Steven DePaola could consider himself an early adopter of fluoride treatment.
Since before he was old enough to remember, his father would mix fluoride at home and paint it by hand on the teeth of his children.
“Rocks,” Steven said, pointing to his teeth. “I didn’t have a cavity until I was 50 years old.”
That’s what it looked like for Steven’s father, Dr. Paul DePaola, to take work home in the evening.
Dr. DePaola, a prominent figure in dental science and public oral health, passed away at 90 years old on June 19. His family remembers him as a devoted husband, father, and “granddad.” ADA Forsyth remembers him as a former leader of clinical trials, who dedicated his time at the erstwhile Forsyth Dental Center to supporting important research initiatives and fostering key strategic partnerships in the dental industry.
Dr. DePaola’s laboratory work with fluoride treatment had a profound influence on the development of preventive dental strategies. His commitment to public health contributed to the launch of the Kuwait School Oral Health Program (SOHP), which still serves 300,000 Kuwaiti children annually, over 40 years later.
Steven has fond memories of visiting his father at the original structure that housed the Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children in the Fenway, in Boston, bounding up the white marble steps to receive orthodontic treatment as a kid.
Into his adulthood, Steven would mention his father’s name in any dentist’s office. It often rang a bell.
“If it was a dentist who read the ADA journal and kept up with things, then they probably had read an article by him,” Steven said. “And if they didn’t know him, if I mentioned Forsyth, they always knew Forsyth.”
Dr. Mary Tavares, a public health dentist and Senior Clinical Investigator at ADA Forsyth, has been working with Forsyth since she was hired by Dr. DePaola in 1981. She traveled throughout Massachusetts surveying schoolchildren’s teeth as community water fluoridation started to take effect.
Dr. Tavares admired Dr. DePaola’s enterprising nature; he was a skilled grant writer and a talented clinician. She found his management style empowering to junior researchers.
Dr. DePaola’s trust in his team had an impact on his son, too. Today, Steven is a Vice President at technology research and advisory firm ARC Advisory Group, where he manages teams that work around the world.
“He was always creative in finding the way, and sometimes you just have to invent that along the way,” Steven said. “I probably got that drive from him. … I always saw him leading.”
Pictured: Dr. Paul DePaola, first from left, poses for a photo during the opening of the Forsyth Dental Center’s public health program in Kuwait.
