From: kgatling@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Keith E Gatling)
Subject: Re: Cutting it off (was: A few facts about circumcision)
Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 93 21:31:46 EST

In article <765346d7228046t231@witsend.uucp> "D. C. Sessions"
<dcs@witsend.tnet.com> writes:

>  We are currently faced with the decision of cutting our sons'
>  Achilles tendons (and repairing same) to cope with idiopathic
>  toe-walking.  Toe-walking can end up destroying their ankles,
>  knees, and hips.  Surgery will GUARANTEE that they will always
>  have trouble running, jumping, etc.  Behavioral changes can
>  accomplish the same results without the harmful consequences,
>  but so far have not worked.  Time is running out.  Casting and
>  braces haven't helped.  Time is running out.  Do we have them
>  cut, or not?  Do we need your permission?  Dr. Edell's?  Do
>  we abdicate our responsibility to the superior judgment of a
>  six-year-old?  Do we wait until they're 18?

And while we're at it, let's talk about braces.  I've been fortunate enough
to have never had them (it may be just my imagination, but when I was a kid
braces weren't as common for people who weren't obviously buck toothed, and
I suspect that if I were a kid now, I'd be a prime candidate under the new
rules), so I may be misinterpreting things friends who've had braces have
told me, but hey...I don't know when to give up anyway... ;-)

The point I'd like to make is that people I've known have told me that
having braces put on is no picnic...in short, it HURTS.  And why do we do
it?  Is anyone really going to die from an incredible overbite?  I doubt
it.  Are you going to starve to death if you don't have your teeth all
perfectly lined up?  I think not.  Do many people go on to live perfectly
normal lives without having their teeth "fixed" (gee, that's the way they
naturally came in...why should we mess with it?)?  Yes.  So why do we do
braces in the first place if it's not truly "medically" necessary?  Could it
be...gasp...for cosmetic reasons.  Or maybe even...gasp...cultural
tradition?  I wonder how many people in (not to single you out, but you're
the last country I saw mentioned in this whole circumsion debate) Denmark
regularly have their children get braces for anything less than a severe
overbite in which the teeth actually protrude from the mouth when it's
closed.  Are parents being abusive of their children when they make them
undergo orthodontia against their will?  Should we change things so that the
kid gets to make the decision?  (I can think of any number of parents who
wouldn't mind *not* financing their orthodontist's kid education by letting
their kid wait until they're grown and have to pay the bills themselves).

And yes...I've also known my share of people who got braces when they were
grown up.  People whose teeth didn't look too terribly out of line to me.

So really...just how far do you want to push this thing?

Oh yes...and to the person who insisted that I show my stats, facts, and
figures to prove that it's a wash...I have a life.  This means that I don't
have the time to read every single report by every doctor in the world on
their views about circumcision.  Call me stupid, call me gullible, call me
just about anything but late for dinner (which I usually cook anyway), but I
figured the nice little brochure I read in our OB's office, and the few
articles we read in our childbirth magazines, both of which tried to be very
fair and neutral, mentioned the medical flip flopping, and the advantages
and disadvantages of each choice, and pretty much said it was a wash, are
good enough.  I'm not going to drive over to the local med school library
and bury myself in microfiche over this.

You are entitled to your opinion, but unless you come up with *unbiased*
figures that prove that something like 75% of all circumcised babies die as
a direct result of the procedure, you're not going to change my mind.

All I ask is that you leave the rest of us alone already.

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* Keith E Gatling                                  kgatling@mailbox.syr.edu *
*          Opinions?  I've got plenty of them.  Just ask my wife!           *
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