The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1915-05-27
HUMAN REPAIR SHOP
PATCHING UP THE WOUNDED

Dusseldorf, May II Correspond
ence of The Associated Press -"Nou
don't need to thank me for this II
long ago lost its significance"
The this" was a womans wedding
ring, worn and scratched. The mes
sage was blurred and poorly written
Ring and message, indicating some
hidden tragedy that never will be re-
yealed, were sent to Or. Christian
Bruhn, one of Germany's most distin
guished dental surgeons, for the fur
thcrance Of his present life work the
patching up of soldiers whose jaws
and teeth have been shot away.
The patching up process required
much gold. Dr. Bruins clinic is free
and, thus far at least. unsupported
from any official quarter. AS his
fame has gone out over Germany, how
ever his gold reserve has increased
amazingly. A famous actress has
given a heavy medallion, the gift OF
the ruler of German state. A noted
literateur has donated a similar gift
from the King of Sweden. Wedding
rings, seal rings, necklaces. gold coins
from England and from Turkey, even
old gold teeth, have poureu in on DR.
Bruhn.
Men who have viewed war from ali
angles and who are intimately ac
quainted with its horrors, have de
clared repeatedly that the worst part
of it is in the hospitals The ortho
pedic institutions, where the soldiers
are painstakingly made new again 50
that they may go back to the front
are infinitely depressing.
But they cannot compare for sheer
horror with the great institution in
dusseldorf and with DR.. Bruins pri
vate Chime, where dozens and scores
of men sit or lie with half of their
faces left, with noses and upper teeth
missing, with hands enclosed in steel
framework that supports broken lower
Jaws until newly inserted bones shall
have had time to knit.
The Dusseldorf institution, of which
Dr Bruhn is the chief surgeon is de
voted exclusively to the care of sol
diers who have been injured in the
Jaws, and is far and away the largest
of its kind in Germany. Weekly it is
turning out men who, aside from scars
and somewhat impeded speech, are
about as good as before the war, men
who a few weeks or months before
were brought in in such shocking con
dition that the layman, if he could en-
du-e to gaze for long, would despair
of ever saving them.
The patients frequently are found
to have rifle bullets imbedded in the
bones Of their jaws. bullets that Otter
have been flattened out or twisted by
the compact OF lead against bone.
More serious are the shrapnel anC
grenade wounds, which tear away
whole sections of the face and leave q
Jaw fractured in a score of places.
Through use of the Roentgen ray
c. X-ray, the patients exact injury
is established on his admission. In {
majority of cases there is some por
ton of bone missing-a portion thai
must be replaced by bone from some
part Of his body.
Each patient is his own bone supply
50 to speak, and generally it is the
shin bone that serves. The ribs also
are a fertile field, and so fast does ma
ture work, the piece of bone taken out
for use in the jaw is rapidly replaced
by new growth.
one patient in the hospital late in
April, slowly recovering from a shock
ing wound that gouged out his whole
lower jaw, has strip of shin bone
II centimeters long in his mouth. Or
top OF that is a new set of serviceable
teeth. The man is healthy and rea
sonably happy.
In dozens of cases it is not only
necessary to replace bone, but skin as
well. Here again each man must sup
ply his own. Great strips of skin are
taken from the patients arms anC
grated onto cheeks or chins. Aside
from the scar along the line of stitch
ing there is usually little indication OF
the original injury.
Each man is photographed on the
Gay of arrival, and then at intervals
later as his recovery progresses. TC
the layman the results accomplished
are little short of miraculous.
In a recent trip through the hospita
On ArcOciatpd pracs cO-rpSDOudpn'