Spring 2000 PCSO Oral History Project

This interview with Dr. Guy A. Woods is part of the PCSO Oral History Project’s continued effort to preserve the history of the PCSO by interviewing senior members of our orthodontic community.

Q: I understand that you were a graduate of Illinois, 1948.

A: Yes, for orthodontics — my dental education was at Northwestern. My orthodontic classmates were Ricketts, Pruzansky, Schaefer, King, Walter, Kincaid, Rogge, and McGonagle.

Q: That was quite an illustrious class. I have to ask: What kind of a student was Bob Ricketts?

A: Oh, he was a good student. The only problem he had was he wanted to teach the course then, just like he does now. Dr. Brodie slowed him down, but he worked hard.

Q: Who at Illinois were the most influential as far as your teachers were concerned?

A: Oh, Dr. Brodie, of course; I think Earl Renfroe would be next, then Al Moore and Bill Downs, but he was only there one day a week, so we didn’t really work with him as much.

Q: Did you have Milton Engel?

A: Yes, but he didn’t do any teaching at that time, just research. He lived close to where I did and he didn’t have a car available, so often I would drive him from the South Side — probably a 45-minute trip — so I had a chance to visit with him quite a bit.

Q: After you left Chicago, how did you get lined up with Dr. Denny Rees in Portland?

A: I grew up in Portland, and decided to return there after graduation and my armed services duty. Well, when I came back to open a practice, Denny had just started practicing with Bill Dinham as a preceptee. He had been to the Tweed Course and the two of us were the only edgewise people in town. We both worked at the dental school and we became very good friends. That was in the spring of ‘49, after my Navy discharge. I had enough points for a discharge, but hadn’t served enough time, two full years. When the Korean War started, I had to go back into the service even though I was at that time in charge of the orthodontic department at the dental school. When I left, I talked to Gene Butori, a friend of mine in Portland and a year behind me in dental school. He was at the University of Washington taking his orthodontic training. I had talked to Denny about what to do with my patients.

Anyhow, it worked out that Gene finished his program and could take over my practice while I was gone. It was at this time that Gene, Denny and I first discussed the possibility of a group practice. They started the group when I was still in the Navy; it must have been 1954.

Q: I see, but you were included in it?

A: Yes, and I joined in when I was released from the Navy in 1955. I also began teaching at the University of Oregon

Q: Did they have a graduate ortho department then?

A: No, I taught the undergraduate orthodontic program.

Q: When you guys got together, did you open on Yamhill Street?

A: Well, I had a practice on the East Side of Portland, Denny practiced with Gene downtown in the Selling Building. By the time I got back, the Yamhill office was in operation, which is in downtown Portland. We closed my East Side office and combined the patients.

Q: Were there any other orthodontic group practices on the West Coast before that?

A: I’m sure there were other people who practiced together in the same office, but whether they practiced as a group, I do not know.

Q: About how large a staff did you have at your prime?

A: I don’t really remember. I think it was about 17. At one time we had five doctors. When the practice was most busy, we had Jim Webb and Tony Grosso practicing with us.

Q: And you had a male office manager?

A: For a while, yes, and up to three laboratory technicians, and one X-ray technician.

Q: Did each doctor have his own chair assistant?

A: We each had one chair assistant but we also had floating assistants. All assistants rotated among the doctors.

Q: What did the assistants do before they had extended-duties laws?

A: Basically it was seating patients, cleanup, record keeping and that type of thing. They did a certain amount of taking arches out after they had been instructed, but they didn’t tie arches or anything like that. Of course all arches were tied with steel ligatures.

One of the clinical assistants took impressions. Their intraoral skills were pretty limited.

Q: Did other orthodontists come to visit your office to see how it worked?

A: Oh sure, on a fairly regular basis.

Q: Was there any negative reaction from the establishment?

A: To a certain extent, I’m just not sure. Initially we called our practice a "clinic practice," but because of negative comments, we changed it to "group practice."

Q: Did any patients object to being worked on by more than one doctor?

A: Not really. Some would prefer one or the other doctor, but if the chips were down you could work on any. You know, "I want to see so-and-so, but if he’s sick, I want service."

Q: How did you manage to get your ABOs? Didn’t they require that only one doctor work on a particular patient?

A: Denny and I both had our Boards before we formed the group practice. Gene, Jim, and Tony, had to separate patients out to be sure they saw them all the time.

Q: Was Tony the last one to retire?

A: Yes, Tony retired at the end of last year, and that was the end of the group practice.

Q: How did you manage to keep enough patients coming in to supply three or more doctors?

A: Actually that’s one of the reasons I retired a little earlier than I had planned. There weren’t enough coming in. I felt I had enough assets, so I just wanted to let the others work.

Q: When did you start noticing a decline?

A: It was gradual. I imagine we could have used more patients starting in the early ‘70s.

Q: Would you say that, up until then, that the specialty had what could be called a "golden age"?

A: Well, that’s the term that has been used and I won’t deny it. I don’t know when it started, but it certainly was going on when I started practicing in ‘49. Whether it was prior to WWII, I’m not sure.

Q: Would you say that your practice was affected by insurance companies trying to dictate to you at all?

A: No, no. We accepted indemnity type insurance benefits, but nothing else was popular.

Q: Were all the group members in the ortho society?

A: I was president of the Northwest Angle Society and president of the Portland District Dental Society, but I was not active in the Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists. By the time the Pacific Coast Society broke up into state societies, I was past my interest in dental politics.

Q: You must have spent a lot of time in conferences, consulting, meetings, and stuff like that.

A: Yes, we did, a considerable time. You see, before any case was started, we would all sit down together and decide how to treat it. Then, for a number of years, one or more of us would attend every orthodontic meeting. Then, whoever attended would have to make a report on it and there would be considerable discussion on various aspects.

Q: That certainly sounds like a good way to practice but, of course, you have to have a certain discipline and you have to be able to get along well with your partners.

A: And you have to be a certain type of individual that would do that — you can’t be a queen bee. There has to be give and take, as in a marriage.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add about group practice?

A: Well, from my standpoint it was an excellent way to practice, in that the responsibilities were shared rather than all on your shoulders. I think that healthwise, I am in better shape than I would have been had I spent the same number of years practicing by myself.

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