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A History of Orthodontics in Canada
Une Histoire de l'Orthodontie au Canada

Dr. Reyburn R. McIntyre
Founding President and Founding Member, C.A.O.

Reyburn McIntyre, affectionately known as Mac, was born in 1892 in the small town of Wyoming, Ontario. His youthful years were spent in Swan River, Manitoba. Mac matriculated from Morden Collegiate, enrolled in Pharmacy which he later forsook for Dentistry at the University of Toronto. His course was broken by 4 years in the Army returning in 1920 to graduate in 1922. He heeded the words of the familiar adage, "Look west, young man".

Dr. McIntyre settled in Calgary to commence general practice. It wasn't very long before the members of the Calgary Dental Society were exposed to Mac's sincerity and enthusiasm for Dentistry. He took an active role in dental affairs. Within a few years, he was elected President of the Calgary Dental Society. In the ensuing years, he served on the executive of several Canadian Dental Societies and was elected President of the Alberta Dental Association and the Canadian Dental Association.

Dr. McIntyre was the Founding Chairman of the Orthodontic Section of the Canadian Dental Association in 1949 (later to become the Canadian Association of Orthodontists). For good measure, he served as Chairman for the next three years. Dr. McIntyre was the right man in the right place at the right time. It was no easy task to launch a national organization and nurture it until it became permanently established. Fortunately, he was retired and possessed the energy, sincerity, and intuition to realize that Canadian Orthodontists must be organized soon for their own interests. Because of his abundant patience, wit, and cajolery with fellow orthodontists, Mac was able to keep his agenda of the fledgling orthodontic society on track.

In the basement of his home in Calgary, Dr. McIntyre had a small area screened off in which he had built a raised wooden floor, about a foot high, rather like a shallow platform. This small area contained a filing cabinet, a desk and chair. Upon the desk rested a typewriter of bygone vintage. This was his office and the typewriter was his mode of communication. When Dr. McIntyre was Chairman of the Orthodontic Section, he was concomitantly on the Executive of the C.D.A. From this hide-away, he would crank out a voluminous number of letters to officials, committee chairmen, etc. These letters were priceless, not so much for their literary excellence, but in the way Mac expressed himself. To emphasize a statement or request, he would use red or a series of symbols such as question marks, exclamation marks, pound signs, asterisks or any symbol which his fingers struck first. The occasional letter would be missing, even the odd word. But there was no trouble understanding the gist of his epistles. Mac would become very irked when people didn't answer his letters. This, I discovered first hand. His manner and sense of urgency was exemplified by the manner in which he always finished his letters, "In haste, Mac."

Dr. McIntyre was the Founder and first Chairman of the Department of Orthodontics in the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Alberta. This seems ironic since the Founder and Director of the School of Dentistry (changed to a Faculty in 1944) was an orthodontist. His academic commitments were served at great personal sacrifice as it meant traveling fortnightly for several years from Calgary to Edmonton, a distance of 200 miles by train .He retired from the dental school in 1947 as Professor Emeritus.

In conjunction with his vital contribution as a teacher, Dr. McIntyre played a very dominant role on a committee of the Alberta Dental Association, along with Drs. H.L. Freeland and H.R. MacLean. Through persistent and diligent lobbying of the University of Alberta and the Government of Alberta under Premier Ernest Manning, they were responsible for securing funding for a significant enlargement of the dental clinic at the Faculty premises. The expansion of the clinic was timely because of the increased enrollment of war veterans in the dental program.

After retirement from active practice in 1954, Mac inaugurated the first extension course in orthodontics for general practitioners in Canada. With his gun and shooting jacket in the trunk of his old DeSoto, he traveled throughout rural Alberta for several years, from Lethbridge to Fairview, to examine children in dental offices and give instructions to dentists practicing in rural areas remote from the services of an orthodontist.

During the 1950's when several dental schools were being established in Western Canada, Mac was chairman of the Committee on Student Recruitment for the four western provinces. His program was very successful and subsequently emulated in other parts of Canada and the United States.

