Hints, Queries, and Comments. [Volume: 40, Issue: 3, March, 1898, pp. 246-248]

246

THE DENTAL COSMOS.

EUCAIN IN DENTAL PRACTICE.-Blotz reports very favorably on eucain
hydrochlorate as an anesthetic in dental work, after having employed it in
over two hundred cases. From one to one and one-half grains in ten per
cent. solution is sufficient for five contiguous teeth. If the teeth to be
operated on are scattered, three-tenths of a grain will generally be found
sufficient for each tooth. A total of three grains should not, if possible,
be exceeded. Insensibility to pain supervenes in from two to five minutes.
The only unpleasant symptom observed is the swelling of the injected parts,
but this may be avoided to a great extent by sterilizing the gums with
hydrogen peroxid before puncture, and subsequently pressing out the
liquid from the injected area. The author quotes cases where twenty-one
roots, and ten and fourteen teeth respectively, were extracted painlessly in
one sitting. Eucain has the advantage of being effective in periostitis
where cocain frequently fails.-Brit. Journ. Dent. Sci., after Zahn. Ref.
HINTS, QUERIES, AND COMMENTS.
WHAT has become of the advocates of implantation who were so vociferous a few years since? Has the subject become tooth in to talk about?CYCLOPS.
To THE EDITOR OF THE DENTAL COSMOS:
Sir,-I have read with some care and much interest the various articles
appearing recently in the leading dental magazines bearing upon the relation of the colleges to the boards.
To the best of my recollection, these articles have been written by men
interested in one or the other of these institutions, while what is usually
termed "the profession at large" has thus far kept silence.
In other words, the mills and not the grists have been doing the talking.
This being the case, I venture to say a word with regard to my own recent
experiences as student and candidate for admission to practice.
I graduated from the Dental School of Harvard University in the class
of I894, after spending three years of nine months each in study at that
institution.
In December, I893, six months before the time of my probable graduation, I applied for examination before the Massachusetts State Board of
Dental Examiners. I am convinced that this examination was fair; it was
certainly thorough, and most of the questions asked had a more or less
direct bearing on some department of dentistry. To demonstrate our ability
as operators, each candidate had to insert a gold filling of considerable
difficulty, under direct scrutiny of the examiners. Of some thirty candidates
who presented themselves at this session of the board, I believe thirteen
were granted certificates. I was one among the number.
Of my classmates who took this examination with me, some were successful, while others failed. Some of those who failed on the State Board
examination also failed in their finals at school, while several who were
successful at the State Board could not qualify for graduation, even after
six months' additional study and experience, thus showing that in the case
of the institution in question the standard for graduation was measurably
higher than that for admission to practice at the hands of the State Board.
This is as it should be.
I well remember a remark made to me at the close of my State Board
experience by the late E. V. McLeod, D.D.S. (as fair a man as ever sat in
judgment to guard the rights of the people.) He said, "The State Board