The New York herald., 1879-10-09
DENTAL DANGERS.

To THE EDITOR HERALp-
The editorial article headed Deadly Dentistry
in your issue of Tuesday. displays in its general
tone SO lanentabe misinformation upon the subject
and is so rank with injustice toward highly edu.
Gated class of professional mon. and the influence Of
such editorial in such paper Is Enthusiastically
so potent. that am constrained to submit fe~
words Of earnest protest for your consideration.
You class by implication and the tone Of arti
Gle all dentists charlatans. because for
sooth there chariatans among us-and
many-which. however. are striving with
might and main to weed out from
midst. and most pointedly do aver this in say.
ng:-"rhey come at hazard across something thse
suits q certain purpose, and often use 1t without
proper knowledge or proper precautions. Their
education is too purely local to make thom judges
of the effect upon the entire system." &C.. &c.
have simply to reply to this that properly edu-
Gated dentist is educated physician. and it is per-
haps not immodest to state for my profession that
the necessary education of first class dentist en-
braces a rather more extended range than does that
of u physici This may also answer your propo-
siton. ''Now this much latitude to allow the
members of q profession one-stded In thor
knowledge dentists usually are.'
We are. AZ have said. earnestly striving to elm
mate from ranks iDcompetent and unworthy
practitioners and late law gives Largo power in
this regard for the future; but am entirely OF
opinion that. all told, tho unsducated. tho rncon-
petcEt ana tno ulsrSpuEsDie peEsonS WHO olhSIucQ
my profession are In scarcely. II any. greater
proportion than the prctcnders who equally dis
grace the medical. the legal. tho clerical or the
journalistic prof essons-
For twenty five years or more dentists nave used
arsenous acid for the destruction Of "nerves that
had become exposed through decay. preparatory te
the removal of said 'nerves" and the filling and
restoration of the tooth to health and use
fuiness. The accepted practice has bean
ness. isolation of the tooth. dryness, &C.. 90
infnitesimal quantity OF arsenious acid IS would
hx-t tlta fha 10 IN
with an equal quantity 10y weight OF the very
Light sulphate or morphia and wot with creosots,
and the entire amount of this mixture would not
equal in the half of small pins head. This
would be applied to the exposed point mtnutA
hermcticaIly sealed With a gutta-purcha stopping
for twenty-four forty eight hours, or even moro.
have been thus particular to describe the process.
that you may see at glance how egregiousiy you
have been deceived in your premises. the quantity
used being less than twentieth of what many
women accustomed to taking every day for the
Improvement () of their complications.
II such thing were possible to conceive as that
person should place any large guantity-i moan
sealed in its position by stufhng OF cotton no
that it might leak out upon the gum and produce
plesse-wouldn' IL be somewhat impetuous, 70 put
it very mildly, to say that all employment Of Ar
senious acid by the whole profession to which the
above supposed person pretended to belong should
hcncciorth be iuterdictedy Might you not with
equal proprety demand that physicians be prohib-
tied from employing nux vomica lstrychnine bo-
cause ii was violent poison aud In unsklful hands
might produce death?
Iknow nothing whatever Of the merits Of tha
to which your editorial refers except that the Brook
lyn dentist is eminent one and needs eulogy at
my hands; the Boston gentleman do not know.
NV ronarks refer wholly to your editorial and the
somewhat 'one-sidcd knowledge" involved in its
structures. Moreover. it may be some indication to
you that write this for the principle involved and
not special pleading for arsenic when say that
we scarcely ever nowadays destroy exposed and In
famed pulps OF teeth. but able. almost invars
bly, to reduce tho inhaned condition and them
permanently alive; indeed for myself have but Ia