Theodor Blum (September 25, 1883 – July 24, 1962) has been described as “the most outstanding oral surgeon in America”... He was a pioneer in local anesthesia, in the use of x-rays in dental care, and in the management of many pathologic oral conditions. He was a founder of The New York Institute of Clinical Oral Pathology. Through his work and a few others, oral pathology gained recognition as a medical specialty. He was the first to make use in medical literature of the term “radium jaw” that arose from a case he treated that is described in the book The Radium Girls (2016).
Early life
Theodor Blum was born in Vienna, Austria on September 25, 1883, the last of eleven children of the antique dealer Max Blum (1839-1900) and his wife Elise (Kahn) Blum (1844-1904). Only seven of his siblings survived at the time of his birth. All but one of his four surviving brothers, like Theodor, migrated to the United States. His family was Jewish.
Theodor was a thin and sickly young child, such that he was called “little sulfur match” because he was thin and yellow. In spite of his illnesses in his five years of public school his grades were all “good” except in behavior. He started high school in 1894 in Vienna but transferred to a high school in Kromau, Bohemia. There he did well enough to pass his last year and pass the examination required for entrance to a university in July 1904.
By September 1904 both of his parents had died and his three remaining brothers were already in the United States. He arrived in New York City in December 1904. There he was brought close to the one who probably had the greatest influence on his life, his brother Richard, who was closest to him in age of his surviving brothers. Richard had been in New York a decade, had studied dentistry graduating in 1900 and opened an office the following year. Richard became one of New York's most successful dentists.
Theodor moved in with his brother and briefly attended the New York College of Dentistry, dropping out after two weeks not being able to stand all the dirt. For a full year he continued to live with his brother while working odd jobs and serving as assistant to is brother. He sterilized instruments, assisted at the dental chair, answered the telephone, but more importantly learned how to take dental roentgenograms, how to regulate the x-ray tubes and to develop the films. There he also met other professional men, most notably Dr. M.L. Rhein, a famous New York physician and dentist.
Education
In the spring of 1906 he returned to Europe and went to Vienna to study music and art history. That summer he finally decided to study medicine and dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia at the recommendation and suggestion of his brother Richard's friend, Dr. M.L. Rhein. After returning to the United States Theodor moved to Philadelphia and entered the medical and dental schools of the University of Pennsylvania in 1906. His brother Richard provided most of the funds including a weekly allowance.
In his third and final year of dentistry his grades were between 85 and 97, except for oral surgery which was 59. The low score can be attributed Theodor's impatience with the professor in that subject who was a pioneer in the field. Theodor graduated from the school of dentistry in 1909.
Dr. Blum continued in the school of medicine in September 1909, and that December married secretly in Newark, New Jersey, Bertha Roth, whom he had met that summer in New York, introduced by his brother Richard. He graduated from the medical school at the University of Pennsylvania in June 1911.
Following his graduation he promptly took the New York state board examinations in medicine, receiving his license to practice also in June 1911. Dr. Blum decided to begin post-graduate study at the University of Vienna in Austria. After concentrated study he passed all required tests and in March 1912 and was granted the degree of Doctor of Universal Medicine. He continued post-graduate work in Vienna as a student of Dr. J. Robinsohn, an advanced dental roentgenologist who was not connected with the university. In June he went to Berlin to study with the famous oral surgeon Dr. Fritz Williger. At the time he was Dr. Williger's only student, and Theodor worked in his clinic for three months.
Professional career
Theodor and his pregnant wife returned to New York City where their first child Oscar was born in December 1912. Later two daughters, Elizabeth and Ruth were born. Theodor began his professional career in his brother Richard's suite of offices. Initially his work was “chiefly as a dental hygienist, with only a rare patient in my specialty.”