The Washington times., 1901-07-15
DENTISTS At ARMY POSTS.
War Department Examining Can
didates for Such Positions.
Many Applicants Fail to Pass the
Rigid Test Imposed - Portable
Chairs and other Appliances to BE
Providcd-ApprovaI of the Plans.


Providcd-ApprovaI of the Plans
The Medical Department of the Army is
rapidly completing the work of equipping
| The service with 4 competent force of dem
tai surgeons. and it is expected that by
, fall the tooth doctors will all be in readi-
| ness to repair the molars of Uncle Sam $
| soldiery. Some of them have already been
| appointed and assigned to different posts
| in the service, and the materials and i'm
| piements of their craft are being sent to
| them speedily as it is possible to do so.
The appointment of a staff of dentists is
a new departure, in the United States
Army, and one which will be heartily well
1 coined by all of the men who wear the
| blue uniform.
| Army officers have for a number of
years seen the necessity of having dental
surgeons in the service and have repeat
edly advocated the employment OF men Of
| this profession. They have had good OBJ
| ject lessons which have shown them the
need of dentists. especially in remote
! posts far from any city or town where
| the services of a dental surgeon could not
| be readily secured when desired. In such
cases it has been necessary TO employ the
| regular physicians and the hospital stew
| ards. who have had some training in den
tai surgery as an adjunct to the stu'iy
of medicine. Not infrequently the men
have been forced to call upon the itinerant
dentists who make a good business of
travelling from one small town to another
in the West and occasionally locate for
time in the neighborhood of the army
posts.
Under the recent army reorga niZation
bill provision was made for the employ
ment of thirty dental surgeons in the ser
vice. This was done in keeping with the
general policy of the Government for the
Improvement of the army and to ensure
every possible advantage for the health
and comfort of the fighting men of the
nation. They are to receive the same
compensation and occupy the same rela-
tive position In the service as the con-
tract surgeons. In some of the Contiren-
tai armies of Europe it has been the prac-
tice for number of years to employ dem
tai surgeons, and in this respect our own
army has until now been somewhat be-
hind the soldiery of some of the other
Powers. Applicants for entrance into the
army are compelled to undergo a physical
examination which requires among other
things that their teeth shall be in good
condition; candidate whose molars are
as filling the requirements of the stand
ard. 1t must happen, however, that in
the service, as in private life, the teeth
become affected and need attention as
well as any other portion of the anatomy,
and it is for this reason that the dental
surgeon is henceforth to be a part of the
army.
Not infrequently during the past three
years the boys in the Philippines have
sorely felt the need of dental surgeons.
Good grinders" are needed to cope with
the army hardtack. 1t is the plan of
the department to establish about fifteen
or sixteen dental Offices at the principal
army posts, of which about eight will be
located in this country. Five will be
maintained in the Philippines, one in
Porto Rico, and one in Cuba during the
time that our troops remain there. 1t
Will be possible for the present to set up
these dental establishments only at
some of the larger posts, where MANY
men are quartered. The places already
selected are Fort Leavenworth and Fort
Riley, Kan; Fort Sam Houston. at San
Antonio; Fort Sheridan, at Chicago the
Preside. at San Francisco, and two or
three other posts yet to be decided upon,
putment of the East.
These establishments will be fitted out !
with all the appliances of a modern
dentists office, including all the latest !
improvements for the practice of dental !
surgery. One of the newly appointed /
dental surgeons will be stationed at
each Of these establishments. The others |
will enable them to move from one post !
to another under the direction of the |
Surgeon General of the Army. They will |
have portable dental CHAIRS which can !
be set up and taken down and conveyed /
from place to place without much |
trouble.
The department has also recently or
dered forty. portable dental engines.
,,rh hrR b.a Ia fnr b.s
service. They are constructed so as to |
lie contained in a box about the size of |
a large dress suit case, and could, If ne |
cessity required, be carried by hand with |
out great Inconvenience. Each dentist !
will be equipped with one of these. Some |
of them have already arrived at the de- |
partment and are being sent out into the |
field. In addition to these, each dental !
surgeon is TO be supplied with two field |
chests containing the implements of the
torture which he infiicts. Altogether the |
dental corps of the army will be as wen |
provided for as any other branch of the
service.
During the past three months. the de-
partment has been conducting examina-
tions of applicants for entrance into the |
army as dental surgeons There have
been several hundred candidates. yet,
the fact that there are
but thirty places to be nlled, there still
remain number of vacancies. This is
because of the fact that the examina-
tions are very rigid. There can be no
lutstiOH DIS u lle aDllllN OF lnOSe VINO
have passed The successful candidates
are required to have n thorough knowl-
edge of dental anatomy, and, in fact, to
be practical dentists.
The. graduates of a number of dental |
colleges have failed TO meet the required
standard of the army and this fact has
aroused some of these institutions to re-
alize that the courses which they sup
ply are not all that they should be- The |
standing of some of them has not been
improved by reason of the fact that men
holding their diplomas were unable TO