The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-03-18


 tho service-Why a Soldier Had Spec
 Hal Need of Good Teeth-Washtng-
 toms Teeth.
 The corps of dental surgeons just added to our army by the new reor- ganization act will be a decided noelty in the military world. By resolving to take scrupulous care of his soldier boys teeth Uncle Sam has set other armed nations a praiseworthy example. hTese military dentists will number thirty in all-hardly enough to keep the cutting, tearing and grinding organs of one hundred thousand beef-eate in- tact, 1t would seem. The most of them will shortly be dispatched to the Phil ippines. A few will be sent to the West Indies. They must all be graduates of standard medical or dental colleges and must be trained in all branches of mod ern dentistry. The new law further etipulates that they must be of "good moral character Surgeon General Sternberg is overwhelmed with applica- lions from dentists throughout the Uni ted States, all anxious to enlist in the corps He has already appointed three dental specialists, who will constitute a board for the examination and supervi- sion of the twenty-seven others provi- ded for The appointments of the lat ter will be equally distributed among the states. The three examining dental surgeons will, in 8 few days, proceed to Indianapolis or some other western city, to look into the fitness of the ap- plicants.
 Y The military dental surgeon will en- joy the relative rank of first lieuten- ant. He will be permitted to wear the uniform of first lieutenant of the staff, but with shoulder straps and or naments in silver instead of gold. His shoulder straps will be of dark blue cloth one and three-eighth inches wide by four inches long, bordered with an embroidery of silver. At each end of this framework will stand forth a sin gle bar embroidered in silver. Between these bars will be the letters ID. s." also embroidered in silver Each side of his collar will be adorned by a silver embroidered cross.
 One hundred and fifty dollars a month will be the salary attached to each of the new offices, excepting those of the three supervising dental sur geons. The latter will receive two hundred and ten dollars per month for their additional responsibilities. Five dollars day will be generous pay for the twenty-seven dentists of ordinary rank. They will have all~of their in- struments and materials furnished gra- tis. They will have no office rent to pay. They will suffer no dull season. drawbacks na necessity of husting for patrons. But they will be confronted by plenty of hard work. All of this work will, of course, mean valuable ex- pefience calculated to equip any young dentist as an expert in his profession. The term of service will be three years, at the end of which time resignation and the assumption of private practice will be in order, if desired.
 The new corps will be supplied with the most modern of equipment The supervising dental surgeons of the corps will prepare a supply table, emu merating all of the improved parapher- nalias of the most up-to-date "dental parlor'' to be found in any of our cit ies Shortly there will be packed | aboard an army transport and shipped i to our new possessions the most i'm proved operating chairs" forceps, | files, hammers, drills, rubber dams, and | such pleasure-inspiring sundries. to be | purchased from the instrument makers | of the country.
 To-day the soldier boy with tooth ! ache responds to the sick call and re- | ports to the hospital surgeon for | "drops" wherewith to benumb his | throbbing nerve. He returns for more and more drops" Finally, as last | resort he asks the surgeon to pull the Troublesome member. The obliging | surgeon has never had dentistry added | to his curriculum, but he has an emer- | gency case of forceps in his tool kit, as | has been the custom since To, these many years. He endeavors to pull the bad tooth. If he doesn't succeed the first time he continues until successful All of this takes place without the com- forts of an operating chair or of the soothing gas. However, at some of our army posts, I am told, there have long | been privates or non-commissioned of ficers of the hospital corps who pride themselves on their skill as tooth re- pairers and tooth snatchers." Very much the same condition obtains in the navy. The surgeon aboard each war ship carries a dental case containing | forceps, "elevators" and lancets, but no instruments for filling the ration grind CTS of jackies.
 When examining men for admission into his army, Uncle Sam is somewhat particular as to the condition of their teeth. But these stipuations refer solely to ability to masticate food. Beauty and cleanness of teeth cannot, for practical reasons, be made stand ard of military fitness. If the appli- cant for enlistment has not enough teeth wherewith to thoroughly chew his rations the examining surgeon | throws him out. Many recruits are when they learn that the all-seeing medical examiners do not re- gard false teeth as equivalents of the natural chewing organs bequeathed by nature. During the civil war and previously bad teeth were especially drowned upon by the medical examiners, because they 1 rendered the soldier unable to chew 1 I | |