In 1961, a group of dentists in San Francisco with a passion for endodontics joined forces to found a society of like-minded specialists with a mission to establish camaraderie amongst their fellow endodontists and learn about new procedures and research in the endodontic field.

According to Dr Joseph Bigas, Drs. Lester Breese, John and Michael Sapone, and Ernest Webb are considered founding members of the NCAE. Other earlier members were Fred Wong, Nguyen T. Nguyen, Ed Brown (please read his well-written account of the founding events here), Don Allen, Bert Wolfson and John Greco. They have earned the respect of their fellow clinicians by spending time and energy to initiate a lecture series on current endodontic topics.

Following Richard Burns, who was president in 1967, the year that Endodontics was pronounced a specialty, many outstanding endodontists have led the Northern Californian Academy of Endodontics. Over the years, the Academy has evolved into a larger organization with its current membership of about 200 endodontists.