The daily gazette., 1883-08-11
Tnr DENTIST.
FecuIiarities Of the Old style and Modern
Type OF Practitioner.


FecuiiaritAes Of the Ola style and Modern
Type OF Practitioner.
The modern dentist is not like the dentist
of loug ago. The old time dentist did not re-
pair teeth, he simply uprooted those that
were decat ed. 1t is only OF late years that
the dentist has occupied a recognized posi-
tlon In the department Of minor surgery.
Some dexterity and considerable muscular
strength were the chief qualifications Of the
dentist OF our childhood. When patient
called on one of them, the dentist would
put his finger in the patients mouth, and
after feeling around the stumps and shak
ing them ore after another I'LL til howl
from the patient demonstrated that he had
hold of the right OF e, he would say lacon-
cally, TITS got to come out" Then he
would go for his instruments. These me-
chanical appliances were OF very primitive
character. They consisted Of several things
like bullet molds; thosu of the largest size
he used on adults, ana thc smaller ones on
children. While he was engaged filing the
rust off his Instruments, the sufferer had
time to note the contents of the room. On
shelf was a rope, with which nervous
patients were tied III the operating chair; On
another chair basin and a pitcher. with
broken handle, containing water presum-
edly for the purpose Of washing away such
CORY evidences Of butchcry as the operation
might leave; on broken-lcgged desk,
propped up with brick, was a
skull with a cracked jsw-bone which
was too suggestive to be plea. ant
| or soothing; III The window sill
the dentists library, consisting of a
copy OF Wedl's Pathology of the Teeth, y
and a portion Of a volume of Moore's Melo-
dies. In front OF the operating chair, hang
ing on the wall, was q steel engraving rep
resenting Napoleon on the Island of st.
Helena. The picture was evidently put
there with the view 4 distractiug the pa
TENTS attention from thoughts Of agony IN
store for him. While he was wondering Il
Napoleon ever had toothache and If he evei
burned the inside of his mouth with creo
sote and oil of cloves IN bis effort TO deader
the pain; and while he was wishing that h(
, could change places with Napoleon for q
day or two, the dentist grasped him by th'
hair threw his head back, inserted the can
opener in his mouth and began Cropping
around for the bad tooth. When he found
it his usual plan was to crush 1t into pieces
and dig out the fragments, one at time
During the operation the sufferer groanec
md moaned aud yearned for death. WheT
the dentist got his graphing irons arount
the root of double tooth, and braced him
self up with his foot against the wall for
long pull, a strong pull, pull altogether
the patient thought that the end Of al
things was at hand, that an explosion hal
occurred in the cellar, and that the heaven
were rolling themselves up as scroll, Will
: the top of his head was being taken OIL an'
A his vertehra was being jammed down int
the hollow of his legs. When he wa
. ealmed down with glass ofwater he toun'
that the alarming sensations he had ex
e perienced were caused, as the dentist put IN
H.. tbn frf.tkt . B.,
a alveolar cavity"
=, The modern dentist is different kind o
. an aggravated outrage. He has a colleg
diploma that he keeps hanging on the wa
y in tin case. He usually has nicely iu
a nished operating room, where he has a
tv elaborate chair working on pivots an
- hinges, that nc places the patient In whe
y he is pulling his tooth, and another TO
+ used when a tooth is being filed. He hi
hundreds of ACCOMPLISHMENTS Al
gers and gougers and serapers, and one vii
" thing that seems to make about 700 revolt
m tions miaute, and with which he Dor,
= into the nerve of your tooth until you te
as if your immortal soul was being tan
is pered with. But the modern dentist seldoI
" pulls tooth He prefers t. fill il wit
le some gutta nercha sort of composition, {
a with gold. You see the 1lling will, in Il
= the course of time, come out, aud then
81 gets another job putting 1t IN again ,wherea
IL when he lulls out tooth, that ends 1t; u
er owner ofthe tooth seldom cares to have
decorated or to squander bullion on it aft
ii is out. He usually carries 1t IN his We
=. pocket for two or three days, and th
~ throws it into some vacant lot. When
on mar has an aching tooth that tries to pu
h itself into prominence, that seems to swe
OF up and get in the way of every thing he eat
. and to take more OF his thought and ate
tion than he can spare, he can 90 to Il
" modern dentist, who will fill him up wi
IL gas until he magines he is a balloon, soa
&c ing up almost as high as the dentists char!
for the operation, aud when he comes
earth again the tooth will be gone, and the
"a viii be a vacant place in his jaw II at W
seem to him to be about the sze of lt
~ The painless dentistry Il to-day Is less {
J. citing than the painful dentistry OF The pas
he but it is otherwise an improvement on I
,a old style.