The Journal 60 years ago: Another era, another war

J

OURNAL readers undoubtedly have noted with interest the quotations that have been published each month under the general heading of “The Journal 60 Years Ago.” The quotations are taken from the JOURNAL'S 1915 monthly issues and republished during the same months in 1975. Two quotations seemed to deserve special attention this month. The July, 1915, issue carried related but separate accounts of the tragedy of warfare from an earlier era-that of World War I. This was the war that was supposed to end all wars. The first account describes dental service in the German armed forces ; the second is from France. The two reports are complete within themselves. They need no editorial comment. From

Germany’s

front

lines

Dentists were supplied to the German military hospitals from the beginning of the war, and their work was found so useful that it was deemed wise to increase their number and call on the students of dentistry to practice dental work and summon them from the troops among which they had been distributed. Besides this, the physicians were given a corresponding number of technicians skilled in making dental prostheses. This is the main part of the work on the firing line, as there are so many wounds of the jaws; but in the set camps and the occupied towns, the care of the teeth and mouth is predominant. More frequently than in peace, the officers and men break their artificial teeth. The constant moving about, the lack of any safe place to keep t,hem, and the demands on the teeth from the coarser food renders repairs frequent and necessary. At first there was a deficiency in materials for artificial teeth; this was remedied to a slight extent by supplies found in the dental offices in the enemy’s country. Conditions are better now. On certain days some of the dentists from the base hospitals go to the front to undertake the necessary dental operations on the different bodies of troops. The drill and the set of instruments are carried on a motor truck and, with the expert prosthesis maker, the dentist tours away. He generally has to cover from 12 to 20 kilometers before he reaches the part of the troop to which he has been directed. (Work of Dentists in the Field, Current Orthodontic Literature, edited by H. C. Pollock. p. 390.) 75

From

a French

hospital

Dr. W. (‘. IZobcrts of IAJI~~~OII illl(l 1 \vork iog(~thc~t*iltltl \v is an o~~cn tcst~imonial that our work in the tlental depart-mcatrt is bt~coming quitch well knolvtl a~(1 tllc surgeons of the E’rench hospitals arc! rt~(~ognizing our clepartrrient i’ov its goocl work. Here you see the real horrors of this great \var mcl you OH tht siclc of thr pond can’t realize the destruction. This city once termed “Cay Parir” now cxn aptly be termed the (lity of Rlourning. Poor bleeding France with its many mut’ilated young men, satl-faced women in mourning and fatherless children, makes one’s heart sick. (I).O.M. Ix (Irolr : A (:onrmulli~;ltic,n from France, 1~. 393.)

The Journal 60 years ago: another era, another war.

The Journal 60 years ago: Another era, another war J OURNAL readers undoubtedly have noted with interest the quotations that have been published eac...
123KB Sizes 0 Downloads 0 Views