Dental Insurance Pioneer Dies At 84

Dr. F. Gene Dixon died Oct. 26, according to Delta Dental of California.

Dixon, 84, helped start the California Dental Association Service, an organization that later became Delta Dental, in 1959, at a time when many believed that dental work was uninsurable, according to Delta Dental, San Francisco, a unit of Dentegra Group Inc.

By the time Dixon left, in 1977, the company was providing dental coverage for 4.7 million people. Delta Dental and other Dentegra affiliates now provide or administer dental coverage for 18 million U.S. residents.