TheI~ Jeual ofOrt~, 0nI _jefy aM ........y

rUBLlSHBD THB FIFTBENTH OF EVERY MONTH BY

THE C. V. MOSBY Co" SOI·ag) Metl'opolitan Bleg., St. Louis, Mo.

I"orel.. D.5.:-arllaf Brita4A-HenryKlrnp&oo. .. B.tI&b8na.t lAaUD. W. c.;........... ..-co;, .1'1~ 8tNet,~ Chamber-. ,KaH,oume; ,.-.-"J>no­tical llecUetDe," -..n- Street, DeJh1; Porto.fe_Pedro C. Tlmothee. Rat&el CorderoU. san Juan, P. R..1I1Me~.. au.•.-Slntrle copies. 75 cenu.

To &Q'Wb_ 1JI United auu., 0Iaa. PiinGateo. Ce.n1l1 Zone. Me:Dco. Raw." andPhilippine Islands. ~7.00 per year In advance.Under toreJcn poetage. '7.40. Vollune belPnswith January and ends with Deoember oteach year.

Bemu-Be_Remlttances tor sub8cr1ptlolUJmould be made by eheek. draft. PGatolIlceor exp.- molleJ" order, or restst_d t.tterNoJ'ble to the publishers. The C. v. KOIIb}'Company.

Co.trlkU....-The editor will be pleasedto couIder the puIIUoaUon of ortdIMJ IlODl­IDUIlJc&Uou.s of mertt on orthodODttc andaWed RbJecta, which must be COIlirtbuted8OIel)' to this journal.

OplAloll..-Nelther the editor nor the pub­ItAer bold ~vee responalble tor theopinions of cOllt.11butonl, nor are they re­apon.lble tor other than editorial statements.

aeprblt_The publlshers will communicatewith authorll regardIng reprints upon pub­lication ot paper.

htu8&rMka..-Suc:h halftones and alnc etch­lnp .. III thej~ at the editor .,..n~l'7 to m.......~ llJ'tlc1e. w1U be fUr'­Dlmed "'beD pho~bI or drawlDp are8uPJ)Ued by the authors of eald artIdes.

Ad"ertte__ta-ObjecUonable advert18e-menta win not be aocepted tor PIIbIIClMlM'In this JourDaI. Forme dose tII'lIt of lIIOathpreeedinc date of I...ue. AdvertJldJl« rateeand mes on applJee.t1on.

ChaA.e ., AtWu•..-The publlehen shouldbe adYilled of cbuIp ot lIUIIeortber', ......about Meen~ betore cM.te of t.Ile withboth new and old ad4reaeell ~v.n.

Nonreceipt 01 Coplee--Complalnu tor non­receipt oL coP'" or NQII8IIta tor extra. nUDI­beJ'II must be reeelved on or before theAfteQth ot the month of P\lbll~tlol1; other­wlee the 8\1&11>1)' 1s apt to be ezbaUlted.

F.ntered at the Post Offlce at St. Louis. Mo., as Second-Class Matter..--:-:-::--:-:::::----:.-=..:-:-.::---=-=_.-=-. _. ..==-:-.,-----------.. -.---:-:-=

EDITORIALS

Does the Medical Profession Appreciate the Importance of Oral Hygiene?

DUHING thl' past years many articles haye appeal't~(l in IIH'clieHI joul'Ilalsrailing attention to the seriousness 01 infections of the teeth as a possible

caUS(' of systemic conditions. ~[any physicians undoubtedly recognize the illl­portance of focal infection as related to general disturbancei'. But m: velieve.that other physicians only recognize focal infec1ion when tht,y at'(' llnublc tofind any other etiologic factor responsi\lJe for the condition which thc~' can­not handle.

\Yt' have often seen cas('s in which the teeth have b(,C'1l 8c('lls('d of heingrt'sponsible for certain pathologi<, disturbances, when a careful examination ofthe mouth failed to )'('\"('<11 any pathologic fadm' present. \Yc have known ('aspswhC')'(' Jlh~'si('iHIl'-: han' oli;Jgllos(',j rOllstitntiowil "~'mpl()Ill"; ;1" hring' !ll'Ollurpd

Editvl'ials 383

by the teeth when tests showed that all the teeth WeTe vital. However, it mu::;!be remembered that a few physicians cannot be taken as representing thewhole, and it ill our belief that the medical profession does nDt recogIlize Ureimportanc('of mouth conditions as a factol' in systemic clisturbu11l'f'S, "lyhiehopinion is horne out by a publication 'which came to our office recenl1;.',

We refer to "Symposium on the l'redinical Sigll~ of Disease with SpecialReference to the Management of the Health ExaminatiolJ, unuer the AuspiGcsof the Medi:eal Society or the l'ountryof New York Committee on PerioilieHealth Examination!' '1'his symposium ('oyers dght0en subjects gin'll b~'

mell of t11(' medical profession in llalf-houl' lectures at the Ac-ademy - ofMedicine, extending from .January G to February::!. The introiluetioll statel>that: "-The symposium of lectures enclosed are designee] to assist 111r physi­cians interested in periodic hcalth examinations by presenting additiona1 in­£ormRtion and advice given by spct·jalist".

