Suter Dental History
Nineteen twenty-nine was a great year! The
year when Otto Suter chose to leave Cleveland Dental Company and start a business of his own. Suter Dental had begun and this is our story.
With a 1926 Chevy four-door sedan and a vision, Otto Suter took his first
entrepreneurial steps. He removed the rear seat of the sedan and installed a workbench, on which he bolted a grinding wheel and a vise. Using an innovative approach, Otto installed an entirely
separate drive shaft underneath the car. This separate drive shaft was engaged by a belt exchange when power was required for his back seat grinder. A remodeled Coleman stove became his "forge" and provided a needle point flame.
Initially, Otto would call on a dentist, pick up any worn or broken instruments and take them back to his car, which was conveniently parked at a curb. There,
he would heat and straighten the instruments. Finally, he would engage the drive belt for his special drive shaft, start the car and proceed to grind, flatten, shape,
bent, heat-treat and sharpen the instruments in his "back seat" workshop. Otto would then return them to the dentist at a charge of $0.25 per instrument.
Otto worked his way throughout the northern states then traveled south to Los Angeles, and while in the office of George Hollenback, met W. I. Ferrier of
Seattle, Washington. Dr. Ferrier asked Otto to relocate to Seattle and render his unique service there.
Otto's son, Bo, joined his father in Seattle during July of 1932. Bo had delayed
his arrival for one week because his employer in a Cleveland dental laboratory had offered him twice his normal weekly pay of $27.50 to remain with them just one week longer. In Seattle, Otto, along with Bo and his mother, set up shop in
the basement of their home. It was there that the Ferrier Study Club Set and the Ferrier Separators were designed and produced.
In 1942 Suter Dental moved to Southern California and expanded by hiring
three (3) employees. Bo purchased the business from his father in 1946 and Otto enjoyed fishing during retirement, until his death in 1970.
As Southern California began to expand, hunting and fishing became more
difficult, so Bo moved Suter Dental and his three employees to Chico, California in 1950. He and many others like him have worked diligently in each step of production to ensure that the necessary quality for each instrument is achieved.
Bo entered "active" retirement in 1989 at the age of 79 by entrusting the Suter tradition to his close associate, Mark Ziemkowski. As of this writing, Bo remains an interested and active friend of the Suter Dental Mfg. family.
Mark Ziemkowski has been involved with the manufacturing and sales of dental instruments since the early 1970's. He came to Suter Dental in 1982 and had the
privilege of working, and learning, from Bo for many years before purchasing the business in 1989.
In addition to a quality staff, Suter Dental has maintained a close contact with
individual dentists and dental schools to provide for their specific instrument needs. We have heard the demand for quality in workmanship and materials and strive to maintain that high standard Otto and Bo Suter established so many
years ago. The same standard that Mark continues to demand today.
Sincerely,
