The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1888-01-14
DENTISTS IN CHINA.
How They Puzzle and Deceive Their Ig-
nOrant Customers,

How They Puzzle and Deceive Their Is-
nOrant Customers.
Il had always supposed previous to
my arrival in China that the native
dentists extracted teeth simply by
means of their thumb and fore-inger,
which, by constant practice, had be-
come phenomenally strong. Even aft
er had been some years in Pekin l
found English residents there who
firmly believed this, and myself did
until my curiosity upon the subject
became so great that determined to
find out the real truth of work of
some difficulty and time. A friend 1
had with me during my investigation
at first believed that the dentists really
did extract teeth with their fingers.
The custom and modus operandi of
the native dentists of Pekin are
as follows: The dental court is
held in large, open square
near the center of the city. Arranged
around this square are rows of booths
in which the dentist operates upon the
unruly molar For weeks and weeks
we haunted this place. but the dem
lists were always sharp enough to
prevent US making any investiga-
ton into their methods. After con-
siderable time had been spent in this
unsatisfactory kind of work we found
an old practitioner who. after con-
siderable persuasion and the promise
of good payment consented to let us
both into the secret of Chinese dem
tistry. Even when we met By ap-
pointment he demurred, not wanting
10 let the foreign devils know too
much. But little gold soon over
came all objections, and under a
promise of the strictest secrecy during
our stay in the country the old dem
tist told us the following:
No Chinaman ever extracted
tooth with his fingers. He could not
do it and knows too much to try. We
never extract tooth unless it is very
loose, and even then we use this. and
he showed small iron implement
about three inches long and one-half
an inch wide, with V-shaped cut in
one end. With this concealed in our
hand we push and pry the tooth.
meantime pretending to rub a powder
on it to loosen it. When the tooth has
been sufficiently worked, quick mo-
ton of the hand and it is out No one
ever sees this instrument and we en-
courage the belief that the fingers
alone are used in extracting the tooth.
When person comes to see us with
toothache. and the tooth is too firm
ly set for us 10 get it out we
tell him that some devil in the
shape of worm has got into his tooth
and that TO take the tooth out will be
dangerous, but we will take the an
noying worm out and so give relief
This is done, and when the worm is
out the man goes away happy
'This was all that the old man
would tell us then. After number
of visits to the dental court l was for
tunate enough 10 be present when n
woman came in to be treated for
toothache. 1 carefully noted each
motion of the dentist, and Judge of
my surprise when saw him apparent
ly take a living worm about as large
as grain of rice out of the tooth. A
visit to my first Informant, an old
man, elected the following: You
are getting bad devils, just as 1
said you would if you knew too much,
but little more wickedness can not
hI11.t ho1
way The worms that you thought
were taken out of the woman's tooth
were not worms at all. In the first
place no dentist has more than one or
two real live worms, and as these can
not live long except in a damp place
they are kept in jar of water. so that
in case any one is inclined to doubt we
do not actually take them out of the
teeth they can be shown as proof.
What we really do is to take an instru-
ment like this (and he showed us a
long double-headed steel instrument.
with little spoon-shaped bowl at each
end). Into one end of this instrument
we place piece of pith so made as to
exactly resemble worm. This end
we hold concealed in our hand. With
the other end we push and scrape
around the aching tooth. meanwhile
sprinkling little powder in the mouth
and in the tooth. After few mo-
ments we quickly turn the instrument
around, bringing the end having the
pith worm concealed in it into the pa
tents mouth, and there we have the
worm
From other sources learned that
false teeth are known to some extent,
but they are usually made of wood or
metal and fastened into place by
means OF little clamps fixed around
the remaining teeth. IN Y Tele.
QrGn1.