REVIEWS. 
Editorial, Mew York Medical Record, June, 1891 
TUB USE AND ABUSE OF DENTAL CHARITY. 
A very interesting- paper with the above title was presented 
by Dr. Richard Grady, of Baltimore, to the Section of Oral and 
Dental Surgery at the meeting of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation in Washington in May. It seems that our dental friends 
have not been as wide awake to their own interests as they 
should have been, and now they find that, like their medical 
brethren, they have allowed their colleges to establish dispen- 
saries, one after the other, “for the relief of the indigent poor 
and the instruction of students, ” until the time has now come 
when they realize that these same dispensaries are treating the 
well-to-do as well as the really deserving, and taking the bread 
ont of the mouths of their own graduates for whose interests, as 
students, it was claimed that the infirmaries were established. 
. is only recently that this abuse has attained such propor- 
tions as to alarm the members of the dental profession, and this 
protest ot Dr. Grady is, we believe, the first that has been made 
publicly against the constantly growing evil. The Maryland 
Dental Protective Association was organized in Baltimore, in 
February, a year ago, its object being to regulate the adminis- 
tration of dental charity, but thus far nothing has resulted from 
the movement except the adoption of a resolution calling upon 
the dental colleges to insist upon the giving of aid to the really 
indigent only, which resolution,, as far as heard from, has not 
yet effected the desired reform. 
The author of the paper had informed himself very carefully 
as to the conditions of infirmary treatment in the different 
dental colleges of the country, and had found that abuses ex- 
isted in nearly all, though in varying degree, some discriminat- 
ing against patients who appeared to be in comfortable circum- 
stances, others taking everybody that came along in their 
scramble for clinical material. One college had adopted a truly 
unique method to discourage well-to-do people by making 
charges a little higher than those ordinarily made in offices.’’ 
Inquiries had also been made among dentists in the larger cities 
as to the effect upon practice of the competition with the col- 
leges, and the answers to these inquiries were,as was to be ex- pected, that the injury done to the younger men in the profes- 
sion was a very real one. The colleges advertised for patients, 
setting forth in glowing terms the excellence of the workman- 
ship and the extreme reasonableness of the charges, and thereby 
at once gained an advantage over the individual dentist, who 
was debarred by professional opinion and the fear of forfeiting 
the respect of his associates from advertising in a similar fashion. 
But it is not so much the facts presented by Dr. Grady, as it 
is the manner in which his hearers received his paper, to which 
we wish to direct the attention of our readers. The paper was 
discussed after it had been read, and again the following day, 
its discussion having been made the regular order for that ses- 
sion. The result of this was the unanimous adoption of a reso- 
lution that “the Section would suggestto the National Associa- 
tion of Dental Faculties the importance of some action toward 
correcting any existing abuses of the charities connected with 
dental colleges or schools.” We are glad that the dental sur- 
geons have taken this matter up with the intention of doing 
their best to right the beginning wrong, and we wish them the 
greatest measure of success in their crusade. And we wish this 
not alone for their sake, but also because, if they succeed, it 
may give heart to those of the medical profession who are try- 
ing to secure for their younger brethren the means of a decent 
livelihood by freeing them from the unjust and ruinous compe- 
tition of the dispensaries and clinics which take so many 
patients that should belong to the private practitioner. 
We may be permitted one word of caution in regard to the 
extension of what is called the charity of dentistry. It may 
well be that the poor have need of much of the dental relief for 
which the rich are ready to pay such high prices. But there is 
need of caution. Some of the dental journals publish with a 
note of satisfaction the increasing numbers who get relief gra- 
tuitously at dental hospitals. The New York Medicae 
Record, of June 27th, devotes an article to the use and abuse 
of dental charity. The abuse in the States is beginning to 
alarm the members of the dental profession. One very ques- 
tionable remedy is being applied in one of the dental hospitals 
—viz., to make charges a little higher than those ordinarily 
made in hospitals. It is enough now to indicate the evil to put 
our readers and the authorities of dental hospitals on their 
guard. The phenomenon of the “wholesale barbarous extrac- 
tions of peripatetic quacks” is a very strange one. Perhaps the 
Leading Article, London Lancet, July, 1891. strangest part of it is the willingness of the victims to submit 
to this mutilation simply because they can have it done for 
nothing. 
American Medical Association—Section of Oral and Dental 
Surgery—Dr. Richard read a paper on Dental Infirmary 
Patients—The Use and Abuse of Dental Charity. 
The paper was discussed at some length by Drs. Taft, 
McNaughton, Williams, Andrews and Talbot. 
All agreed that there was great injustice to the profession in 
the gratuitous or professedly gratuitous services by the dental 
infirmaries to people who could and should pay for the service 
they needed ; also that the advertisements of prices to induce 
patients to attend the clinics were as unprofessional as would be 
the same advertisements if used to attract patients to a private 
practice. 
On motion of Dr. J. U. Williams, the following resolution 
was adopted : Resolved, that this section would suggest to the 
National Association of Dental Faculties, the importance of cor- 
recting any existing abuses of the charities of the infirmaries 
connected with the colleges and schools. 
From Editorial, International Dental Journal, October, 1891 
Criticism of Dental colleges.—Criticism, being disarmed 
on the old lines, has begun an open attack on the internal man- 
agement of these schools, and a sample of this was given our 
readers in the September number of the Journal, entitled “The 
Use and Abuse of Dental Charity,” by Richard Grady, 
M. D., D. D. S. 
The criticism of the writer in general has force, for there 
can be no question but that abuses have arisen in many colleges, 
perhaps to a limited extent in all, and need careful attention. 
The charge that colleges are making money is dwelt upon at 
some length, as though this was something no college had a 
right to do. Yet it has never been shown, or acknowledged bv 
the colleges that they were charitable organizations in any 
sense of the word. 
The essayist seems to recognize only one side of the question, 
its effect being to “lower the dignity or emoluments of pri- 
vate practice,” “warring upon the livelihood of their profes- 
sional brethren,” and consequently, it is an injury to the 
profession in all cities afflicted with colleges. It lowers the 
standard of remuneration. It invites persons who can pay 
to have their work done at rates below a living basis. 
The Dental Cosmos, August, 1801. It lowers the profession in public estimation and debases ail 
concerned. This in substance constitutes the arraignment. 
In conclusion, we must regard Dr. Grady’s paper as valuable 
in that it will stir thought in this direction. 
CUPPINGS. 
The college clinics are prosperous, the hospitals are full, clinical 
material is abundant, and the young practitioner waits in vain for 
patients. 
London has only 90,000 paupers, according to its census, yet it 
treats in free hospitals 1,000.000 of patients annually, at a cost of 
$2,500,000. Its annual hospital deficit is $250,000. 
Charity Organization has done good work in the cause of medical 
charity, by demonstrating that in the dispensaries examined one-third of 
the patients can afford to pay, and one-tlurd give a wrong address and 
are more or less frauds. 
A few days since a woman dressed in rags applied at the Boston 
City Hospital for surgical treatment for a scalp wound. The customary 
search of her person revealed several bank-books, representing $7,100 in 
Boston banks, $l,OOO in bonds, and about $BOO in cash—all hidden 
about her clothing. 
A resolution was passed ‘' that the attention of the governing bodies 
of hospitals, and other public authorities, be called to the necessity for 
some check on the indiscriminate provision of medical treatment at hos- 
pitals and dispensaries. ” 
Taxpayers are much interested in the dispensary and hospital 
abuse. * * Educating a class of people to become paupers, who 
will not work if they can get what they need without. * * *