The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-16

Ing Which men of note in the profess sion We're heard On special themes the fifty-second annual session Of the Connecticut State Dental association held at the Griswold. New London, Conn, closed yesterday The mem bers of the association of this city, many of whom attended, will be par ticularly interested in that portion of the exercises which had to do with the work of the dental hygerists.
 Thesopening day was occupied by the Tn&ftine work consisting of reports of the various committees. etc. Nel- vile s. Hoff, D. D. S., of Ann Aroor, dich.,s editor of the Dental Register, \ dean and professor of Prosthetic Den tistry of the University of Michigan; read a. paper on Plate Protests which prfved a valuable contribution to the Literature on that subject. Tuesday evening Henry Sage Cunning, 5D- D. S., of NRNA ork;S gave an illustrated talk, Athe sUB5ect being Local Anaesthesia-' -'' The slides were shown reproducing Guido Fischer's celebrated moving pie Eture operating under novocain. We'd nesday morning Fred. B.. Moves, D. D. s. Professor Oorth hodontia and His ltology, University of Illinois gave an sillustrated talk on peridental mem brane, followed by a discussion led 4 by pr. Robert H. W. Strang of this city. N
 Wednesday afternoon the opening SesSioH was held of the Connecticut fDentaE Hygienists association which is meeting in connection with the Con necticut State Dental association. Mrs. I Irene E. Newman, of Bridgeport, President of the Association, deliver edN the opening address. In anSfnter- eSting paper she pointed out the pro gress of the work of the dental hygien- ists, not alone in Connecticut but throughout the country and advocated n amendment to the dental laws of Connecticut, whereby there would be established definite educational stan dards providing. state examinations for the hygienists. Following Mrs. New mans address, which met with favor, by those present, a most interesting paper was read by Elizabeth Beatty, D. D. S. of the dental corps of the pub lie schools of Bridgeport. Dr. Beatty's paper lis of such peculiar interest to the people of Bridgeport that we print it in full below.
 Operative work in the public sSch ooIS at once suggests a dental c1nic of the reparative type By repara- tive, we mean the type of clinics that have been organized in various cities throughout the country, to fill the teeth of the poorer class of school children whose parents canot afford to pay of operative dentistry. These clinics have grown greatly in numbers. In some cities the clinic has been cen. trally located, in others, the work be- 1nS dCIu1lIy QOn0 III the SCHOOLS J uSL what progress these reparatfve clinics are making toward getting control of dental carries I have not been able, as yet, to find out.
 ''In the city of Bridgeport a dental clinic has been established in the pub lie schools for the prevention of den l tai decay. This work is divided into three parts. First, the educational, which consists of classroom talks, ster- eoptieon lectures, and literature, with illustrations, to be taken home to the parents by the children. Second, pro- phy1actic treatments of the surfaces Of the teeth, given at regular inter Va1s for the first five years of the cfai1d's school life, and tooth brush drills to teach the method of brush ing. Third, the filling of the small cavities of the first perm4nent molars Nor the children in the first and sec- ond Erades- It is this latter division that has been my field of service dur ing the past year, and although there has been more work to. do than one individual could accomplish, yet we feel that we have been able to pre- vent the future loss of many six year no1a.rs by the early treatment of the small cavities.
 "It is the endeavor of the Bridge portfsclinic to start all children.on an equal basis at six or seven years o1 age, regarding their permanent teeth i and by educational and preventive q carries during the period of eruption o1 most of the permanent teeth, or unti they are twelve years of age. If, after starting upon such basis, the chil6 and; his parents choose to ignore the proper care of the teeth, it then be comes their own misfortune.
 ''Any and all children in the frs and second grades who have small cav itiesS in the six year moIars are 9Iigi b1e for my services. No distinctions ! rI1ufc do n 7iet PaI we will have the services of another woman dentist to aid us in this work which we choose to call s'preventiv< operative dentistry We believe tha the city is in every way Justified IT doing such work to a limited degree.
 t"Money appropriated by the city fol a dental clinic, the main object o1 which is to fill and repair the teett of the children, becomes an expendi ture for a favored few. AS it is i'm. for all of the children in the public schools, reparative clinic which take! care of the teeth of but fraction O. these children is introducing into the schools, a charity which should nevol be permitted.
 '"The reparative type of clinic ha. a tendency to pauper1ze the child, al we'll as the parents, and tends to des troy character building by giving tn child a valuable service without an. compensation or return effort on hi part, in other words, giving him some thing for nothing. This prnciple W believe to be wrong, for a person soo1 loses his independence and self Fespec js he is willing to receive benefits with out adequately meeting the obligation
 eff a wealthy phiIanthropist wishe
 found a charity in his city and main tain such a clinic for the poor chi1 dren, separate and apart from th schools, that is matter for whicl the municipality is not responsible. ] then becomes a recognized charit and is accepted as such by those wh profit by it. But it would seem bet ter, if the children who have thet