clearly violates both these standards. . . . Y o u should either edit adver tisements more carefully to see that they comply with stated policies, or amend these policies to fit the ads you receive. P. A. JONES, DDS LINCOLN, NEB 1. Official statement of A AE in regard to N2. J Endod 1:153 May 1975. 2. Sargenti “ problems” cited in report by committee. J Endod 1:284 Sept 1975. 3. Congressional hearing on Sargenti drug. J Endod 2:6 Jan 1976. 4. USA DC bans N2. J Endod 2:3 Jan 1976. 5. Serene, T.P.; McKelvy, B.D.; and Scaramella, J.M. Endodontic problems resulting from surgical fistulation: report of two cases. JADA 96:101-104 Jan 1978.
“Life, Death and Dollars” m D entistry’s public image is a peren nial problem, the result of complex and varied factors. Historically, this image has done almost irreparable damage to the general acceptance of dentistry as a routine health modality. Therefore, we dentists should regis ter open indignation at the social treatm ent received on a recent televi sion program, “ Medicine in America: Life, D eath and D ollars,” delivered by N BC on Jan 3. To be lumped categorically with a group such as chiropractors certainly does not en hance our public image that, for the past several months we have been at tempting to mold via our expensive and perhaps late PEP program.
DAVID P. VAN ORT, DDS, M Ed EAU CLAIRE, WIS
N ote: The Harris Poll last fall again confirmed a very high public regard for dentists. The poll ranked the dental profession third in terms of public con fidence, surpassed only by medicine and higher education. The public ranked below dentistry such respected institutions as organized religion, law firms, business, the Supreme Court, and the White House.
A D A approached NBC twice dur ing the months that “ Medicine in A m erica” was being developed. Both times the producers indicated that only medical and hospital care would be the subject of that particular report, and that other sectors of health care such as dentistry, mental health, and osteopathy would be the subjects of other programs. Chiropractic was not mentioned.
A question o f references Certain studies used in the literature review of “ A cephalometric study of patients with cystic fibrosis” by Reitman and Faber {The Journal, January 1978) were misquoted and wrongly referenced. Dennis and Panos1 treated 17, not 31, cystic fibrosis patients with anabolic steroids, and Snodgrasse and others2 selected 266 (not 255) children for their study; none of the 266 had known pathology, let alone cystic fib rosis as stated by the authors. Instead, this study group consisted of 142 chil dren with nutritive failure plus 124 children without evidence of nutri tional deficiencies as a control; thus the group does not support the au thors’ claim that “ children with cystic fibrosis have skeletal maturation and epiphyseal anomalies similar to those in children with nutritional prob lem s.” The corrected references are listed below. . . . m
ROBERT E. PRIMOSCH, DDS, MS OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA 1. Dennis, J.L., and Panos, T.C. Growth and bone-age retardation in cystic fibrosis—response to an anabolic steroid. JAMA 194:855-858 Nov 22 1965. 2. Snodgrasse, R.M., and others. The associa tion between anomalous ossification centers in the hand skeleton, nutritional status and rate of skeletal maturation in children five to fourteen years of age. Am J Roentgenol Radium Ther Nucl Med 74:1037-1048 Dec 1955.
his comment about the Dennis and Panos article, the 31 patients included 17 who were treated with steroids and 14 controls who were treated with routine therapy. With regard to the Snodgrasse article, we did not mean to imply that the patients in that study had cystic fibrosis, but that children with cystic fibrosis had problems simi lar to those of children with chronic nutritive failure. This is noted on page 1046 of the Snodgrasse article, in ref erence to endocrine failures. Malnutri tion from poor uptake has been as sociated with delayed skeletal matura tion. We thought it important to point this out inasmuch as children with cys tic fibrosis have poor uptake as a chronic problem. ALBERT A. RE1TMAN, DDS RICHARD D. FABER, DDS GARDEN CITY, NY
The hucksters o f dentistry An appalling feature story appeared in the N ew York Times on Jan 17 re garding dentists who advertise. A few of our colleagues have chosen the path of hucksterism to promote their wares, thus demeaning the pro fession and making dental services a commodity in the marketplace. One of them is quoted as saying that “ his den tures are as good as any made in any other office, and the difference in cost is that other dentists charge whatever the traffic will bear.” Another is quoted as saying that “ dentists over charge their patients, and such high fees are unconscionable.” . .. For these two dentists to pontifi cate . . . and attempt to cloak their self-serving actions with an air of vir tue and humanitarianism while vilify ing the motives of the rest of the pro fession is, at the very least, a breach of all our ethical standards. m
CHARLES SOLOMON, DDS BROOKLYN, NY
A uthors’ note: As Dr. Primosch pointed out, there were typographical errors in the references. In respect to
LETTERS TO THE JOURNAL / JADA, Vol. 96, March 1978 ■ 383
“Life, Death and Dollars” m D entistry’s public image is a peren nial problem, the result of complex and varied factors. Historically, this image has done almost irreparable damage to the general acceptance of dentistry as a routine health modality. Therefore, we dentists should regis ter open indignation at the social treatm ent received on a recent televi sion program, “ Medicine in America: Life, D eath and D ollars,” delivered by N BC on Jan 3. To be lumped categorically with a group such as chiropractors certainly does not en hance our public image that, for the past several months we have been at tempting to mold via our expensive and perhaps late PEP program.