"It is highly advantageous that men pl'operl,r cquipped in their spceialtit,sshould advise the g{c1l8ra1 practitioner RS to the preclinical symptoms w1li\'11might he of importallce ill making lwriodic health examination.

"These talks arc planned to lJC simple, deal' anu practical. \Ye wouldimpress upon our fellow phYSIcians tlw yalue oT these lectures and urge a fullattendaJ1cl' .

.. We would further take this opportunity oit hanking our brothel' ph~'si

cians who have volunteered their services and made this s;vmposillm possible.--­Medical Society of the Connt1J of :Yew York,"

TIle COlllmittee on P"riodic Health Examination is composed of tht~ followlng men: Orrin Sage Wightman, M.D., Chairman; \Vard C. t'rampton, ::\f.D.Chairman of Su1>-Committee; (~harl(;s 1\1. Dowd, M.D., Academy of :MBdicinecooperating.

The commit'tee i~ rCTH'\'selltativ(' of t-he medical profession in New YOl'k.In spite of the high standing of the men responsible £01' this symposium, thereis not oue lecture covering any phase of the oral eavity 61' the relation of theteeth to the geueI'al health of the individual. We find a great many conditionsare mentioned, some quite common, while others, we believe, have £<11' less -todo with the health of the human family than mouth conditions,

There probably is no town in America in which the imporliuH:e of oralhygiene is kept so weU before the pUblic as it is in Sew York City. The OralHygiene Committee of Greater New York bas succeed@d in irriprc!'i.'ling theimportance of periodic dental examinations upon' the school authorities tosuch an extent that a bulletin ''las recently sent to the superintendent.,> andteachers of thepublic schools calling attention to the fact that the parents ofeach child must be notified that the child oshould be takC1l to the dentist atleast 0111'C a yeur for dental examination. We also find that in other schoolsthe authorities have made a rule that no child can gl'aduate unless his teethare in good condition ang he can produce a certificate from the dentist showingtllat all necessar;y dent aI workfias been cared fol'. We also find tbat th'edaily press of New York f'ity publishes artirlos for the echiration of the publicin regarel1n t1lr cure· of tlw terth.

Editorials

In spite of all these educational act ivities the Medical Society of the Countyof New York and the New York Academy of Medicine in cooperating withthe abo\'e society, have produced a symposium on periodic health examina­tion and have evidently forgotten that the patient ever snffers from dentaldistmbanees, This is more noticeable as the symposium pays special attentionto the heart, circulation and infection but not a word is said about teeth as acansative factor of heart disturbancl's. The eye, car, nose and throat were alsogiH'n special consideration. In the face of the above facts, we are inclinedtl) belil'W' that. certain men in the medical profession do not recognize theimportanee of dental cOlH1itions to the general health of the patient. Weareinclinecl to believe that man~' of the medical men do not realize that the teetha I"E' ju'-i as important from thc standpoint of 11 ealth as sOllle of the oth0r con­ditio])~ ]'('frJ'l'0(1 to in th0 ahovl'-mentionl'c1 symposium.

Aids to Operative Dentistry':'

THIS little book by Dr. Jamison is d0signed for the use of junior dentalstudrnts and therefore has many of the faults of this type of work, so that

the studrllt should not depend on it solely for his information.

'We are glad to see that early in the book the author says, "Dentistry isa profession in which the surgical and art sides should be equally balanced."The author's division of operations, g-rouping them under five heads, is tobe highly commended. He divides his operations into prophylactic, conserva­tin, extirpative as well as ortho.dontic and prosthetic.

Thl' nomenclature is genera'lly good; in fact, it is to be noted that ourbrethren over the sea are less ginn to loose terminology than we are athome. He has adopted the correct usage when he refers to the maxillary ormandibular teeth when describing different operatioll'J on them. He uses theterm premolar which is the custom in Great Britain (in a recently publishedletter Thaddeus Hyatt remarks that tb.e word bicuspid is out of date) ; healso includes" fissure filling" in his list of prophylactic operat~ons. The de­scription of Jamison's methods for this operation is worthy of study as heohjl'cts to the use of the bur in cutting out the fissures in young premolarsand molars. Instead, he uses sodium peroxide to cleanse the fissure of fooddEibris, alcohol as a desiccating agent, and silver nitrate to sterilize. He thenfins with either gold, copper amalgam or cement. These drugs may seem tous a little harsh, but throughout his book he is a great believer in the efficacyof' strong' drugs. His chapter on gold filling we would consider to be his)('st as these operations seem to be his forte, In the description of the prepa­ration of cavities we see no mention of the Black dicta; in fact, his cavitypreparation and other technic for inlay work is weak.

In the chapter devoted to root canal work Jamison gives some wfird[jilviee as viewed on this side of the water. After long descriptions of remov-

• Ai,ls to Operative Dentistry by J. D. Hamilton .lamison, H.D.D., L.D.S.• \\'m. \Voo,1 &Co. ::-;. Y, :fl 50. One of the Students' Aids series.