The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-24

a lifetime, and that each tooth is practi-
 cally separate and distinct patient.
 Though the awakening to the import
 ance of dentistry is general, as the rec
 Ords of the hospitals and clinics of every
 American city make evident, 1t seems to
 have started in Boston and to have
 reached the largest proportion of the peo-
 pie here In the number of patients
 treated the clinics of the Tufts college
 dental department is among the largest in
 the world, and in the size of Its infir'n-
 ary, as is called the room where patients
 are operated upon, it is second or third in
 the country. In fact so great are the de-
 mands put upon it, that an attempt is 10
 Ee made to raise fund for enlarging the
 present building. in order that the facil-
 ities for looking after patients may be
 nearly doubled.
 Such growth as this indicates is more
 significant when you stop to think that
 between 800 and 1000 patients are being
 tteated every week during the nine
 months of the Tufts Dental School term,
 and that for four hours every week day
 the "A operating chairs in the big infirm-
 ary are constantly in use. The large
 number of patients treated, varying from
 100 to 150 in the first part of the week to
 between 300 and 400 on Saturday morning,
 
 Of course, no charge is made for the ma
 ior portion of the work of the clinics, for
 many of the patients are school children
 and dentists bills are luxury that many among the adults cannot afford. As rule though patient pays the actual cost of the materials used in his work, getting free the knowledge. skill and sci entiflc appliances which utilize them. IF
 even so slight charge is beyond his means he pays such portion of 1t as he 1 can and only if he is really destitute is his treatment without any price. for that | is the method of intelligent charity now adays. So the true reason for the pres ent popularity of the traditionally unpop- l ular dentists chair is that it's importance
 to the community and to the individual is becoming more widely known.
 As frequently happens. the first i'm pressive lesson to the public is being taught in this case by the authorities who
 have the health of the community in their
 charge About a year ago the Boston
 school board installed trained nurses to all the school houses of the city supple
 mentng the medical inspection of the children, and it is they who are respons-
 Dle for a large proportion of the big at- tendance at the Saturday morning clinics at Tufts. From g o'clock until 1 of this school holiday the Tufts infrmary $ crowded with youngsters awaiting their turns in the dentists chair-and young sters, too, Of the age when many of us. if we were sent alone, used to look hes
 itatingly at the dentists door bell and then scuttle away to spend the hour of , our appointment amid pleasanter sur roundings.
 But being one of the 76 patients in a pig, bright, airy room, equipped with all the ingenious perfection of hospital con- cit ,iuo apiIln every instrument shining bright from it's antiseptic bath, the white enamel chairs and glass shelving almost comforting in their spotlessness-being one of 76 boys and girls, men and women, all of whom are almost uncomfortable as you are,
 but none of whom Is making the slight est fuss about it, seems to have psy- chological effect. Not only is there rarely a sound to be heard here, but there seems to be a sort of restfulness df you can inn agine restfuness in such a place) caused by having something else to occupy your mind besides your own personal troubles. Great things are expected from the af- forts of the dentists, particularly among school children and the conclusions that will be drawn from effect of scientific care of the teeth will be equally important and interesting when the work has gone on long enough to allow professional opin- ions to be formed with positiveness. What affects the health of the child is bound to affect the health of the man; and, as has been proved over and over again in other cases of living. the example set l,y the child frequently has more weight with the parent than any amount of ad- vice from the most competent grown-up. The theory now is that apart from any question of health as affecting other things, chids scholarship, being in- ,o1, ind 1,a I'll by physical condition as by mental devel- cpment will be distinctly benefited ny , whatever improves the bodily welfare, and so will respond noticeably to the re- suits of dentistry. The children of the poor especially-such children as come ia great numbers to the Tufts dental clinics should have the most careful attention given to their teeth. which are of more practical value to them than to more for tunate youngsters. The anaemic. ill nour- shed child of the tenement falls into it's unfortunate state not only because it is not properly fed and housed, but also be- cause it does not get the most benefit from what food 1t has, for the digestion, the nerves and so every part of the sys- tenn. are affected by the condition of the mouth, Such satisfactory results have already been obtained from the treatment of Boston school children that far-seeing observers anticipate the time when every school house will have its own consulting
 room where pupils will be regularly in spected by both doctors and dentists and will receive whatever treatment is nec- essary for their well being.
 Modern dentistry goes beyond extract ing troublesome molars, making false sets" and filling aching vofds. The whole care of the mouth is its province. The twentieth century dentist is specialist i In this, and the importance of his special ty Is apparent from the fact that most disease germs enter the system through the mouth. and most diseases are now known to be transmitted by germs. Tn other words, if the mouth Is kept in good