The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-01
DANGER FOR CHILD ]
 IN FAULTY TEETH
Dr. Corley Urges Establish
 ment of Free Clinics
WOULD DECREASE CRIME
recturer Last Night Supplemented His Remarks With Interesting Stere- opticon Views on the Care
 of the Teeth

Tn a lecture delivered last night at the Chamber of Commerce auditorium peiore a small but thoroughly appreciatiVe aud fence. pr. J. A. Corley, member of the committee on oral hygiene of the Ma tional Association of Dentists, spohe ln- terestingly of the work that IS oeing ac- complished toward educating the public in "care of the mouth and teeth
 Several others in attendance, including Judge N B. Feagin and Dr. George w. Randall of Blocton. president of the state association of dentists, made short ad- dresses.
 pr. Corlev's lecture was supplemented with number of stereopticon views H. frustrating the principles of dental hy- giene The speaker pointed out the needs of the establishment of a free clinic in connection with public schools, as has been done in New Orleans, Memphis and other southern cities. He dealt at length with the many advantages of public ed ucation of children in the care of the teeth. asserting that assurance of healthy bodies for school children means rise of average standing in grades
 ln0eT the Sy5ltil Ol puDiiS SNlooi TIT spection established by the dentists as- sociation, each pupil is thoroughly ex- amined. Four charts are made out for each pupil examined, one of which is sent to the national headquarters for aid in the compilation of statistics, one to the local association, one to the teacher and one to the parent of the child Each chart shows in detail the condition of the pupil s teeth, every cavity and irregularity being marked. Free clinics are established in three or four public schools of the city and each pupil in attendance Is given at tention.
 Where one person in the south suffers from the hookworm, stated pr. Corley, lO- 600 are sufferers from diseased conditions of the teeth. The checking of this evil, he added. means the checking of vice, es- pecially among the juvenile element and a vast improvement in physical and mental conditions prevalent among children. In the last year, he said, 70,OO0 pupils in the New York public schools failed to pass
 their examinations and were forced to take their terms work over. Proper dental attention, he asserted, would, as experience shows, have prevented 2o per | cent of these failures, and the city of New York would have been spared one-fourth of the s3,000O00 expense incurred in offer ing these students an opportunity to re- | cover the ground lost. In the face or such figures, he argued, no city school board can afford not to employ inspectors and establish free clinics.
 |
 pr. Corley urged immediate activity on | the part of the local dentists association | in starting the movement for the estab- | lishment of free inspection bureaus and free clinics for the public schools. In this respect he pointed out Birmingham cannot afford to be behind Memphis, New Orleans and Nashville, in all of which cities they have been provided
 | Judge N B. Feagin, who was the next speaker declared that all the lecturer s statements had his full indorsement. Free dental attention to children, he believed. will do much to decrease the number l of Juvenile miscreants. Dr. Randall, pres ident of the state association, followed in an interesting talk emphasizing the state- ments made by pr. Corley.