BLACKSMITH TOOTH y OPERATORS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 177, 22 April 1919, Page 7

BLACKSMITH TOOTH y OPERATORS

■ : '' .y ~. —7 ' UNREGISTERKD DIvNTISTS IN. , ■ ENULAND. Remarkable evidence of Ihe evils of practice by unregistered dentists is given 111 the report ot tliu Ijritisfi Departmental Committee 011 the Dentists- l Act. Halt' the illness in Ihe country is due to teeth neglect, says the report, and'to (lie practice l.iy ignorant men who set up as dentists wniiiiut any training. '

Among tne.-e uiiu-iuned .pracwiinners are bmchei-.->,.colliers, cieres, iur-lx-iUiTs, bliicksnutus, iiisui-iiin.-o canva.-.-urs, «iut

fowiiig-mueaiin; ■ canvassers. becoming i!> Lhc evidence of Air. lfichanisun, secretary of tuc northern brunch ot Ino British Delilal Asnociation, one man "employed SO canvassers from the lowest typu of workers, such ati casual labourers, and six of these were about in my own area .with bags or .instruiueuis operating on xicoplu in their own homes." Among unregistered "dentists'' many know tneir work, but u very large proportion is utterly ignorant. Servant girls are the prinoipal victims. "We lutve received a large amount of evidence of the evils resulting from company dental practice,'' states the' report. "The evils appear to have reached a Xlimax in tho. iinntißtry of a numljei of so-called 'hygienic institutes' set up from 19U6 onwards. Tlieso numbered at least 57 and sprang from n (jentral company founded by/ an alien, whoso varied occupations had no connection with dentistry. Grave injuries were ydiieted ou many patients. These institutes employed untrained and inexperienced men.' : Among tho injuries caused by unregistered dentists, who are'more numerous than (jualiiied men, are fractured jaws, lacerated mouths, cocaine poisoning requiring medical assistance tt, save life, broken teeth, septis poisoning, injury to health, and even death, chronic gastritis (inflammation of tne btomach), eye affections, and rheumatoid arthritis. Tho great aim of tlio unregistered practitioner," says the committee, "is i to extract sound teeth to get the profit from artificial teeth." In 1879 tnero vCj'e 155 qualified dentists to a million population, in 1916 tli'jre. were only 117. Tho industrial and middle classes are the main sufferers through the shortage of qualified dentists. The committee, recommends the prohibition of practice by unregistered dentists, safeguarding, under conditions, thoso now practising; tile establishment; ot a public dental service; and the provision of dental treatment, for nursing mothers and children under the age of live.