"Dentists During the Nazi Regime: Dr. Suess, Prisoner Dentists & the SS—Lessons in Bioethics for Today" presented by Howard Israel, DDS, Professor of Clinical Surgery, Division of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine

The role of the medical profession in committing crimes against humanity during the Nazi regime has been studied extensively. Still, it is difficult to comprehend how a profession of healers morphed into executioners to promote the pseudoscience of “racial hygiene.” The history of the dental profession in Europe during the Third Reich has received little attention. Learning this history today should be a high priority in dental education to reinforce the importance of ethical decision-making in the care of each individual patient.

Dr. Howard A. Israel is an academic oral & maxillofacial surgeon known nationally and internationally recognized expert on the history of Nazi doctors. Dr. Israel is the author of Nazi Anatomy Lessons – A Dissection of Evil (2026).

1. Describe the role of dentists and physicians in academic institutions and concentration camps in committing crimes against humanity.
2. Recognize factors that led to healers in both the medical and dental professions to obtain gold from murdered victims and perform inhumane experimentation on prisoners.
3. Analyze how a political ideology that dictated public health policy could influence the healing professions.
4. Answer the question - is it possible for this to happen again?
5. Apply the knowledge of the history of dentists during the Third Reich to reinforce the importance of ethics and humanity in dentistry and society today.

DENTAL PROFESSIONALS CAN EARN 1 ADA CERP CREDIT
University of Rochester, Eastman Institute for Oral Health is an ADA CERP Recognized Provider.

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ADA CERP does not approve or endorse individual courses or instructors, nor does it imply acceptance of credit hours by boards of dentistry.

Concerns or complaints about a CE provider may be directed to the provider or to the Commission for Continuing Education Provider Recognition at ADA.org/CERP.

University of Rochester, Eastman Institute for Oral Health designates this activity for (1) continuing education credit.

Course number 550.

RSVP at https://bit.ly/NCHEDJan2026