Samuel Lee Rymer

Appendix 2

[Rymer, S.L. (1855). Necessity for a College of Dental Surgery, Lancet, II (25 August), 181.]

NECESSITY FOR A COLLEGE OF DENTAL SURGERY.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,—There are few medical practitioners who have not had come under their notice cases exhibiting the serious consequences resulting from a recourse to the inducements so pertinaciously pressed into public notice by the host of ignorant charlatans practising the specialities of surgery and medicine. In these free-trade days it is not for any particular class of men to claim protection for themselves in the exercise of their vocation, even though they be fitted, through great sacrifice of time, trouble, and expense, to alleviate the sufferings and conduce to the comfort of humanity; yet when they witness, as the general medical practitioner in common with the properly qualified special practitioner commonly do witness, such calamities as an eye rendered sightless through the maltreatment of a so-called oculist, the frightful and sometimes irremediable condition of the victim of the quack cancer-doctor, the total deafness occasioned through the pokings and dressings of the puffing aurist, the suffering and loss (both in teeth and pocket) from the ignorance and extortion of the supposed dentist, and other distressing evils too numerous to mention, having their sole origin in the ignorance of impudent pretenders,— when, I say, such calamities are witnessed by duly informed and qualified persons, it becomes at once their duty and interest to raise a warning voice, to admonish the public at large on the danger of placing themselves in the power of unprincipled and ignorant men. But experience has proved the difficulty of arousing the public mind on so important a subject; too often the warnings of professional men, be they never so wisely given, are disregarded, perhaps from a suspicion that they are prompted by interested motives, whilst the victimized suffering members of society are not willing to expose those by whom they have been duped, for this would involve the necessity of an exposé of their folly in being taken in by the promises of impossibilities held out by charlatanism, as well as discovering to their friends and to the world the fact of their being troubled with corns, or of wearing false teeth.

I can speak from experience as to the roguery (for that is not too strong a word) of a very large number of men who call themselves dentists, but who, in reality, are wholly ignorant even of the surgical anatomy of the mouth and parts adjacent, as well as of the principles (to say nothing of the practice) of mechanism as applied to dentistry. No wonder such men are the origin of so much disappointment, pain, and, as I believe, death.* Now, the question arises, How are the public to be saved from these effects of disreputable practice? It has been seen that professional remonstrance does not, as a general rule, avail, and that mauvaise honte seldom permits the victim of the charlatan to expose him.

In the United States of America colleges of dental surgery are established, wherein the students receive a thorough professional education, and in that country, unless a practitioner has been through the prescribed course of study in one of these colleges, he cannot be looked upon as an orthodox dentist.

Some few years ago an attempt was made in this country to follow the example of our brethren in America, and to establish a seminary wherein the pupils would have the opportunity of acquiring such knowledge as would entitle them to certificates of qualification; but, owing to some unfortunate misunderstanding amongst the projectors, this excellent scheme was abandoned. If the College of Surgeons were to appoint a properly constituted Board of Examiners, whose duty should be to hold periodical examinations of such candidates as were desirous of obtaining such a distinction, for instance, as might well be termed “Licentiate in Dentistry,” I believe that, on the one hand, the public would be spared a vast amount of injury, and that, on the other, dental surgery would take its just position by the side of other liberal professions. The adoption of such a course would in no way interfere with the establishment of a Dental College; on the contrary, such an institution would become almost necessary; for although the certificate of apprenticeship to a recognised practitioner for at least three years might perhaps be deemed sufficient to entitle a pupil to present himself for examination, yet in all cases it would be desirable that a few months should be spent at college.

I cannot but think that the question now sought to be brought under the notice of the constituted medical authorities will receive the attentive consideration it so eminently deserves.—I am, Sir, yours, &c.,

*Copper, plated or gilt, has been used as a foundation for artificial teeth by these unprincipled men, the ultimate evil effects of which in the mouth need not be described.

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