University of Nanking - Linguist Yearbook (Nanking, China)

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THE LINGUIST 67 0110 would easily realize this if he could but see the various eases that Come to us through the hospital clinic every morning. We might rightly Call the majority of them emergency eases since they come only for the relief of pain caused by decay of long standing, infections, and severe and numerous abscesses. The number of eases of pyorrhea is surprisingly large, many more than we have in America. Practically all the food the Chinese eat needs little chewing, thus depriving the teeth and gums of their needed exercise. When there are deposits on the gums their vitality is S0 low that they cannot combat the many kinds of bacteria present. Thus the gums become red and swollen and pyorrhea soon develops. Giving relief to these patients who come because of extreme necessity is the means of beginning a larger field of service in what we might call Dreventive dentistry. Here is an opportunity to teach the value of daily Cleansing and the frequent removal of more obscure deposits before they Cause trouble and to demonstrate the folly of allowing decay to continue l0l1g after it is evident. It will at first be difficult to convince the Chinese of this because they have always done without such preventive methods, and so why should they commence them now. What does decay matter as long as it causes '10 pain ? Even among the better educated there are many who have.yet to learn how much a healthy mouth will mean to their general health. The work done for the students of Nanking University and Ginling College af- nominal charges will spread the information about the benefits of Preventive dentistry. . Recently we examined 350 students of the University of Nanking Middle School and found only 135 who needed attention to the extent of fP0rn one to three fillings and in some cases extractions. The front teeth W0re almost invariably sound. Out of two hundred boys examined at the Y. M. C, A. not a cavity was found in front teeth. It is true that the Chinese have fewer decayed teeth than Americans although I do not know the reason for this. Even though there is less decay in the teeth Of the Chinese than one W0uld look for, considering their dental methods, there is plenty to do for th0Se who use modern methods. Here in Nanking, a city of about 500,000, there are only three Western trained dentists. In China as a whole there are less than ten missionary dentists as it is only recently that the Mission

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66 DENTISTRY The vulcanizer usually occupies first place in the windowjprobably because the cost was much more than that of other equipment, and also givGS evidence to -the passing public that the dentist can do plate work. In the second place we see a little glass cage displaying artifical dentures, gold crown work mounted on plaster casts with colored stone facings, and usually a large pile of extracted teeth. The larger the pile is the better, for it indicates a number of years of experience- if the man in the shop pulled them all himself. Somewhere in view is at pile of old plaster of paris impressions, whose advertising value is the same as that of thG extracted teeth. Inside the shop a foot engine stands beside the chair which iS made inviting by having a fur rug for upholstery. On the walls hang large colored sectional drawings of the head showing the anatomy of the mouth and jaws. These serve as a sort of diploma while in reality they are practically the sole source of the dentistls scant knowledge. 'Forceps and impression trays also hang onthe walls. Some of these shops are very neat and clean although there is no sign of a sterilizer for they know nothing of ascepsis or cleanliness by sterilization. We see the dentists working in the ways that are the best they know, doing good in some cases but in most cases probably doing harm. It is this which causes us to realize the field there is for dentists to teach at least a few the better way. At the Gu Low Hospital here in Nanking as well as in the other Mission Hospitals the nurses are required to take four years of training before graduating from the course and during this time they are given good courses in physiology, anatomy, bacteriology, materia mediea, etc. A few of those who wish to do so can take a two year course in dentistry after finishing the nursingeourse. Thus a graduate dentist should be very well qualified since during the two years of dental work much practical work is done on clinical patients besides the technical studying. The course here could almost be compared to the den al course in New York State which requires four years of medical study with two years of special dental training. One student was graduated from such a course last year. He has proved himself to be a very skilled and able workman. It is only through the training of Chinese that we can hope to do any extensive good for the people in general in t-he way of better dental service.

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68 DENTBTRY Boards have included dentists on their long list of workers. Since this branch of work has been recognized as being in the line of missionary service the practice has been to send a foreign dentist to those hospitals which are located near a large foreign community so that he can serve the missionaries as well as train native dentists. The surface has been barely scratched even in the few large eent6I'5 and not until means are provided whereby more and more native students may receive dental training will the need be adequately met. TAISHAN TU FU Of T'ai Shan what can one say? Here Ln and Ch'i for aye Freshly their youth retain. Here Heaven and Earth unite Spiritual Grace to form : As a pole of shade and light It sunders the dusk and dawn. Soaring through layers of cloud, At sight of it swells the breast. At a glance the eye can view The birds coming home to rest. But climb to the uttermost peak- The other hills seem small As the eye o'erlooks them all.