University of Maryland Baltimore Dental School - Mirror Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

Page 19 text:

THE MIRROR The Future of Dentistry AT the time when a man is called upon to select his vocation he is so immature in iudgment, unripe in experience and defccti e in knowledge that he can gi -e this ital subject no adecjuate consid- eration antl no attention commensurate ' ith its importance. If he gi e thought to the subject, it must necessarily come from the fallow mind of youth, and it is likely that some prejudiced or ill- formed fancy will determine his choice. Some idea undigested of an easy road to personal gain, an easy way to distinction or the imaginary promise of emancipation from labor may direct his course. Sometimes the most trivial circumstance apparently in no way connected with a man ' s future may turn his steps to that vocation which will pro e his lile-work. Another method by which an individual may assume the responsibility of a profession is that he ma - ha e been ordained or selected for it bv parental authority or the authority of custom. Apparent haphazard choice of a vocation is often also the case. It happens almost invariably that, no matter what calling a man has espoused, he comes in time, especially in our restless civilization, to think that if he had chosen some other vocation he would have been more successful or would have lived a fuller and more useful life. Is this unnatural? It seems, even though we were cast for our calling by the wisdom of Divinity, we would vet have times of dissatisfaction. But the dissatisfaction, which is to be regrettetl and comlemiied, is that which comes from selfishness, envy and failure to appreciate our opportunities. We who have chosen the profession of dentistry shoukl not give time to l.imenting because of the fancieil superiority of some other calling. Rather let us exult in the fact and feel that entire satisfaction that we have chosen a profession that offers possibilities and opportiuiities without parallel tor scll- cultui ' e, lienelits to hunianily anil personal betterment in every way. It behooves us, therefore, as stutlents to ap|ily ourselves diligentlv in order that we mav be prepared to take aiivantage of these opportunities. Toilay dentistry means so much that a man could spend his whole life in its vast resources ani.1 yet only find he had just begun. 13

Page 18 text:

THE MIRROR A ®0ctst i M ' r ' 3 lu tltr Brltmil uir luur sa uirll; tSjrrr ' a tu radt unhlr anu: Sfprr ' s tu tltr misfurtmira we all liaur lmt : vve ' B tu tljr BurrrBsrs iituii; SfErr ' s tu uitr rlaHamatra arattrrrfi un ' ; i rrr ' a tu tlip alnmnt, nnitf tl;r Itaa; l rrr ' a tu mtr farultji, (Bah lilraa tltnit all: rrr ' a tu 1. (£. i. 0. fc. ». III.. ' 12

Page 20 text:

THE Before considering these opportunities and the future of dentistry it might not be amiss to revie v MIRROR our origin and growth. Let us, then, delve briefly into our past. As far back as we can go in history no great civilization has existed without paying some attention to the care and treatment of teeth in health and disease. During the height of Egyptian civiHzation we find reference to the dental specialist attend- ant at court, and it is barely possible that information spread in all directions, or it may be that we had a simultaneous origin in the extreme Orient, where we find mention by the Chinese of the tooth brush 1500 years B. C. At any rate, from this time on scarcely any great people lived who did not pay as much attention to the disease-s of the teeth as to other organs. Litterateurs, naturalists and general historians all refer to some phase of dentistry often enough to remind us of the fact that we can be proud of our ancient origin, traditional as it may seem. The Greeks learned from the Egyptians, and from ancient Greece knowledge was diffused in m any directions. Up to this time the prevention and medical treatment of caries prevailed. If we now can rely upon the museums for evidence, we find that surgical methods were employed, that is, extraction of loose teeth, and just a little later, during the height of Etruscan ci ' ilization, some attempts at restoration of lost teeth by bridge work. The Romans were evidently well instructed, as we find much e -idence of dentistry, such as instruments for the extract- ing and cleansing of teeth. With the beginning of the Dark Ages we also suffer with the rest, but when restoration by the Arabs set in, about the eighth century, dentistry was not lost sight of, and it is of great interest to us to know that as early as the twelfth century a book by a student of the University of Strassburg appeared dealing with dentistry alone. In the fifteenh century we have the writings of Arculanus, who appears to have been the first to definitely advocate the use of gold foil in filling decayed teeth. About this same period there flourished in P ' rance the great barber surgeon, Ambroise Pare, known as the father of modern surgery and also as the foster-father of dental surgery. He was the first, so far as known, to practice orthodontia. But the real renaissance of dental surgery did not arrive until the time of Pierre Fauchard, the father of modern dentistry and author of a monumental work, The Sur- geon Dentist. Dr. Chapin A. Harris says of him: He found the dental art a crude branch of mechanics; he left it a digested and systematic branch of the curati -e art. He was born in Brittany 14