Doc Holliday relative to accept honorary membership from dental group

March 11, 2009

Arizona Dental Association to honor Holliday, who was a dentist before becoming more well known as an outlaw in the old West.

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona--The legend of Doc Holliday and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral is well known in Arizona. What isn't as well known is that, before he was a gun-toting outlaw, Doc Holliday was a dentist.

While he never practiced dentistry in Arizona, the Arizona Dental Association, is honoring Holliday for the notoriety he brought to the profession.

During the association's annual Western Regional Dental Convention for the association, which is celebrating its 100 year anniversary, Holliday will be awarded with an honorary membership to the association.

President Dr. Regina Cobb will present the honor to Karen Holliday Tanner, a distant cousin of Doc Holliday. Tanner, who wrote the book "Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait."

The presentation will occur at 1 p.m. March 12 at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Ariz.

Born John Henry Holliday in 1851 in Georgia, Holliday received his Doctor of Dental Surgery from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1872. He practiced dentistry in his home state until a diagnosis of tuberculosis ("consumption") in 1873 forced him to move to a drier and warmer climate.

At that time, such a move for someone afflicted with tuberculosis was thought to extend one's life. Holliday arrived in the Arizona Territory in 1879. He died in 1887 in Colorado at age 36.

For more information about the association and its members, visit , go to Arizona Dental Association.

To read more about Holliday, go to Arizona Dental Association.

To comment on this subject, go to PennWell Dental Community site.