The History of the British Dental Trade . . . or . . . the first 164 years

By the late Hutchison Cottrell
Edited and updated by John M Davis

Introduction

In 1968 Ron Snoxell sent the text of a talk Hutchison Cottrell had given to those taking the new British Dental Trade Association (BDTA) staff training course, to John Davis. Ron had been the manager of the Sussex Dental Company of Brighton, and when it was bought by Amalgamated Dental, he became a director of Claudius Ash in Broadwick Street. He was also active on the council of the BDTA and had been President several times.

Hutchison Cottrell was the second generation Cottrell in the dental supply business. Robin, his son, was the 3rd generation. He was an extremely involved member of the BDTA, of which he had been president twice and had done a great deal of home-work to produce his dental trade history. John Davis was also a second-generation dental trader and started his J&S Davis Company in 1950. He too had served on the BDTA Council for some years and was President three times. In 1968 life was too busy to do anything with the Cottrell talk, but by 2004 there was time and opportunity.

In the Beginning

One of the most successful and important was Ash Rubber which became the standard denture base until 1939. In 1855, Frank Goodyear developed a process that converted rubber to a hard inert material known as Vulcanite, which he patented. Every dentist had to obtain an expensive licence to use the material. This caused violent protests by the dentists, one of whom shot and killed the Goodyear Treasurer. Eventually it was established that the Goodyear Patent was not valid, and Dental Vulcanite came into general use world-wide, with Ash Rubber as the lead brand. The arrival of Vulcanite necessitated a new artificial tooth and Claudius Ash started producing porcelain diatoric teeth.

The Claudius Ash success was such that, 35 years after they started producing dental products, in 1875 a Manchester dentist persuaded some of his dentist friends to join him in producing dental products. They formed a co-operative in 1875 that they called The Dental Manufacturing Company and set up a large factory in Barnet. The Barnet football team was originally the DMCo team.

By 1900, both Ash and DMCo were substantial companies and were selling all over the world. The DMCo range included the most beautiful wooden cabinets that had been seen. They were made by real craftsmen of the finest seasoned wood, and a few of them are still in use, with their drawers working as smoothly as when they were new. They also produced the first pump chair to be made in UK. The Twentieth Century Chair - triple cylinder - was in use for very many years and the base was eagerly sought after by companies involved in modem conversion kits.

Whilst Claudius Ash set up their distribution chain to sell their products, the DMCo found individuals, who were often dentists, to sell their products round the country. Carruthers of Glasgow, Wrights of Dundee, Panton of Glasgow (who later moved to Dublin), Rutterford of Bristol (who later moved to Leeds), and Cottrell and Co, who started making amalgam in Liverpool before moving to London.

The Dental Trade family starts to grow

By the beginning of the 20th century there were many dozens of people employed in the dental trade, with Ash and DMCo by far the largest. Some they trained, left and started their own businesses. Others came into dental supplies by accident. For example, a chemist in Halifax, W.R Black, produced local anaesthetics with a cocaine base, and gradually added a full range of dental products. Later he moved to Birmingham. The sale of a number of these dental depots appears later in the story. In 1910, a London cigarette manufacturer, J R Rosen, loaned a sailor some money who left a leather case "filled with something", as a deposit. He never returned to repay or claim his case, which was then opened, and a number of dental instrument were found. These were sold readily, and so Rosen entered the dental supply business. His two sons carried it on and changed the company name to Nesor. They were very active and successful in the modernising of dental equipment in the 1960's.

In 1912, Henry Courtin (a Frenchman), was in London as a chocolate manufacturer, and was persuaded to purchase a dental company - the Pennsylvania Dental Manufacturing Company - that was engaged in the import and sale of American porcelain teeth. Later he changed the name of his company to Courtin & Sons. The Kerr agency was one of those he held. In 1918 his business was purchased by Caesar de Trey, and Henry Courtin went with his business into the De Trey empire.

