Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-25
THE TOPICAL TALKER.
What Two Decades Have Done in Dentistry
Tho Terrors Of Tooth. .Pulling-Gold
Rillinsr fnn Inca pin

|
Filling for Lnce Pin.
Dentistry, its practitioners and instruments,
has changed, changed for the better beyond
doubt during the last two decades. The first
dentists Office or operating chamber-second
in horror only to the scaffold of the eallows-I
can remember was gruesome place. Upon the
outer wall hung, as an Indian might have his
scalp, case of trophies, teeth of all sizes from
the mammoth molar of some giant to the tiny
! tooth of babe. The thought of this case was
enough to still an aching tooth at once. Had l
been alone 1 would have always turned back at
the dentists door. But there was always some
courageous and disinterested relative or
| guardian at hand to point me upward. What
an oppressive poignant gloom it was that per-
vaded the stairs which led to the torture
| chamber.
The room itself had . bright and dark side.
For the center of the former stood a chair not
unlike the barber chair of the modern tonsorial
parlor Plenty of light fell upon that chair.
with its foot rest and its gripping head piece.
But should have stated that before the horrid
reality of this room>was revealed the victim
was obliged to wait his turn in an adjoining
room which boasted all the luxuries OF Sec
ond-rate railway waiting room and table
covered with stale magazines and papers to
boot. The yells and groans of the prisoners in
| the next room were always sufficiently audible
to keep up the spirits of the occupants of the
waiting room.
When the door opened and a deep bass voice
in those days dentist who had not deep
bass voice could not inspire confdence-ex-
/ claimed: "Come this way, young gentleman r.
it was astonishing how heavy the feet of the
youth addressed became. Again the courage
Gus disinterested third party supplied the mo-
| tive power. I never remember an occasion
when, as 1 entered the inner chamber, the
| dentist was not wiping forceps on a white
cloth stained with red 1t was a most reassur-
ing sight.
THEN in the dark corner of that room was
stationary washstand in which water unseen
trickled. Never did water make such an ap-
palling sound in a marble basin. 1t seemed to
find it hard work to wash away the sangulnary
streaks. But one was not allowed to listen
long to the running water, for again the deep
| bass voice remarked, This way-there now
make yourself comfortable" as if any man or
| boy could be comfortable in that chair. 1 will
not linger on the subsequent proceedings
They were painful, very. When could re-
view the experience calmly what particularly
| struck me was the huge size of the tools OF
extraction and the recklessness of the ex-
tractor. A crowbar in the hands of track
layer with an obstinate boulder as an object, is
an appropriate simile.
R.&
| u g., I,,,da +ha
AfIEh Iapse y. 40 y.a.s Sas.;st t. nos
az. aH4 ao. ..ano;..;rr - s,d M cheerino array
~s.,. ~..oo. t ~ .hroshoId M Stvoiao cave
- i. =: hr;rht oozv room with a
! hIor;nr a.. ond M deatb,s bead in which to
| 49,. .f-n,t tho don+oI doctor Of course the
| -, ohoi- ,,oo +bo,o bnt IL WAS behind a
screen Tho dentist did not sink his voice be-
low the staff when he invited you to put your
self in his hands. It did not resemble fu-
| moral and some hone of coming out alive from
the ordeal sprapg in the heart. The instru-
| mepts were as delicate as if they had been in
tended for the dissection of butterflies rather
than the yanking of human teeth.
Icould not help remarking to the dentist at
| the close of the performance-whose details
| omit again-that dentistry had taken tremen-
dous lean since the early seventies.
"Yes.n he replied, II remember a lecturer
who showed us big forceps thst used to be in
general use. Itwas foot long and the lecturer
said that he didn,t know what they were made
| so Ioroa for unIess IL wera tn allow the dentist
| 20 ro+ hovond tba reach NJ thu natient,s feetn
~
prvrpr IN another nersonal "Reminiscences
ovsav that a good deal of nreiudice AGAINST
tbo c,d school dentist which I have shown NAV
- Sro - tha ,vboIosoIs dealinos 7 had with
70 NUo w '-o
3. 5o,;.o,,r rnfo-.r,.,a fo- a how +o b,va
an o,5or hr o,har who is IN ,nt;mate terms with
Sontist Th;s 10 osnooioiIv +rne wben tho
s.,,ooI ..ro.hor
orotnefs are az uo"iuns ''noo. sosen1i'
wIere 'ne Sounse .a'e ens.s .oiys,. ~ .ne
eluer nanus. nss eau De nv.e ey =.
generous IMAM ~, Inc eiuer W nsnu o'ei sno
Younger 70 1ne uen.is' "nenetei business -
little dullT Inars now one youngster "ot Oh
| came to have wholesale dealings with dentist.
.sa
FILLING is pertinent to any talk about