DAVID P. VAN ORT, DDS, M Ed EAU CLAIRE, WIS
N ote: The Harris Poll last fall again confirmed a very high public regard for dentists. The poll ranked the dental profession third in terms of public con fidence, surpassed only by medicine and higher education. The public ranked below dentistry such respected institutions as organized religion, law firms, business, the Supreme Court, and the White House.
A D A approached NBC twice dur ing the months that “ Medicine in A m erica” was being developed. Both times the producers indicated that only medical and hospital care would be the subject of that particular report, and that other sectors of health care such as dentistry, mental health, and osteopathy would be the subjects of other programs. Chiropractic was not mentioned.
A question o f references Certain studies used in the literature review of “ A cephalometric study of patients with cystic fibrosis” by Reitman and Faber {The Journal, January 1978) were misquoted and wrongly referenced. Dennis and Panos1 treated 17, not 31, cystic fibrosis patients with anabolic steroids, and Snodgrasse and others2 selected 266 (not 255) children for their study; none of the 266 had known pathology, let alone cystic fib rosis as stated by the authors. Instead, this study group consisted of 142 chil dren with nutritive failure plus 124 children without evidence of nutri tional deficiencies as a control; thus the group does not support the au thors’ claim that “ children with cystic fibrosis have skeletal maturation and epiphyseal anomalies similar to those in children with nutritional prob lem s.” The corrected references are listed below. . . . m
ROBERT E. PRIMOSCH, DDS, MS OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA 1. Dennis, J.L., and Panos, T.C. Growth and bone-age retardation in cystic fibrosis—response to an anabolic steroid. JAMA 194:855-858 Nov 22 1965. 2. Snodgrasse, R.M., and others. The associa tion between anomalous ossification centers in the hand skeleton, nutritional status and rate of skeletal maturation in children five to fourteen years of age. Am J Roentgenol Radium Ther Nucl Med 74:1037-1048 Dec 1955.
his comment about the Dennis and Panos article, the 31 patients included 17 who were treated with steroids and 14 controls who were treated with routine therapy. With regard to the Snodgrasse article, we did not mean to imply that the patients in that study had cystic fibrosis, but that children with cystic fibrosis had problems simi lar to those of children with chronic nutritive failure. This is noted on page 1046 of the Snodgrasse article, in ref erence to endocrine failures. Malnutri tion from poor uptake has been as sociated with delayed skeletal matura tion. We thought it important to point this out inasmuch as children with cys tic fibrosis have poor uptake as a chronic problem. ALBERT A. RE1TMAN, DDS RICHARD D. FABER, DDS GARDEN CITY, NY
The hucksters o f dentistry An appalling feature story appeared in the N ew York Times on Jan 17 re garding dentists who advertise. A few of our colleagues have chosen the path of hucksterism to promote their wares, thus demeaning the pro fession and making dental services a commodity in the marketplace. One of them is quoted as saying that “ his den tures are as good as any made in any other office, and the difference in cost is that other dentists charge whatever the traffic will bear.” Another is quoted as saying that “ dentists over charge their patients, and such high fees are unconscionable.” . .. For these two dentists to pontifi cate . . . and attempt to cloak their self-serving actions with an air of vir tue and humanitarianism while vilify ing the motives of the rest of the pro fession is, at the very least, a breach of all our ethical standards. m
CHARLES SOLOMON, DDS BROOKLYN, NY
A uthors’ note: As Dr. Primosch pointed out, there were typographical errors in the references. In respect to
LETTERS TO THE JOURNAL / JADA, Vol. 96, March 1978 ■ 383
