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

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Oral Hygiene ENTAL HYGIENE is not the innovation that the present widely-reaching movement would seem to indicate. As far back as the first century, before the Christian era, we find Asclepiades advocating a sterile condition of the oral cavity, basing his curative processes upon hygienic care. Following him came Cornelius Celsus, the Roman, also born before Christ. He was even more explicit than his predecessor, advocating the removal of black stains and a thor- ough rinsing of the mouth every morning. Next in line were Pliny and Archigenes, both of whom men- tioned the application of medicines in the treatment of toothache. After these, little is known until Albucasis the Arabian came forward in the eleventh century with a full set of tartar-removing instruments, with directions for their proper use. Succeeding Albucasis, we find a long line of writers and prominent medical men, enthusiasts of Oral Hygiene. We have Guy de Chauliac, the greatest surgeon of the Middle Ages ; Grovanni of Arcobi ; Pari, Riviere and many others. But there is a vast difference between the present movement and the Oral Hygiene advocated by Ascle- piades and his successors. These were far-sighted men, who appreciated its value, but they reached only those who were educated sufficiently to grasp its meaning, and take advantage of their teachings. The scope of the presene Dental Hygiene movement has been immensely increased from those iso- lated efforts of our predecessors because of the economic problems involved. Where enormous sums have been spent for hospitals, sanitariums, and the like, it has been found more economical to prevent the spreading of these conditions, which require such places of recuperation, than to allow them to occur and do the repair work afterwards. The present campaign, then, is based upon the economic idea that the teeth are an essential factor in producing efficiency in the human body, and that the masses, being the economic factor in the develop- ment of the resources, wealth and power of the century, should be protected in every possible manner from those conditions which detract from their efficiency as a producing agent. A large number of persons at the present time have sufficient interest in their well-being to consult their dentist often enough to insure the retaining of these organs. But the masses which represent 75 18

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Spend at least fourteen hours every week in professional reading and study. Don ' t be narrow. Know all the poets and authors of merit. Avoid trashy fiction. Belong to and attend the church. Join in every movement for the benefit and uplift of your community. Vote at every election, but avoid self-seeking politics. Exchange freely with your professional brother opinions and demonstrations. Try out your theories of practice before you exploit them. Never attempt to deceive or make false impressions in reports of cases. Belong to your State and local dental and medical societies. Build every day an addition to the knowledge you now possess, and you will be sought for out of many. Never dismiss a patient until you are satisfied you have done your best. Bring into your service the sunshine of a glad heart, and let a smiling face be its index. If this prescription be not shaken, but regularly taken, it will bring that genuine success to which Woodrow Wilson refers in the following paragraph : We do not live for material success. Not one of us has ever been satisfied for a single moment by material success. We live in order that our spirits may be serene. We live in order that days may come in which, when the work is over, we may look our fellow-men in the eyes with unfaltering gaze, and when we shall come to the brink of the grave and go down into its depths we may know that we, at least, have done our little parts to see that men are elevated to the uplands of vision and unselfish achieve- ment. Dr. B. Holly Smith. 17

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per cent, of the people of this country have not the time to consider nor obtain information concerning conditions which pertain to proper sanitation and health, or, if they have the time, have not the means for obtaining them. How to assist these people in obtaining such knowledge that they may properly preserve their teeth, and by preserving their teeth prolong their lives and health, is of vast importance to the public and the dental profession. One cannot work to any advantage without the assistance and co-operation of the other. Newspaper articles and dental exhibits have confronted the people for many years, but have not induced the proper and anticipated result. The child, being the coming generation and the only indi- vidual where a preventive, and not a cure, is needed, is the fortress toward which the different move- ments of the present campaign are directed. The child, then, is not reached by any of the newspaper articles nor dental exhibits. But the child must attend school. It is there, then, that the fortress is best attacked, and to this end the public should pass laws granting the Dental Profession the power of ex- amining and interesting the children through the medium of the public schools. But examination and instruction is not all that is needed. Practical work and the clinics must be maintained in order to prevent the further development of those conditions which already exist. To further this purpose then, the public, again as a part of its duty to itself, should furnish money and means for the proper accomplishment of these ends. But, as I said, the public cannot work without the assist- ance of the dentist, nor can the dentist accomplish much without the co-operation of the masses. Then, what obligations rest upon a member of the Dental Profession? He, to be sure, is not exempt. He must, as one of the people, be willing to share their burden of financing the campaign, whether it be in currency or in devoting his time and labors to the curative processes. Then, too, as a unit in the population, he should enthuse in the enacting and lend all possible assistance to the passing of such laws as will further the means of accomplishing the best result. He should also, when giving his labor to the clinics, whether gratuitously or otherwise, work conscientiously to this great and noble end — the prolongation of human life, the more hygienic condition of the country, and the riddance of numerous diseases, many of which have proven fatal, should be the aim and ambition of every being in this great civilized country in gen- eral, and every member of the dental profession, and of each student of that profession in particular. E. D. L., ' 13. 19