UB to Honor Spiller As Distinguished Alumni Visitor

By Mary Beth Spina

Release Date: August 29, 1997 This content is archived.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Henry Spiller, D.D.S., an early advocate in Western New York for adding fluoride to public water supplies, will be honored by the University at Buffalo Alumni Association at a breakfast to be held at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 12, in the Buffalo Convention Center.

During the breakfast, which will be held during the Greater Niagara Frontier Dental Meeting, Spiller will be recognized as a Distinguished Alumni Visitor.

An orthodontist, Spiller lives and practices in Buffalo.

His role as an advocate of fluoridating water to reduce dental decay helped lead to Buffalo becoming among the first large cities east of the Mississippi River to do so.

He also was a pioneer locally in suggesting that some cases of ear pain might be linked to dysfunction of the temporomandibular (jaw) joint.

Spiller earned his dental degree from the UB School of Dental Medicine in 1935 and has been in private practice since 1939.

The North Buffalo resident is a consultant on fluoridation projects and from 1965-67 participated in a National Institute for Dental Research-funded study to determine the role of topical application of fluoride to reduce tooth decay in children enrolled in Cheektowaga public and parochial schools.

He is a former member of the Erie County Board of Health, the New York State Council on Dental Health and past president of the Erie County Dental Association.

For more information or reservations for the breakfast, which costs $12 per person, call the UB Office of Alumni Relations at 716-829-2608.