The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1910-10-18
FAKE DENTAL PARLORS.

FAKE DENTAL PARL0Rs.
That class of persons who dearly
love to go away from home to buy
things also sends large delegations
to the city to have their dental work
done.
The better class of dentists are
encrusted in a batch of ethics which
shuts out the privilege of advertis-
ing, except so far as aplain business
card may be constructed as adver-
Using, and even thisis denied them in
some places.
Thus handicapped it IS not sur
prising that a certain species of
near-men doing business in the
larger cities in extensively furnished
office and buying liberal space in
newspapers are enabled to fastened
their clutches upon their victims,
many of them coming from places
even as large as Bemidji.
To those who have been caught,
or may be, the following may serve
as warning and convincing argu-
ment that a pretty safe place to have
ones dental work done is in the
Office of man who has won the re-
spect of the community and whose
livelihood depends upon his doing
good work.
We quote from an article in the
current issue of Hampton Magazine
written by Roy McCardell under the
title The Tooth Thinkers: Mr..
Cardell uses afidavits obtained by
the New York Dental association
from men who have worked in the
fake dental parlors. The New York
Dental association has prosecuted
500 cases against these fake dentists,
but they continue to thrive. These
stories of the operators show why.
I'VE were expected to get all the
money possible,' said one of these
operators, in his sworn confession. If
there wasn't much work to be done,
we had to find defects in the
patients teeth, anyhow. I had a
smattering of dentistry, having at
tended a dental college for a year,
but was not a graduate. I got
fairly good pay, but only on the
understanding that I must do some
thing to every patient sent to me.
If the contractor made one esti-
mate, had to raise the contract,
by finding new defects that had to
be remedied. If nothing else could
be done, I told the patient that
the gums needed hardening, OF
that the mouth was too full of acid,
and I made people come back day
after day when I did nothing ex.
cept what is professionally known
as turn cotton That is, would
clean out a tooth for filling, plug it
with cotton, and tell the patient
didn't dare fill it until I knew
whether the roots could stand filling.
Every time the patient returned,
it meant another deposit. We
wouldn't bother with a patient who
didn't make deposit every visit.
If patient tried to get out of pay.
ing, we would inject something
to make the tooth hurt, or
even remove a filling, and no mat.
ter what the work was, we always
collected in advance
I remember in one of the places
where I worked said another wit.
ness, there was a tinker who didn't
know how to fit gold crown. In.
stead of cementing it on, he simply
ground down the apex and slipped
the cap on. The woman was told il
was the newest and best method, as
she could then remove it after eating,
clean it, and always keep it polished.
Needless to say, within a month.
the tooth had decayed badly and a
real dentist fixed it up with great
difficulty. %=
II can also remember a case in
Brooklyn, where an operator, who
wanted to curry favor with the
management by bringing in large
fees, filled "a tooth with gold fill.
ing, and deliberately left a small
piece of cotton soaked in some
antiseptic, in the bottom of the
cavity. In about four, days this
cotton worked such damage from
gas formed by fermentation that