Caesar de Trey was to become the most important person in the history of the dental trade. Early in 1900, this Swiss arrived in London with a revolutionary porcelain tooth. Until that time, all porcelain teeth were fitted with Platinum Pins, which made them a very expensive commodity. His teeth had gold clad pins, and the Solila Tooth soon became a household word in every dental practice and depot in the land. At that time, artificial teeth were the most important product sold by dental depots, which had separate tooth departments to stock and handle sales.

Caesar de Trey only ever sold through dental depots. He never dealt direct with dentists. His porcelain tooth success caused him to persuade his Swiss chemist brothers to produce a dental cement. Thus from Zurich came Syntrex cement that was soon sold throughout the world. Caesar, with his Solila teeth and Syntrex cement, opened branches in every advanced country, and became a figure of great dental importance. It is interesting that the product progression of this important company represented the progression of dentistry. First, the extraction of teeth and the making of dentures, and then the restoration of natural teeth with a filling material.

His expansion continued when he obtained the sole selling rights for Ritter dental equipment, that was then only made in the USA. His range was so powerful that dental dealers were almost fighting for the right to sell his products. The USA was the leading country for the production and sale of dental items. They were soon followed by Germany, Switzerland and Britain (with Claudius Ash and Dental Mfg. Co.).

Then came the 1914/18 war, and the sale of dental products became unimportant. Many of those engaged in the dental trade went into the armies of their countries and many never returned. After the war dentistry and its supporting trade came to life again and grew.

The Dental Representative (Salesman)

Before and after the war, dental representatives worked very differently to later in the century. They did not have cars, and usually travelled by train with several wicker baskets crammed full with teeth, rubber, waxes, compo. etc. On arrival at a town he would engage a man with a barrow and would call on his clients, delivering from his barrow whenever he could. Rain or fine, this was his method of working. No barrow could take more than 2 baskets. Therefore, if he had 4 baskets it meant 2 barrows and 2 men to push them. The garb of the representatives was usually frock coat and top hat, and the journey often lasted three or four months. There were no women representatives until much later.

When a representative was well established on his territory, he would often take a hotel room and make appointments for his clients to visit him and examine his new products. A sherry or a cup of tea would be offered and the order posted back to the depot for despatch to the dentist. In 1920, the representatives started using cars to travel round visiting, and the routine changed. However, it was still not a very rapid journey, and the commercial hotels were used by most commercial travellers, including the dental. They were usually extremely comfortable, with a large fire in the writing room and a large table in the dining room, at which the salesmen sat together.

The most senior would sit at the head of the table and carve the joint of meat for the rest. It was not a dinner, but rather a high tea served at about 6 p.m. There was no radio, T.V. or cinema, so the evenings were social and friendly. Often, friendships were made, and representatives would meet the same colleagues at different commercial hotels. It was a more leisurely way of life than today's high-speed work routine.

Post War

The returning warriors looked for work, which was not easy at that time. Unemployment was very high. There were also a number of new companies establishing themselves. The largest was the S.S. White company from USA where they had been operating since 1844. They set up in Great Portland Street, London, as a wholesale business. Shortly, this area of London's West-End had some 15 dental depots and wholesalers serving the Harley Street and Wimpole Street dentists (and those further afield too). Every major centre in the UK had 2 or 3 dental depots. Today central London has none, and there are hardly any in the other major UK centres. In this computerised era, a few dental warehouses have taken over from many dental depots.

Amongst the other newcomers to the trade was Joe Malins, who opened the City Dental Depot in London and shortly moved to Cardiff, where they prospered until the 1960's, when Joe Malins retired and the business was sold to Nesor Products who closed it after a few years.

In 1918, Joe and Solly Davis returned from the war, but instead of re-starting their pre-war J&S Davis, they founded the International Tooth Company (a Wholesale Company that was part of the De Trey empire). By 1922 they left and joined with Mark Schottlander to found Davis Schottlander and Davis, with a number of important American products in their wholesale range, including the Nuform Porcelain teeth from Universal Dental. They were great supporters of the small independent dental dealer, and at many Trader meetings they protested at the way the large companies were imposing on the small independents.

