Joseph C. Muhler, DDS, PhD
was an inspired and inspiring teacher --
And as noted in his New York Times obituary in 1997,
“A latter-day Alchemist”.
He turned Stannous Fluoride into GOLD –
by being the key developer of the dentifrice
that eventually was marketed as Crest Tooth Paste.

Dr. Muhler's
 early training was as a biochemist and he started work on fluoride tooth protection during his World War II service in the Navy.
He continued his research while he completed his DDS degree studies at Indiana University School of Dentistry in 1948.

He was the key member of the selfless team of researchers who, after they had discovered how to make a stannous fluoride dentifrice, gave the discovery to the Indiana University Foundation. Procter and Gamble later licensed the technology from IU to introduce Crest Tooth Paste.

I remember his pursuing his preventive dentistry research in a small dental office on the Bloomington campus that was located in a war surplus Quonset hut—doing examinations, checking results of different formulations and handling out samples of fluoride toothpaste to "group A and group B."

And Joe was always keen to lure students from clinical dentistry into dental biochemistry. He claimed that his research behind Crest would prevent more cavities than all of the dentists ever graduated by Indiana University School of Dentistry (past, present and future) would ever fill. This statement was most certainly true, if galling to freshmen dental students.

He further enjoyed making the humorous assertion, at the expense of students struggling to develop the manual dexterity required for dentistry, that he could teach a Rhesus monkey how to place an amalgam filling in six weeks... Tops!

He further urged our attention to biochemistry by claiming that his son, Charlie, had already committed all the reactions of the Krebs Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle to memory, at the age of nine years.

Truly, Dr. Joseph C. Muhler was a dues paying member of "The Greatest Generation".

Dr. Joseph C. Muhler
1924-1997

Can you still almost close your eyes and recite the verse?
''Crest has been shown to be an effective decay-preventive dentifrice that can be of significant value when used in a conscientiously applied program of oral hygiene and regular professional care.''