His resumé showed that he flew to Guatemala in 1980, to Honduras in 1983, and to Jamaica in 1986 and 1988. A visit to Mexico and a second visit to Honduras were undated.
His wife said that, being a teacher, she could not offer medical help on the 1988 trip. The rural clinic did not provide regular dental care but was run by "two girls, who tended to emergencies."
After Dr. Holteen had flown a Bucks County dentist and another Montgomery County dentist to Jamaica in February 1986, he told an Inquirer interviewer that the patients each of them saw at different clinics had badly decayed teeth that had to be removed.
"We'd just sit them down and yank them," he said, estimating that he had pulled 600 teeth in the week that he was on the island.
Many of his Jamaica patients were workers in sugarcane fields and sugar mills, who chewed cane the way Americans chewed gum, resulting in tooth decay.
The dentists were not paid for their work, he said.
Besides maintaining a dental practice in Fort Washington, Dr. Holteen taught operative dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania for 11 years.
And for 19 years, he was a tenor with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia. He also was a member of the Mary Green Singers of Kennett Square and the Rotary Singers.
Born in Camden, Dr. Holteen graduated from Ambler High School in 1948. He earned a bachelor's degree at Columbia University in 1952 and a dental surgery doctorate in 1956 at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine.
He was a Navy dentist from 1956 to 1958, stationed in Newport, R.I., then opened his Fort Washington practice. He retired in 1995.
The Fort Washington Historical Society gave him its Heritage Award in 1979 for his work with, among others, the Flying Dentists group.
He was student-exchange program chairman for the Rotary Club in Ambler.
Dr. Holteen was a member of the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia and the Christian Dental Society, among others.
Besides his wife, Dr. Holteen is survived by sons Timothy and Edward G. Jr.; a stepson, Michael Moorhead; a stepdaughter, Meg Ann Moorhead; and three stepgrandchildren. His former wife, Martha Holteen, died in 2005.
A memorial service was set for 10:30 a.m. Monday, July 30, at Gwynedd Estates, 301 Norristown Rd., Ambler.
Contact Walter F. Naedele
at 215-854-5607 or wnaedele@phillynews.com.