In 1922 Lee Smith from Pittsburgh, USA came to the UK to arrange for a European Distributor for his famous dental cements. Both De Trey and DS&D were interested to have the line, and the DS&D team drove down to Southampton in the Joe Davis Rolls Royce, where they collected Lee Smith from his Atlantic liner. They then spent a few days with him at Joe's Bourne End country home until Lee Smith was ready to return to the States. At that time he phoned Caesar de Trey to tell him that he had given his sole distribution rights to DS&D.

The 1921 Dentist Act

The most important British dental happening was the Dental Act of 1921. This made it necessary to take a dental degree in a dental hospital/school, in order to practice dentistry. They became "dental surgeons". Those who had been practising dentistry without a qualification, had to pass an examination and become "Dentists". They were known as 1921 men. They had their own society - The Incorporated Dental Society - which was eventually absorbed into The British Dental Association. Today, the 1921 men are history. Some of them were very capable with their mouth care. The 1921 Act also prohibited advertising, which many of the unqualified used to indulge in - mainly in local papers and with large posters outside their practices. It is interesting that dental advertising has restarted all these years later.

De Trey and Claudius Ash come together

In 1924, Caesar de Trey purchased the Claudius Ash group, which later became The Amalgamated Dental Co., and the most powerful dental company in Europe, with 13 UK Dental Depots. The trade expected that the new company would leave the BDTA, however they remained loyal and involved members.

Another important change in that year was when the SS White Co became a retail dental depot as well as a dental wholesaler and opened branches in Manchester and Liverpool. It worried the other depots, but the growing market enabled them to live with it.

The British Dental Trade Association is born

At this time dealers were buying and selling at any price they could get, and it was not long before the dental trade as such was bankrupt. Caesar de Trey was owed over £1000 by his dealers, which at that time was a great deal of money. Ash and Dental Mfg Co (DMCo) were also in trouble, as was the entire trade.

Caesar de Trey realised that the money he was owed would never be repaid, and he forced many companies into choosing between bankruptcy or absorption by him. Porro, Western Dental and others became retail outlets for de Trey, under his ownership. Thus his power within the trade grew substantially. As the largest and most powerful dental trade group in the UK, he decided that the only sensible step was to stop price-cutting. In 1923 he called a meeting of the leaders of some of the major dental companies.

Present were Joseph Ash; son of the jeweller Claudius Ash, C. W Shortt; S.S. White Co. (SSW), H Edwards of DMCo, Jimmy Caldwell of Glasgow Dental, John Thorn of Western Dental, E A Drury of Drury & Co,and Jack Cottrell (father of Hutchison) There, the British Dental Trade Association came into being and has remained a significant factor in the UK dental trade ever since.

The rules were basic and simple. Manufacturers and Wholesalers could only sell at their wholesale prices to dental dealer members. Dealers had to resell at the retail prices fixed by the Manufacturer or Wholesaler. Failure of either party to comply with these rules, made them liable to instant dismissal from the Association which was a virtual removal from the dental trade.

The profession loathed this rule, but the trade stuck by it. Soon the BDTA was swamped by applications for membership, and the trade was making a profit, that was in most cases ploughed back into their business. Nevertheless, there were still many companies that operated dental businesses outside the Association.

The BDTA developed into a form that has lasted until today, with a formal structure and a very competent General Secretary. The first was George Martin, who was a qualified Company Secretary. When he finally retired, his position was taken over by his number 2, Mary Bolton, who lasted many years, and was followed by Henry Bowyer. Then came Peter Smith, whose successor is Tony Reed. Five leaders over 80 years indicates considerable stability. During the early years the BDTA offices were in Clifford Street (off Bond Street). After a wartime spell in Mary Bolton's home, they moved back to Clifford Street, and finally followed the fashion of moving out of London to Amersham.

The social side of the trade achieved considerable importance and value. The annual conference takes place in a pleasant out of London resort with wives often with their husbands. Golf, tennis and dancing have been the social and sporting side of the event. The golf and tennis continued throughout the year, with staff involved. In the 1960’s, cricket, darts and even football were added to the sporting curriculum. The famous North v South football match (won by North) nearly ended in injuries. In the years to 1939, the trade grew steadily alongside the growth of dentistry.

