Gerry Curatola

Gerry Curatola
Born	Gerald Curatola (1957-11-10) November 10, 1957 New York, New York, United States
Occupation(s)	Denstist, Media Personality
Spouse	Georgia Curatola
Website	http://www.rejuvenationdentistry.com

Gerald Peter Curatola, D.D.S. (born November 10, 1957), best known as Dr. Gerry, is a celebrity dentist, Associate Professor at New York University, author and humanitarian best known for his contributions in cosmetic dentistry and wellness. He is a frequent dental expert contributor to Fox News Channel, AOL Health, and Dr. Oz, and has appeared on the Martha Stewart Show, NBC’s Your Total Health, and ABC networks. Curatola is the founder of Rejuvenation Dentistry, a wellness-focused global network of dental practices, and the co-inventor and co-developer of REVITIN Oral Therapy, natural dental therapeutics based on emerging oral biofilm science.

Early life and family background

Gerald Peter Curatola was born on November 10, 1957 in New York City to Italian American parents, Vincent James Curatola and Mildred Theresa Muccitelli.

His father, Vincent, was the son of Italian immigrants, Dominic and Antoinette Curatola from Calabria, Italy. The oldest of eleven surviving children, Vincent, was born on Mulberry Street in New York’s Little Italy, and worked from a young age, beginning with a fruit pushcart on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, New York. Serving his country with three of his brothers in World War II, Vincent attended the University of Chicago to study electrical engineering because of his high aptitude in mathematics. Subsequently, sent by the U.S. Army to Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, he assisted Lee DeForest, the American radio pioneer, inventor, and a “father of the electronic age.” Vincent was selected to work with De Forest to rapidly develop advanced radar technology for the United States which was lagging behind Germany and Britain at the beginning of the World War II. In 1944, Vincent was commissioned to the Pacific island of Guam, to build the U.S. radar installation that would later guide the Enola Gay, the plane to carry the first of two atomic bombs that would finally end the war with the Japanese in 1945.

His mother, Mildred, was the daughter of Italian immigrants, Gerardo and Marion Muccitelli, from Rome and Bari, Italy. One of five daughters, Mildred worked as an executive secretary for Abraham & Straus (A&S), a New York City department store chain, where she would later meet Vincent, who was building a shipping company after the war. Her father, Gerardo was an inventor and manufacturer who had received numerous patents for his devices, many of which streamlined garment manufacturing. Gerardo’s inventions were instrumental in his earning valuable government contracts in the 1930s to manufacture clothing for the United States Military, and he provided hundreds of jobs in the two factories he maintained in Brooklyn, New York. Gerardo was a founder of the Italian American Historical Society, as well as Boy’s Town of Italy, an orphanage established outside of Rome, Italy, his birthplace. Boy’s Town remained a favorite charity, and Gerardo was awarded a citation from the President of Italy for his humanitarian service after World War II.

Education

Curatola is second of three children of Vincent and Mildred, having an older brother and younger sister. He grew up in North Woodmere, New York, on Long Island after the family moved from Ozone Park, New York in 1962. Curatola attended Chaminade High School in Mineola, New York, a private boy’s Catholic preparatory school where he graduated as the President of his class in 1975. He went on to Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, graduating in 1979, majoring in Neuroscience, a topical concentration in Biology and Psychology. His love of the fine arts was explored at Colgate where he also took courses in art history, sculpture and photography. Curatola began dental school in the fall of 1979 at New York University College of Dentistry and served as President of his dental school class until becoming the NYUCD Student Body President in his last year until his graduation in 1983.

Curatola has been a member of the teaching faculty at NYU since 1984 serving as a Clinical Instructor in Dental Materials and presently, Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Cariology and Comprehensive Care.

Personal life

Curatola met his wife, Georgia Ann Condzal, at NYU while finishing dental school and they were married shortly after his graduation in 1983. They have three children. Gia Ann, born in 1984, Grant Vincent, born in 1988, and Grace Ann was born in 1992. In 1995, Curatola moved the principal family residence from Manhattan to East Hampton, New York, and became an active supporter of the development of the Ross School in East Hampton, a pioneering K-12 educational project with a strong global experiential focus, and a unique integrative curriculum, that has garnered international recognition. Founded by the late Steven J. Ross, former CEO of Time Warner Inc., and his wife, Courtney Sale Ross, Curatola served on the Ross School’s Board of Trustees for seven years, retiring in 2010. His three children attended and graduated from the Ross School.

Early career

In 1982, while in dental school, Curatola organized a dental mission to the island of Jamaica in conjunction with the Ministry of Health in the Jamaican Government and the U.S. Peace Corps, whose facilities were used on the island to provide dental care in critically underserved areas for three months. His work there earned him recognition and a citation from the Jamaican Government. After graduating from NYU with his D.D.S. degree in 1983, Curatola continued to perform pro bono dentistry to the Bowery Mission in New York City while building his own dental practice with a special interest in the emerging field of Cosmetic Dentistry. By 1985, his cosmetic dentistry work was published in the New York State Dental Journal and garnered the attention of the DenMat Corporation in Santa Maria, CA who hired him as a national lecturing clinician. In addition to serving as an Assistant Attending in Dentistry at Cabrini Medical Center, Curatola returned to NYU to join the teaching faculty at the College of Dentistry. Around this time, Curatola’s interest in Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) led him to pursue a Masters program in Nutrition and Wellness with former NYU classmate and future business partner, Dr. David Shuch, being given at the Pratt Institute in New York City. One of the earliest programs of its time, the program was designed by Integrative Nutrition pioneer, Dr. Alan Pressman, and assembled some of the leading minds in nutrition and wellness such as radio personality, Gary Null, Ph.D.. Curatola continued to lecture on cosmetic dentistry while privately researching alternative formulations to better promote oral health. In 1991, he founded the Curatola Dental Group, a general and cosmetic dentistry practice in midtown Manhattan, New York. In 1995, Curatola continued his education in natural medicine, attending Harvard University’s Symposiums in Complementary and Alternative Medicine under the direction of Dr. David Eisenberg, the founder of Harvard Medical School’s Center for Alternative Medicine Research and Education (now the Division for Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies of Harvard’s Osher Research Center).

