Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-05

from place to place, giving relief tn several
different regiments of the division To which
the car NAV be attached In this way men
are not compelled TO leave their particular
sectors and Journey to wherever the ear
may be stationed II has the further adj
vantage of being easily withdrawn TO the
rear during an attack. Consequently, II
is not in danger of being demolished.
The French and English personnel of the
cars consists of dental surgeon, his assist
ant. mechanic and chauffeur But 1t
always struck me rs a saving IN men II
the mechanic could at the same time be
chauffeur Necessarily. it is not possible
to work during transit. Many times |
have been reused out of sound sleep
and given relief to some poor "Poilu, who
had been enduring his gum Assesses
through the long hours OF the night, and
which, because of the cold night ar
panied him all the more. likewise 10 the
soldier with a congested pulp IN molar,
who may have walked several miles to
obtain relief
We visited and talked with Lieutenant
TAYLOR of ono OF the English ears namely
Number Ten of the records and he SAID :
We have seen The day when the man sat
on n soap box and we did what VIC could.
But the Germans saw Il hrs'. AMI
Lieutenant Taylor should know, tor he
was IN Brussels when the Germans came,
and for time they seriously considered
shooting him as n spy; but they let him
work in a hospital until Won Kissing took
charge of affairs. Won Kissing was not
soft in his methods, and Taylor got out
He cSropcd from Belgium by the sea end
of the line. crawling under the barbed wire
and walking for miles in the mud. At that
time he said the Germans had . dental
post every 10 kilometers. Every man
passed an oral inspection. II he needed
care. he got it, The German surgeons
Thoroughly realized that a wounded man
makes better recovery if his teeth are IN
good condition. No doubt lives have been
saved in this way.
Mr.. W. IL. Dolamore, l.. r. c. p,
in the course Of his presidential address
mt the thirtv-ffth annual general meeting
Of the British Dental Association, said
that never had the disasters which NAV
follow the neglect of the teeth been more
apparent than at the present time. 1t
needed but the cursory examination OF the
recruiting officer TO prove the truth ct
what the association said, that disaster
did follow the prevalence of this neglect.
II Is no secret that the army authorities
first refused men with bad teeth, but SO
many such presented themselves that
later they were admitted, irrespective Of
their dental conditions. Having been adj
united, it was found that either their
teeth must be treated or these men would
not be available for foreign service
Years ago, school dentistry and the
teaching Of oral hygiene to our school
children had been advocated. but the adj
vice WAS dlsrcgardcd or taken up grldg
ingiv The importance OF this was ad-
mitted, though its practical application
was neglected.
Now we have come to realize that when
the teeth are diseased the lack OF mastica
tory mower is second to the harm resulting
from the forming of centres, whence
general septic infection starts Then. too.
there is the need of dental aid in the treat
mcnt Of injuries to the jaw and of maXll-
larry fractures, and especially the design
ing and fixing Of intcr1ental splints, which
is a very special work, IN which experience
il gained only after many years, with
special opportunities.
Ii has been observed in many Of the
cases Of fractures Of the Jaws which reach
ed the base hospitals, that injection had
set In, and IN some repair had com
menced, and fbro-oSSeous regeneration
| had taken place. The field ambulances,
equipped as they arc with appliances TO
rapidly make splint for the fracture,
would overcome tins 10 a great extent and
with the present and improved methods Of
preventing infection, 1t seems very prob
able that the dental surgeon Will be the
| means Of lessening the time Of treatment
and obtaining far better results,
NV notes and observations 90 to show
| that the soldier wounded in the Jaw re-
1 0tIlres, in many instances. a much longer
! time 10 make "a complete recovery than one
wounded IN the body. Tins Is due, OF
! course, to the desire upon the part OF the
| general surgeon to dismiss the patient
with the least possible Disagreement
/ Wounds Of the body are covered by the
/ clothing and soldier does not so much
! mind cicatrix on the arm, the shoulder
or the thigh but the scar left from a
wound Of the jaws, where there Is g loss OF
more or less fibrous and especially osseous
tissue is Il very conspicuous and lasting
facial Disagreement.
! Every conceivable effort is being made
| bv the surgeons, who are specializing in
facial wounds, to obviate this, and the aid
that the skilled dental surgeon Is giving
them is only measured by his ingenuity
| To quickly bring the remaining fragments
Of the jaw into juxtaposltion and hold
them there by artlhcIal means, thus bridg-
ing the intervening spaces with fixtures
| over which the surgeons may stretch the
soft tissues and build for the wounded
man new lip or new cheek with the
least possible Disagreement. Later on
bone grating, which is becoming more
and more universal, supplies new osseoIs
structure, but until the time when the
surgeon can do this, the dental surgeon
must supply the fixture for holding the
parts in place At the beginning of the
present war and before the centers for
prosthesis were organized, this was not
possible and the surgeon made out the
best he could and well indeed under the
circumstances But In order To obtain the
acme Of results, the cases later on had to
be operated upon, the regenerated lis
sues broken up and put back III their
normal position. This Is one reason why
the so-called jaw case Is 50 long in tn
hospital.
II is my contention that the trained
surgeon, skilled in caring for these par
ticular eases, working In conjunction with
an equally skillful dental surgeon, who
sees the patient immediately after he has
| been wounded may do away with this
! long drawn out reconstruction and obtain
! far better results in lessening facial dis