The onset of war in 1939 caused the virtual clearance of men between the ages of 19 and 40 from the dental trade. An example was Davis Schottlander and Davis, who had encouraged their men to join the Territorial Army, and 12 young men just disappeared, leaving two elderly first world war veterans (one with only one arm) to run the business. Foreign dental supplies also disappeared, since there was an embargo on all dental imports. The BDTA organised a very fair dental rationing system, so that all dental depots received their quota of British made products. One of the most serious shortages was with dental rubber, because imports from Malaya ceased. Fortunately, just before the outbreak of war, the ICI had introduced the first plastic denture base -Kallodent.

There had been several previous unsuccessful attempts to replace dental rubber with new materials.

Thus at first, the profession thought this was just another such attempt. The first Kallodent was in blank form, and then in powder/liquid form in 1941. Since there was no alternative the profession accepted it gladly. However, a strange situation arose when the dental dealers told ICI they would not purchase Kallodent until ICI joined the BDTA. So ICI started selling to "bag men" outside the trade association but soon realised that this was no way to distribute its important dental product. Largely owing to the quiet spadework of Mr. Cottrell senior, ICI joined the BDTA, and peace descended.

The war years caused serious shortages of dental supplies, and returning servicemen from USA, Canada and South Africa used to bring rare and valuable dental supplies with them. The shortages included porcelain teeth, but in 1941 the first British made plastic tooth - Acrylucent - appeared on the British market at £2.50 per 100. They were an immediate success, although by modem standards were not a great tooth. Then other brands followed.

Hutchison Cottrell had been released from the army during the war because of the death of his father. He then met a dental mechanic - John Schofield - in 1943, who had developed a new method of making plastic teeth of great beauty. He also claimed to know a man in Blackpool - Frank Hawtin - who could make them. Frank Hawtin was making aeroplane parts at that time, but started the production of plastic teeth in order to have a new business for after the war when aeroplane parts would no longer be needed. Acrylucent teeth were thus made by Frank Hawtin under the guidance of John Schofield. Unfortunately, Schofield and Hawtin quarrelled and separated. Hawtin continued making Acrylucent for Cottrell, whilst Schofield started Oral Plastics with the production of TNR teeth.

In 1946, with the war over, one of the largest plastic tooth manufacturers in the USA - Henry Justi of Philadelphia - visited the UK and told Cottrell of his new automatic plastic tooth manufacturing equipment. As a result, Cottrell and Hawtin raced over to the USA and did a deal for Justi to come to the UK and form the Anglo-American Tooth Corporation in Blackpool with Hawtin as fellow director. There they produced both Classic and Acrylucent teeth.

By then Frank Hawtin began to realise that the dental business could have interesting possibilities. So he met the managing director of Dental Mfg. Co. (DMCo) and sold the Anglo-American Tooth Corporation to DMCo. Soon Frank Hawtin was chairman of DMCo, and gradually assumed a major dental role.

The Post War dental trade

Several of the London dental companies had been severely bomb damaged or destroyed, including Western Dental and International Tooth Co. However, with imports again permitted on a quota basis, and the need for import licences, dentistry and its trade gradually returned to some sort of normality. The dentists from the armed forces came back to their practices or sought new ones.

Although it was compulsory for employers to offer jobs back to returning servicemen (and women), several decided to start on their own. JP McPherson, formerly with DS&D, purchased the old established FH Wright of Dundee, and gradually turned it into a major dental company, with its own manufacturing, and with a chain of dental depots in Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and Hull, where he purchased existing privately owned depots.

Joe Silverton opened a dental depot in Worthing. Herbert Dixey left Claudius Ash and became managing director of Porro, who later purchased Dental Fillings, the manufacturer of a range of dental fillings. Ken Randall from Dental Fillings, succeeded Herbert Dixey on his death and became a leading member of the BDTA. John Davis (a second generation member of DS&D), split from the company in 1950 and restarted the old J&S Davis business with his wife. Leslie Schottlander (second generation also), continued with DS&D. He left the BDTA after a while and turned his business into a mail order supplier. Finally he returned to the BDTA.

The Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission

The National Health Service arrives

For dentistry, this meant free dentistry, including dentures. As a result, patients with dentures, who had not been to the dentist for years, turned up at dental practices throughout the country. One or two dentures per patient was the norm. There were not enough dentists, technicians or supplies to satisfy the market. Dealers were ordering teeth from their supplier by the million. Teeth just ran out of stock everywhere. Trade turnover doubled; new premises, new factories and new staff were the rule. By 1950, the government realised that dentistry was costing the country too much. A £4 charge for dentures and £1 for dental treatment was introduced.

All of a sudden, dentistry seemed to come to a standstill and suppliers had no orders. Dentists, laboratories, dealers and manufacturers were all overstocked. Supplies were sold off at reduced prices in many overseas countries. A year later, a dealer reported that he had actually sold a flask. The doldrums were actually almost over.

The Air Turbine comes to dentistry

This revolutionised dentistry and the dental trade in 1958. The whirr of the turbine handpiece and the speed of cutting were both something new. Compressors were also something that found their way into the dental practice. The Borden from Amalgamated Dental was the first, but others followed and at the London Dental Exhibition of that year, J&S Davis introduced the Italian Sandri and sold over 1000 at the show because of its greater power and ability to accept latch type burs.

The turbine enabled more rapid dentistry and also led to simplification and modernisation of the surgery. It was a growth period for the trade. Nesor and F & H Baxter of Bradford led the way with surgery modernisation, with the dentist and dental surgery assistant seated.

The Acquisition era of the 1960's

Several of the larger companies started buying up smaller dealers in other centres. FH Wright of Dundee purchased Marco of Glasgow, P Meyer of Manchester, WR Black of Birmingham, Drury of London, and Silverton of Worthing. Baxters also extended, as did SS White.

Disposables; Computers and other new concepts

These two headings had nothing to do with one another, except that they came during the same period and led to big developments in dentistry and the trade. Needles, Saliva Ejectors, Impression Trays, etc. are standard disposables today yet they were revolutionary and laughed at when introduced. J&S Davis took the lead with Disposables.

Computers also arrived rather more slowly, since computers were only gradually becoming more sophisticated. The early ones occupied enormous rooms and were way beyond smaller dental companies and dental practices. Later they arrived steadily for all parts of the dental scene.

More recently, there have been other vital developments such as Lasers, intraoral cameras, digital imaging, and a new generation of filling materials such as Adaptic (J&J), and Concise (3M).

Following the writing of Kilpatrick, 4 and 6 handed dentistry came into being with the aid of a new generation of dental equipment.

Major Dental Take-Overs and Newcomers

In the 1980's there were many important changes in the dental trade scene. New companies appeared and grew substantially. The changes actually started in 1966, when the DMCo offered to take over the ADCo. This created wild excitement in the trade. Almost immediately, the Dentists Supply Co of USA, (close friends of ADCo), made a counter offer because they did not wish to see their friends bought by DMCo.

All went into abeyance. At this point the Board of Trade instructed the Monopolies Commission to instigate an enquiry, since all this could cause a monopoly against the public interest. After many months the Commission announced that it did not mind who took over. By then, DMCo said that they had lost interest, and Dentists Supply Co also dropped out of the scene because their friends were no longer threatened.

However, this had wound up a chain of important events over the next few years. ADCo bought DMCo and Dentists Supply Co bought ADCo. A complete change to the trade structure. This caused the gradual closing of DMCo branches round the country, and also the DMCo Barnet factory and their Great Portland Street, London HQ. Their Blackpool factory stayed in being, because of their advanced air turbine technology.

A new British dental dealer started by the father of Martin Mills, appeared on the scene and grew into one of the largest suppliers. Initially called Billericay Dental, it later became The Dental Directory. Using the latest computer technology, it published its own catalogue/price list and stressed its low prices. This eventually caused most of the other dealers to enter into the price competition.

The other large player to appear on the scene was Henry Schein from USA, with depots in both southern and northern England, also in both Dublin and Belfast. They also operated primarily as a mail order company, with houses in several western European countries.

