Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1914-11-25
DR.. ]. H. ARMSTRONG
TALKED ON DENTAL
PROFESSION FRIDAY


speaker at the High School last Fri
day afternoon. He introduced his
talk on the opportunities in the Dental
Profession with this statement: This
is the hardest work | have been asked
TO do in many days. | am aware that
am in the presence Of an audience
that is critical, one that will watch
every phrase and sentence that | use"
DIR. Armstrong continued his talk
by saying, Il would be pleased if you
would allow me to tell you stories.
instead OF talking to you on the sub
Ject allotted to me. Allow me to tell
you a story that / heard last night.
A Scotchman in "a crowd of recruits
who had been refused admission into
the army was asked why he was re-
fused. Well, said the Scotchman,
they told me that il was because |
had bad teeth. | told them that |
lid not know that | had to bite the
enemy, but supposed that / had to
shoot them An Irishman was then
asked why he was refused admission.
He made the same answer, bad teeth
! And l told them, said he, that |
| didn't suppose that we would have
TO ate the bastes after we killed
them.
|
talks is that they are intended TO bring
to your notice what the opportunities
are along certain lines. 1t is hard for
! boys and girls TO decide on the voca-
lion they wish to follow This is es-
pecially hard for boys. OF course all
girls want to be school teachers AS
for the boys l do not intend to advise
them to become dentists. 1t is not
my intention to convert any boys to
the notion of becoming dentists this
afternoon. One OF the biggest trou-
! bles with the boys, and girls too, of
/ the present day is that they are not
in a position to analyze their qualities
and qualifications for CERTAIN profess
sions or life work. They have not had
| enough experience and need more
suggestions to enable them to decide.
| Now who are the successful den
/ fists? Let me say right here that
| success is only a relative term. This
| being true however you cannot reach
! the top OF the ladder in dentistry in
the small town Why? Well, prim-
arily because the fees you can charge
are entirely too small. Most OF you
wonder at that but it is true. The
most successful dentists are men who
receive from $40 to $50 an hour for
\ their work. They usually work at
their chairs from about ten o'clock
in the morning until three o'clock in
the afternoon. They have expert
mental laboratories at their homes.
They can experiment on work and
methods in their leisure hours. They
! have the time TO do it and they also
have the money to live easily in the
community i'm which they reside.
Those persons who would take up
the dental profession should not be
afraid of work. 1t is no easy job.
This reminds me of a story. Horace
| Greeley was accosted by a young man
once who asked him for an easy job.
| Greeley replied. Well, that is pretty
hard TO get. j could not advise the
| business of agriculture as that would
mean long hours and. many times,
hard work. l would not suggest the
commercial life for that too is hard,
and the professional life is harder
still, l believe the only easy job is in
I the grave
"As a usual thing the only object
that any man or woman should have
| for getting into the dental field is to
! be OF service in his profession. And
if you make good use of your OPP
portunity you will gain success. OPP
| portunity and success are linked to-
| gether. Opportunity is at the bottom
of the ladder and success at the top.
Dentistry is a branch of medicine.
1t is the youngest branch. This pro-
fesson is only about eighty years old
The profession OF dentistry is
divided into several classes or spec
ialties. You may not understand
where specialists would find room for
work in this profession. l will emu
merate some OF them. First there is
the general practitioner. He is the
man who practices in the small town.
He is Obliged to do all kinds of work
and is expected to be able TO handle
anything that comes along. Second
there is the extractor. He is the per-
son who does nothing but extract
teeth Then we have the mechanic,
or the dentist that does nothing but
make bridges, etc Again we have
the dentist that does nothing but
straighten crooked teeth. The in
vestigators are another class of dental
surgeons that have an important work
! to do. They furnish us with what IL
good in research and new things.
There are several requirements
necessary TO entering the dental col
prospective student must be grad
uate of good high school. A two
year literary course before entry is
now being agitated but has not been
favorably passed on yet i would adj
wise those of you who may be expect
ing to take up dental work to get all
you can, while in the high school, out
Of physics, chemistry, zoology and
mathematics.
Before you graduate from a dental
college you are required to take a
three years course. The first two
years are not far different from the
| first two years in a physicians course
You may think it strange that
dentist should be asked to do this,
| but the fact remains that the dental
course is closely allied to that of the
| regular medical doctor. The third