The Royal Odonto-Chirurgical Society of Scotland (ROCSS), founded in 1867, is the oldest, continuously active dental society in Europe, if not the world. The Society, known by members as the ‘Odonto’, strives to stimulate the ethical and scientific progress of dentistry in Scotland. The Society is the only dental organisation in the UK to have been granted Royal status. This singular honour was graciously granted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1966. The ‘Odonto’ tie was introduced in 1990. The ties, produced at a cost of £8.80 to the Society, were sold to members for £15.00, all profits going to Society funds. The accompanying ‘Odonto’ bowtie is a one-off made in the 1990s by a seamstress in Edinburgh who, having fallen on hard times, made the bowtie for her dentists – a member of the ‘Odonto’, in exchange for the provision of a porcelain fused to metal crown on one of her upper premolar teeth.