These new large companies and the enormous advance in computer technology caused several small depots to close. Also the large ones often either sold out or closed down. Baxters of Bradford was one that sold out to a company that could not manage the dental trade, so it closed. The SS White Company also ceased operating although a company bought the name and continues a small manufacturing business.

With all this happening, J&S Davis felt that the Dentists Supply Co (now known as Dentsply), was no longer wishing to own its Claudius Ash Dealers. It therefore opened confidential discussions and purchased the Claudius Ash chain in 1980. It succeeded in bringing Claudius Ash back into profit, but was borrowing too much for a small company, and with banks charging 20% interest at that time, they sold out to the Ash Supplier - Planmeca of Finland, who now own the J&S Davis group.

All this while, the habit of the dentist or technician dropping in to his local depot to make purchases was gradually disappearing. It became a computer operation with telephone or direct computer ordering. The good salesman has continued to call less frequently than previously, and has often become more like a Practice Consultant Dealer. Stocks are much larger and most houses manage to ensure that orders are delivered the day after they are placed.

The tooth business, that was the largest part of the trade, is now a small part, and the equipment side demands greater efficiency and trade specialisation. As the political scene changes, and government regulations governing dentistry change too, the equipment business either booms or slumps. New techniques and materials require constant trade alertness, and a high level of training for depot staff who deal with the profession.

A number of new companies have appeared on the dental scene and joined the BDTA, ranging from manufacturers of toothpaste to those who make autoclaves, filling materials, equipment etc. Many overseas companies now have UK operations. Kerr, 3M, Heraeus Kulzer, Ivoclar Vivadent, Kavo, Septodont, Adec, Siemens, W&H, DentalEz, and Castellini are but a few. Japan has become an important dental producer, and Belmont is one example. There are very few British owned dental manufacturers left. Stoddard making brushes and Medivance producing specialised dental equipment, are two. This article is not intended to be a catalogue of all the dental names, so apologies to those fine companies who are not listed.

From a pre-1914 age when USA, Germany and Britain were the leading producers of dental products, we have now reached the age when Japan has replaced Britain on the list. Many of the world's dental producers have opened their own distribution house in major overseas markets.

The BDTA

The BDTA still exists, and is an important representative of the dental manufacturers and suppliers. There are no longer many dental depots. Instead there are a few dental warehouses. The BDTA provides a forum for planning and discussion. It is not interested in prices. It is still strongly involved in staff training, with various diplomas for those who pass the courses. Over the years it has been instrumental in bringing about the formation of several important dental charities. Back in I970, following a trade conference, Peter de Trey (from the famous family) and John Davis got together and the formation of the British Dental Health Foundation was the result. This organisation has grown steadily and done an enormous job in promoting dental health throughout all segments of the British population.

The great American dentist – L D Pankey, whose teaching led to the formation of the L D Pankey Institute, was brought over here for a couple of meetings, which eventually led to the formation of the British Pankey Association. Post Graduate study and quality dentistry are its sole aims and activities.

The third trade initiative was the one that led to the creation of the Cordent Trust in 1964. This small dental charity has supported and encouraged over 200 projects, from the very small and personal to a few that have been quite substantial. Perhaps their largest was a major trade collection of dental equipment and materials for the Phelophepa Health Train in South Africa. Dental products worth £85,000 were collected and shipped out to the train to enable it to undertake more dental care as it travelled around visiting villages without any resident dentist.

Regular and substantial dental exhibitions are the continuing sign that the BDTA is the vigorous organisation representing the British dental trade. It is governed by an elected Council, and one of their number is elected President for a 2 year stint. Peter Gowers (a second generation dental man) was the President at the time of writing this [2005]; Peter Rees succeeded him in December 2005. It is a job that takes a substantial amount of time. A Code of Practice for Members keeps standards high.

The Dental Profession has honoured the trade by making J D Carroll of 3M and John Davis Honorary Members of the International College of Dentists. The trade is kept together by the DENTALtrader, of which several issues are published each year, under the present editor John Stroud – a long-time experienced dental trade man. A previous long-term editor was Cyril Rosen, who brought many skills and ideas into the journal.

The Future