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Dr Robert B. Shira has had a long and distinguished career in dentistry, education, military service, and organized dentistry. His resume reads like there were five men actually working around the clock for his some 80 years. But his true greatness lies in knowing the gentle man behind the gentleman. So always willing to spend a few minutes mentoring his younger colleagues. His stature as a giant is derived from his ability to bend low to raise us up. For this reason (and a book of achievements and honors), Dr Robert Shira, General Shira, Dean Shira, Professor Shira, ADA (et al) President Shira has been unanimously selected by the Pierre Fauchard Academy to be installed as the first living member of the PFA Hall of Fame.
Editor Brophy, Foundation President Robert Shira, and Foundation Treasurer George Higue at ADA Hawaii Meeting
Robert B. Shira was born in Butler, Pennsylvania, in December of 1910, but he moved to Dewey, Oklahoma, in 1912. While growing up, he worked in a drug store to pay for his education. His first distinguished honor came in 1927 when he was selected Outstanding Student of his graduating class before beginning one year at Bartlesville (Oklahoma) Junior College. He then was accepted to Kansas City’s Western Dental College (now the University of Missouri School of Dentistry), where he graduated with his DDS degree in 1932.
Dr Shira then commenced private practice in Dewey, Oklahoma, in 1932. With the sudden death of his older brother Frank, the young Dr Shira took over his brother’s practice in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, in 1933. But in 1938, he was selected as one of 12 (of 350 applicants) for an Army commission in the Dental Corps. He started as a First Lieutenant at Barksdale Field, Louisiana, that year. By 1940, he was a Captain and served as a General Dental Officer. Late that same year, he was sent to join the staff of the Governor of the Panama Canal who was a Major General in the Army Corps of Engineers. He was the General Dental Officer at the 1000-bed Gorgas Hospital operated by the Canal Zone government. When war came and much of his staff was sent elsewhere, Dr Shira had to assume their duties as well, including oral surgery, since he was the only dental surgeon in the Canal Zone. At that time, the Caribbean was the No. 1 defense area against a Japanese attack after Pearl Harbor. Military defenses were constructed, which resulted in many industrial accidents that required oral surgery. Dr Shira was the man. And the Germans were busy sinking Caribbean shipping, leaving many injured sailors to be hospitalized in the Canal Zone. All the oral surgery was Dr Shira’s.
“There I was, without any formal training in oral surgery, being required to deal with these patients. So, through the experience I gained from the 10 months spent with the Army oral surgeon at Gorgas, plus the books, and much prayer, plus the assistance of a wonderful dental assistant who had worked with several oral surgeons prior to my arrival, I got the job done. I became an oral surgeon by accident.”
In 1947, now a Colonel, he was assigned to Letterman General Hospital on the Presidio in San Francisco as the Chief of Oral Surgery. There he established the Army Residency Training Program in Oral Surgery. The specialty of Oral Surgery was being organized at this time. Dr Shira was among the first to attain Diplomate status in 1949 and was then named to the Advisory Board of Examiners in 1950. The Surgeon General had Dr Shira organize a 5-day annual training program for all Regular and Reserve Dental Corps officers; this was later expanded to allow civilian dentists to attend.
In 1954, Dr Shira was sent to Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, DC, as Chief of Oral Surgery and Director of all oral surgery training programs.
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While there in 1958, Dr Shira had the experience of a lifetime. In his own words, “I was called on to remove a maxillary left second molar for the President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower. This was an experience I will never forget—and one that gave me a great deal of professional satisfaction—that I was able to care for this great man and provide the professional care that was needed.” But it was not as easy as all that. Besides the security and commotion surrounding the President, Eisenhower had a history of heart disease.
In 1960, Dr Shira became Chief of the Dental Service, operating 3 separate clinics and training all dental interns.
In 1964, Dr Shira was sent to Germany to serve as Dental Surgeon for the Army headquartered in Heidelberg. He was responsible for all the Dental Corps activities in Europe and Africa. That was 125 dental clinics, 2 general hospitals, and 10 station hospitals with 450 dental officers plus their personnel.
In November of 1966, now a Brigadier General, Dr Shira was reassigned to Walter Reed Army Medical Center as Director of Dental Activities. In September of the following year, Dr Shira was promoted to Major General and assigned as Deputy Surgeon General and Chief of the Army Dental Corps, responsible for all the Army dental facilities around the world, including Vietnam, which encompassed some 3000 dental officers on duty.
“As a Major General and Chief of the Army Dental Corps, I was in Vietnam inspecting the various dental activities in that war zone (1972). One afternoon, I was traveling with a group in a helicopter and we visited a one-chair dental clinic located in the Delta of southern Vietnam. It was staffed by a recent graduate of one of our dental schools. This dentist asked me to see a little 7-year-old Vietnamese girl who had been struck by a motor scooter the day before and had suffered extensive fractures of the mandible. I examined the girl, and the need for immediate, definitive care was obvious. I was scheduled to deliver a professional lecture that evening to the dental personnel in the Saigon area.
Past PFA Presidents with Foundation President Shira presenting first Foundation grant check
I told the group that was accompanying me that if they desired, they could get in the helicopter and return to Saigon, but I was staying to care for this little girl. I then proceeded to reduce and immobilize the fractures and give the dentist careful instructions on how to carry out the postoperative care. Now, as a health professional, it really meant more to me to be able to care for this little girl than it did to care for the President of the United States. Any capable dentist could have taken care of the President in Washington, DC. But on the Delta in Vietnam, I was the only one available who had the knowledge and skill to treat that little girl. Of course, I received great personal and professional satisfaction from both experiences. However, to me the caring for the girl in Vietnam was the true essence of being a health professional, for I was the only one available who could deliver the care she needed.”
In 1971, Major General Shira received the Distinguished Service Medal, which was added to his Legion of Merit with 2 Oak Leaf clusters, the Army Commendation Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the American Defense Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. That year, he retired from the Army—but not from serving dentistry.
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