Review of Dental Literature and Art. [Volume: 2, Issue: 8, March, 1861, pp. 448-456]

456

THE DENTAL COSMOS.

done, and the articulation taken, with ordinary care and experience on
the part of the mechanical dentist, the responsibility must necessarily rest
with the 'surgeon.' The relationship existing between the 'surgeon'
and the mechanic undergoes no change by the former sending his model
into an adjoining building, or having the same work done in his own
office by the same workman. It requires no 'code of dental ethics' to
settle self-evident truth. If the 'surgeon' has confidence in those he
employs, he must take the responsibility; if he has not, he must either
do the work himself, or find some one in whom he has confidence, and
then take the responsibility; we can see no other way. It is true, if culpable neglect or gross carelessness on the part of the mechanic should
render his work useless, he clearly is bound to make it good; but in unavoidable circumstances in which no human foresight could prevent the
consequences, and which would be liable to occur under the 'surgeon's '
own manipulation, he alone must sustain the loss. Reason: The mechanical dentist charges twenty dollars for a full denture from the impression, for a continuous gum case. After paying for platina, fine gold, teeth,
furnace expenses, rent, etc., he will have five or six dollars for his labor;
now if he is to be held responsible for any misfitting of the work after its
completion, every such case would involve him in positive loss. With
the 'surgeon ' the case is different: he charges fifty or sixty dollars, and
frequently more, for the case which originally costs him but twenty dollars, and can well afford to sustain the expense incident upon occasionally
making over the work, and still have something left as compensation for
the time spent in taking the impressions, articulations, etc. In making
gold work, the usual charge, exclusive of material, is seventy-five cents
per tooth, paid the mechanical dentist; this would be ten dollars and
fifty cents for making the dies, raising the plate, making the articulating
models, grinding the teeth, soldering, polishing, etc. The price demanded
in either of the above cases is barely sufficient to compensate for doing
the work once, and the cases in which those engaged in the dental laboratory business have succeeded in making anything more than a scant
living are very rare. The idea that the ' surgeon's' time is more valuable
than that of those engaged in the mechanical department of our profession, has no force, for if the surgeon could not get his mechanical work
done in these places, he would have to do it himself, or give up that part
of his practice. If he chooses to do the work himself, his time while
thus employed would be worth no more to him than the services of any
mechanical workman, and in many cases not so much. The dentist who
devotes his time exclusively to either branch, is more successful than when
divided between the two, and consequently less liable to failure from
causes that constant experience would enable him to overcome. As the
time is fast approaching in our large cities when these branches must
necessarily become separate and distinct departments, it is well that this
question of responsibility should be satisfactorily adjudicated, and we do
not see on what other grounds it can be settled, except the one above indicated; for one of two things is certain, that a much larger price will
be demanded by the mechanical dentist if he takes upon himself additional responsibilities so as to enable him to meet the contingencies, or he
will refuse to do the work for the 'surgeon,' in which case in all probability he would 'set up' for himself, charge double his former prices,
and furnish the work to the public at half the price charged by the ' surgeon. '"