Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery - Dental Columbian Yearbook (New York, NY)

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Clifford Whitman Julius Tarshis Harry A. Galton D.D.S. D.D.S. D.D.S. Francis J. Loughlin Henry Nahoum D.D.S. D.D.S. James Jay D.D.S. Monroe Gliedman Richard Gliedman Edward Teltsch D.D.S. D.D.S. D.D.S. Walter Spengeman David Blistein D.D.S. D.D.S. Bert B. Schoenman D.D.S. NICHOLAS A. DI SALVO D.D.S., Ph .D. Associate Professor of Dentistry Director of Orthodontics In this era of relative individual economic well-being, when organized groups exert continuous pressures at every turn in order to assure their own increasing material benefits, too little is said about the responsibili- ties of such groups to society at large. It is thus appropriate that the Class of 1958 should choose as its theme, The Responsibility of the Dentist to Society. For other groups to forget their responsibilities may be merely in- considerate; for dentistry it would be a serious violation of the cardinal principle, that the welfare of the patient must supercede all other con- siderations. We must guard and preserve this principle at all cost, for not only are moral and legal questions involved, but also our own economic well-being. Patients immediately sense an attitude which does not make their welfare of paramount importance and will avoid such practitioners in self-defense. The dentist has as his minimum legal responsibility, the maintenance of his fund of knowledge and his proficiency at least at the level which is considered average in his community, but his moral and ethical obliga- tions demand that he continually strive to supercede this minimum and to develop his professional skills to the highest level which his capabili- ties permit. This can only be accomplished by keeping awake that desire for self-improvement which our teachers have tried to instill in all of us during our stay at school. Take pride in the work you do and in the knowledge that you provide a real service to society — for these can be the greatest of all the rewards which the practice of dentistry brings. Nicholas A. DiSalvo, DDS Associate Professor of Dentistry ORTHODONTICS

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Prosthodontics, one of the most attractive and rewarding areas of den- tistry, is currently under attack by organized groups of dental technicians who claim that they are receiving an inadequate share of the rewards of practice. One group, calling itself denturists is demanding the perogatives of a profession and appealing directly to the public with claims that they design and construct over ninety five percent of all dentures and that dentists do not . . . make or even supervise the making of dentures. These claims are untrue. The patient in a hospital may have only a few minutes of daily contact with his physician, perhaps not even every day. Yet he is receiving round the clock care by a large variety of trained hospital personnel, working under the physician ' s supervision and responsibility. Similarly, the dentist may choose to delegate many technical phases of fabricating a dental appliance to highly skilled laboratory technicians. But it is the dentist who understands the anatomy, physiology and pathology of the oral structures. Only he can bear the responsibility for the results of the treatment. Through knowledge of basic and clinical sciences and of estab- lished principles of prosthodontics, the dentist can integrate the mechanical appliances with the living structures so that form and function are restored, health maintained, and residual structures preserved. The welfare of the patient, and the future of prosthodontics will be best served by continued collaboration of the professional skill of the dentist with the craftsmanship of the laboratory technician, but with the dentist in responsible charge. The hopes and criticism of unhappy laboratory tech- nicians should serve only to reinforce the resolve of our profession to serve our patients in a way that will leave no doubt that the future of prosthodontics is in good hands. M. A. Pleasure, D.D.S., M.S.P.H. Assoc. Clinical Prof, of Dentistry GILBERT P. SMITH D.D.S. Professor of Dentistry Director of Prosthetic Dentistry Robert E. Herlands John J. Lucca Howard A. Arden D.D.S. D.D.S. D.D.S. William J. Miller Herbert D. Ayers, Jr. Max A. Pleasure D.D.S. D.D.S. D.D.S. PROSTHETIC DENTISTRY 3eorge W. Hindels Joseph C. DeLisi Ennio L. Uccellani George Schwendener D.D.S. D.D.S. D.D.S. D.D.S. Edward Kesseler Robert Kelley William C. Hudson Victor Coronia D.D.S. D.D.S. D.D.S. D.D.S. Sebastian A. Bruno D.M.D.

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William A. Verlin Julian Schroff Marc Louis Berg Philip Kutner Janice Schreiber George Kiriakopoulos DDS DD.S. D.D.S. D.D.S. D.D.S. D.D.S. ernard Nathanson D.D.S. Ovid Slavin Laurence Marder Arnold Rosenberg D.D.S. D.D.S. D.D.S. Mark Benes D.D.S. Abraham Kobren D.D.S. Jerry J. Adelson D.D.S. Dentistry, as a profession in our social structure, implies a high order of responsibility to society, because of the nature of the health service it represents and the manner in which the dentist provides it. The every day dentist-patient relationship is such that trust and con- fidence are factors of greatest importance. Being the repository of the trust and confidence of his patients, the dentist must have an unques- tioned, inherent ethical sense in ored to discharge his professional obligations. This represents the sum total of his basic honesty, drive for perfection, and the constant desire to do what is best for his patients ' health and welfare. The dentist ' s responsibility to society today includes an additional function which offers a challenge and a satisfaction probably unequalled by any other professional accomplishment. This additional function is prevention of disease. The challenge lies in the dentist ' s ability to re- cognize disease and its etiological factors, and to recommend measures for elimination of the disease and the factors causing it. Our greatest challenge today is the prevention of dental caries in children. This is the most prevalent disease of our time, and its incidence is increasing. Its eradication by means of dental procedures is impossible of attainment. The dental graduate must accept the children of his area as patients, and be prepared to solve their pedodontic problems, espe- cially those relating to prevention. Only through positive exercise of preventive measures can the trend be intercepted. Through such means the dentist can truly fulfill his responsibil ity to society. Solomon N. Rosenstein. DDS Professor of Dentistry PEDODONTICS SOLOMON N. ROSENSTEIN D.D.S. Professor of Dentistry Director of Pedodontics