Dr. McIntyre was the recipient of many honours in recognition of his contributions to dentistry and the community. He was elected a Fellow of the International College of Dentists. His efforts were recognized by the Western Canada Dental Society with an honorary life membership. He was selected to give the fifth Grieve Memorial Lecture in 1962, an honour extended only to those held in high esteem by the Canadian Association of Orthodontists. Ironically, this lecture was his own brainchild. In 1952, a scholarship in honor of Dr. McIntyre was established in the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Alberta by the Calgary and District Dental Society.

At the annual convention of the Canadian Association of Orthodontists, held in Winnipeg in 1978, a motion was passed to establish a suitable memorial in honor of Reyburn R. McIntyre whose inspiration and leadership culminated in the founding of the Canadian Association of Orthodontists. As a direct result of this motion, a charitable foundation known as the Foundation for the Advancement of Orthodontics was established. With a donation of $500 or more, a donor becomes a McIntyre Fellow. From time to time as funds permit, the foundation invites eminent scientists and clinicians to present the McIntyre Memorial Lecture at the Canadian Association of Orthodontists' annual scientific meeting.

Mac's influence spread beyond our borders. He was a lifelong member of the American Orthodontic Association. In Canada, United States and Europe, the name "McIntyre" was well known and respected amongst the dental community.

There are a few anecdotes about Mac which the author would like to relate. Mac belonged to a group of outstanding Canadian and American dentists. It was sort of a study group. Mac used to relate how he would go to their different offices and spend a few days observing and learning new techniques. Of course, there was a social aspect to their meetings and great fellowship. This group met at least once a year to discuss matters pertaining to their dental fields. Mac carried a small flat gold emblem on his watch chain upon which were embossed the letters, "C.A.I.C." Apparently, at the conclusion of their inaugural meeting, Mc made the now famous comment, "Christ, am I confused." At that moment the C.A.I.C. was born and functioned for many years until Mac died in 1963. All of us who have attended graduate courses know exactly how Mac felt. The following stories were related by Ken Shultis, a founding member of the C.A.O.

"As a young lad, just barely an orthodontist, I was very fortunate to be included with Mac, Holly Halderson, and Cully Culbert at conventions. I particularly remember one time, after the war, when the four of us drove to a Great Lakes meeting at Columbus. On the way, Mac joked around as wee all did. Everywhere we stopped to eat, Mac would go into a restaurant alone and in his words, "case the joint" and check the menu before he would approve of us eating there. In Columbus in the hotel room, I remember two characteristic incidents involving Mac. As we were unpacking, Mac tossed me a couple of orthodontic models of a child and asked me if I wanted them. I said no and tossed them back to him. He immediately smacked the two models together breaking them and out fell two $50 bills. That was Mac, the smuggler. Later on at the same meeting, Holley and Mac were talking and behind them Jack Abra from W9nnipeg was talking with Cully about a patient of his from Swift Current, Saskatchewan - about 300 miles from Calgary. At the mention of Swift Current, Mac wheeled around to face Jack and said, "you damn poacher."

While writing this profile on Dr. McIntyre, I have felt like a son writing about his father. When you needed advice, he gave wise counsel; when you needed encouragement, he cheered you up. There was nothing that Mac enjoyed more than socializing with a small group of dental confreres. With a rye and water in one hand and a cigar in the other, he was always in fine fettle as his thoughts and ideas were expounded in rapid succession. He was indeed a remarkable man. But he wasn't all talk. As a final testament of the sincerity of this man, the Orthodontic Division of the Faculty of Dentistry received a most generous bequest. Upon the death of his wife Sybil, the residue of his estate was endowed to the Orthodontic Department. Dr. McIntyre's bequest has now grown to one million dollars with matching grants and interest.

Mac was dedicated to the profession of Orthodontics. He approached all tasks with great gusto. When Mac was on his death bed, he penned the following quotation on the back of an envelope which was delivered to me at an Orthodontic convention by a friend. This quotation, which throws more insight on the man than I can divulge, was as follows: "May divine providence bestow on you the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, the wisdom to know the difference." There is no doubt that Mac was endowed with an abundant measure of these attributes. Through his leadership, Dr. McIntyre has had an impact on all of the orthodontists in Canada. As one reads the proceedings of the Orthodontic Section in its formative years, this fact becomes more apparent. His memory will be cherished as long as our profession survives.