C.S. Bioscience

In 1996, he reunited with Dr. David Shuch, after they met at a dental lecture on Homeopathy in Dentistry being given by Dr. Shuch. Together they formed CS Bioscience Inc. (the “C” standing for Curatola and the “S” for Shuch) in 1997, both committed to the development of a natural toothpaste formulation that they each had pursued independently. Their work led to three United States patents awarded for a pioneering formulation which would come to be known as NuPath Bioactives. Based on a blend of nutritional (“nu”) and homeopathic (“path”) ingredients in a completely natural base, NuPath also was conspicuous in its lack of detergent components which Curatola and Shuch believed were harmful to the natural flora of the mouth known as the oral biofilm.

Containing key antioxidants for oral health such as Vitamin C, Coenzyme Q10, Vitamin E, and MSM, in conjunction with a proprietary blend of homeopathic tissue salts, NuPath was designed to promote homeostasis or balance of the mouth’s environment. They believed that the old science using antimicrobials designed to “kill plaque” actually disturbed this important balance of the oral biofilm and made the body lest resistant to disease. Anecdotal evidence in their clinical practices led them to continue to pursue product development resulting in Revitin Oral Therapy. In addition to being its co-founder, Curatola serves as the company’s Chairman of the Board.

In 1998, Curatola also established East Hampton Dental Associates, the first multi-disciplinary group dental practice in East Hampton Village, committed to raising the standard of general dentistry and dental specialty services to the Hamptons community to which he had relocated in 1995.

Rejuvenation Dentistry

His desire to merge his practice of cosmetic dentistry with his strong understanding of wellness therapies, led him to found Rejuvenation Dentistry in 2005. Its motto of “Advanced Health, Lasting Beauty.” Stems from Curatola’s belief that dentist’s are uniquely qualified to support their patient’s oral health and total body wellness- thus placing the dental profession on the front line of an individual’s ability to live a longer and healthier life. Curatola believed that this pioneering dental practice model would become a global network of prominent practices. There are Rejuvenation Dentistry affiliates in five cities: New York, London, Paris, Rome and East Hampton.

Humanitarian service and contributions

Following a lifelong model of humanitarian service from his parents and grandparents, Curatola has been committed to charitable work and contributions for most of his youth and adult life. As a dentist, he has travelled to five continents to provide dental services in areas that are underserved, as well as educate and equip other dental professionals to do the same. Locally, Curatola helped to establish the Pediatric Dental Fund of the Hamptons, a dental charity founded by local pediatrician, Dr. Gail Schoenfeld, which provides free dental care to needy children on Long Island’s East End. He contributes and provides pro bono dental services to many local charitable organizations including The Retreat, a shelter for victims of domestic violence. Curatola also established an annual art auction at his home for United Cerebral Palsy’s art therapy program known as Celebrating The Creative Spirit. Curatola serves on the leadership board of the East Hampton Day Care Learning Center and he is past Vice Chair of the American Heart Association’s Heart of the Hamptons charity benefit. In 2004, he and his wife, Georgia, established the Dr. & Mrs. Gerald P. Curatola Nursing Station at NYU’s Bluestone Center. In 2006, a larger gift established the Curatola Wing For Clinical Research at New York University College of Dentistry. In 2007, Curatola traveled to Andhra Pradesh, India at the invitation of Dr. Krishna Ajjarapu, founder of an orphanage and school in the region, to help establish a dental and medical clinic which will serve thousands of impoverished in this community.

Media coverage

As an oral health and wellness expert, Curatola has contributed to numerous television and radio programs including The Dr. Oz Show, The Martha Stewart Show, ABC News, Fox News, NBC, CBS, and CNN. Curatola and Rejuvenation Dentistry have been featured in Vogue, Marie Claire, Allure, Bridal Guide, Departures, Town and Country, Jane, WWD, Mademoiselle, Hamptons Magazine, Dan's Papers, Inhale/Exhale, VOX, and the New York Times, Las Vegas Sun, Odessa Times, East Hampton Star, The Independent, and East Hampton Press newspapers.

He is also a health expert for blogs on FoxNewsHealth.com, Sharecare.com, and DoctorOz.com.

Dr. Curatola has contributed to many professional texts and journals, and is the author of the upcoming book, Smile For Life: The Art and Science of Rejuvenation Dentistry.

Honors and awards

Selected into “America’s Top Dentists” by Consumers Research Council of America, Washington, D.C. 2009-11

Selected into Strathmore’s Who’s Who Among Business Professionals, March, 2009

Awarded the NYU Action Medal for outstanding contributions to New York University by NYU President John Sexton. March, 2007

Curatola Wing For Clinical Research established at [New York University], November, 2006

Dr. & Mrs. Gerald Curatola Nursing Station named at NYU College of Dentistry, Bluestone Center for Clinical Research. June, 2004

Who’s Who in America by [Marquis Who’s Who], New Providence, N.J. December, 2003

Patents

Awarded United States Patent #6,503,483 for a dental formulation. Jan., 2003

Awarded United States Patent #6,207,137 for a dental formulation. March, 2001

Awarded United States Patent #5,925,335 for a dental formulation. July, 1999

External links

• The dental practices of Dr. Gerry Curatola