulp; following his immigration to the United States, he settled in Texas, in the position of professor and head of the Department of Pathology and Research at Baylor College of Dentistry. Gottlieb wrote many scientific articles and textbooks and is responsible for the beginnings of oral histology as a distinct scientific discipline within dentistry. His initial investigations focused on the periodontium and resorptive activity identified during orthodontic treatment. However, his continued research interests, which are rarely highlighted, focused on teeth and pulps that had undergone trauma and teeth that presented with necrotic pulps. Moreover, his most important legacy may lie in his establishment of the foundation for tissue engineering within dentistry, through his research on the impact of hard tissue elements such as bone, dentin and cementum on the formation of new tissues (regeneration). As stated by Dr. Gottlieb, "This seems to be the goal for which science should strive in endodontia".