Sami M. Günzberg

Sami Günzberg, whose name appears in various sources as Samuel Ginzburg, Gunzberg, Ginsberg, or Günsberg, is also known as “Chief Dentist Sami.” Of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, Günzberg—whose origins are said by some to be Russian and by others Hungarian—was a Turkish dentist whose practice was located in the Mısır Apartment on İstiklal Avenue. Before the proclamation of the Republic, with his dental practice—which was quite modern for its time—he served as the dentist to figures such as Sultan Abdülhamid II, Vahidettin, and Grand Vizier Mahmud Şevket Pasha, and began to be referred to by the title “Chief Dentist.” During the Republican era, he treated, among others, Atatürk, İsmet İnönü, Celal Bayar, Adnan Menderes, Ali Fuat Cebesoy, Kılıç Ali, Nevzat Tandoğan, Fevzi Çakmak, Refet Bele, Ali Fethi Okyar, Kazım Özalp, Altemur Kılıç, Leyla Umar, Yusuf Ziya Ortaç, Cömert Baykent, and Erdal İnönü. Although he embraced the Republic, Günzberg refused to remove the photographs of his patients—members of the Ottoman royal family—from the walls of his dental office, thereby honestly demonstrating his respect for both the statesmen of the old and new eras. This stance was also appreciated by Atatürk. In addition to his medical practice, he earned Atatürk’s friendship. Günzberg is renowned not only for his dentistry but also for the roles he played in the politics of his time.