Meet Dr. Kurthy

It’s actually amazing that Dr. Kurthy ever became a dentist.  When he was five years old he had major surgery in the hospital, and the experience left him terrified of any medical or dental visit.  His fear of needles was notorious among his friends and family. 

He’s always loved the animal sciences (zoology, anatomy, physiology, etc.)  He knew he was talented with his hands.  He grew up working with his father, who was an auto mechanic, so he knew he had a good grasp of mechanical design.  And heaven knows, he loves talking to and meeting people.  So all these things seemed to point him to dentistry.  BUT…with his fear, could he even treat patients without passing out??  That was his concern.

He took the DAT (Dental Aptitude Test) and did very well, and most importantly, he scored number one out of one thousand taking the test in both of the hand skills tests.  So that was it – he figured this was his calling.  And he agrees today that he was correct.

Dr. Kurthy has practiced for 28 years now, and has become an internationally respected dentist, clinical researcher, product and technique developer, product evaluator, author and lecturer.  But because of his own phobia regarding going to the dentist, of all the various things Dr. Kurthy has developed in his career, there is nothing that he has worked on more diligently than making dental visits easy, comfortable and absolutely pain-free for his patients.

Dr. Kurthy was born and raised in Long Beach, California.  He finished at the top of his dental school class in 1978, graduating #1 clinically in his class.  Because of his accomplishments in dental school, he was accepted to a highly acclaimed hospital residency program, where he went on to become chief resident.  In his hospital residency program, he received training in most of the dental specialties, which enables him to treat most patients himself, instead of having to send patients all over town to various specialists.

A short overview of Dr. Kurthy’s background will follow – for a more detailed curriculum vitae of Dr. Kurthy’s background, click here.

• Dentist/Author of the first comprehensive guide to family dental healthcare.
• Invited for interviews by national and local television and radio programs, and national consumer magazines such as Good Morning America, Good Day L.A., Oprah Winfrey, People, Glamour, Esquire and over a hundred other major television news programs, radio programs and magazines.
• Expert dental consultant to major magazines such as People Magazine.
• Personal dentist of the U.S. World Cup Soccer Team.
• Feature writer for Oxygen Magazine.
• Graduated Magna cum laude from Fairleigh Dickinson University School of Dentistry, a leading dental University. Ranked clinically first in class.
• Recipient of numerous awards and honors including FDU Prosthodontic and Pediatric Awards, Mosby Publisher’s Most Outstanding Dentist Award, Dentistry's Star Award, and the Omicron Kappa Upsilon Gold Key Award (the highest award given in dentistry).
• Post graduate hospital residency training in multiple areas of the dental specialties, appointed chief resident.
• Dr. Kurthy’s photo has appeared four times on the covers of two of the most widely-read dental journals in the United States.
• Thirty years of dental research, product development, product testing, development of new dental techniques, and numerous books and articles published in various dental journals.
• Designed and sponsored Orange County Fire Department and Paramedics’ field trials of a new emergency device for the treatment of oral trauma.
• Commendation from the Chief Attorney of the United States Department of Defense for his role in supporting patients’ rights in disputes with insurance carriers.
• Board of Directors member and California State Representative of the American Board of Family Dentistry.