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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1961)
Beware the Dental Bootlegger! Dental racketeers are menacing your family's health with a multimillion-dollar coast-to-coast health fraud. Unscrupulous dental laboratory technicians, defying Federal and state laws, are actually performing bootleg dentistry upon many thou sands of persons all over the nation. These operators are not qualified dentists. Some did not even attend high school, and in many cases all the dental knowledge they pos sess was obtained by mail-order schooling ! Yet they do not hesitate to solicit "patients" and perform complex procedures ranging from extracting teeth to making bridgework or full plates for them. The unfortunate fact is that their customers go to them willingly, lured by promises of den tistry at bargain-basement prices. Each year, many millions of dollars are f unneled into the coffers of the charlatans. Sooner or later, their victims learn that there is no cut-rate road to dental health. Let me cite just a few of the tragic results that have come to light. : . In Illinois, a 31-year-old housewife had to lose more than a dozen perfectly sound teeth that might have lasted her a lifetime. Improperly made clasps on a bridge prepared by a dental bootlegger put the wrong kind of pressure on her own teeth, causing them to loosen. By the time she went to a qualified dentist, it was too late to save them. She was one of the more fortunate ones, at that. In a Western state, a woman must remain toothless for the rest of her life because her mouth cannot support artificial teeth of any kind. Poorly made den tures, constructed for her by a technician, so altered the bone ridges, that there is nothing left to support a dental appliance. . ' t In Missouri, a small boy must wear a bridge for the remainder of his days because of a dental bootlegger's bungling. . In New York State, a storekeeper developed severe digestive trouble because of bootleg dentistry. Chewing was so painful following sessions with a charlatan that he was swallowing his food in large chunks. In Ohio, a mother of four young children became so severely under nourished that she nearly died of influenza. Her mouth had been so lacerated that she was unable to eat at all. I want to make one point clear. The vast majority of dental labora '. tories in America are certainly efficient and law-abiding. These employ skilled technicians who are trained to prepare dentures and other appliances in accordance with a dentist's instructions. However, a number of fringe operators and their employees are causing all the trouble. These individuals, interested only in making a MSP I By CHARLES H. PATTON, D.D.S. . President, American Dental Association fast dollar, set themselves up as "dentists." They attract people by spreading the word that they are "much cheaper" than licensed dentists. "Why go to them?" they ask. "After all, a den tist will only take impressions and send them to us. We're the ones who really make the dental appliances. Why not skip the middleman and save all that money?" . Let me explain why they are wrong. A dentist, you see, does far more than merely fit a crown, bridge, or other appliance into the mouth of a patient.1 He must fit it to the body as well. Artificial teeth not only function locally but have an important effect upon the entire body because of the forces that are utilized, the tissues and bone upon which they rest, and the food that is eaten. . The dentist must answer these vital questions : Are the dentures the correct height so that natural facial appearance is not changed? Do the jaws work properly? (If not, a patient can be afflicted with excruciating ear and neck pains). How is speech affected? Are the dentures hurting supporting bone or tissue? Do teeth come together as they should? Serious consequences can result if any one of these points is over looked, and a licensed dentist searches for the answers. He has devoted thousands of hours to the study of the complex physiological, biological, and mechanical factors required to diagnose and treat den tal ills. Moreover, he is trained to look for diseases that reveal their first symptoms in the mouth and teeth oral cancer, diabetes, certain heart diseases, and other ailments. Illegal technicians do not they cannot possess this knowledge. And they are breaking the law as well. Legally, only a licensed den tist is permitted to diagnose or determine the design of a denture or to work in a patient's mouth. Whenever possible, state enforcement agencies are bringing these violators to book. My urgent advice is this: Don't put yourself or any member of your family into the untrained hands of a dental bootlegger. Make sure you have work done only by licensed dentists highly trained professional people whose "shingles" outside their offices and on their cards state that they are actually dentists. On their walls are diplomas from accredited dental schools. On the other hand, the bootlegger is easily recognized: he operates in a laboratory, he has no diploma from a dental school, he does not call himself a dentist. Allowing him to work in your mouth can cost you more than money. It may even cost you something far more precious your health. Unscrupulous technicians can give you bargain-basement prices and a lifetime of trouble COVER: Photographed by Ozzie Sweet, dark-haired Kathleen Johnson from Trenton, S. J., is the sixth Mist Somebody to grace Family Weekly' cover. Read about her on page 6. WtoesJcXy May r, mi IIONAIO . DAVIDOW Pmidrnl ami PMMer loord of Edileri WAITM C MFTFUI Vice Prendtnl PATRICK I. OtOUMI Adrrrlitino Vim-tor MORTON RANK Director of PiUMrr Uliau Send oil odvertltlng comnwntcatloM to Family Weekly, I S3 N. Michigan Ave.. Chicago 1, III. AddVeu all commvnlcotlont about editorial feature to oab Driscoll, John Hochmonn, Jerry Klein. Horold London, family Weekly, 60 I. Mm St.. New York 22, N. T. Murray Miller. Jack Ryanj Peer Oppenheimer, Hollywood. IMI, PAKIIT WIIKIY MAO All NI, INC, 153 N. Michigan Ao., Chicago I. III. AH right, marred. ERNEST V. HETN Editor-in-Chir SEN KARTMAN Crmilin Editor ' ROBERT FITZOIUON Meneaina Kiitor MAROAR5T 1ELI Fomturt Editor PNIllIP OVKSTRA Art Director MEIANIE OE PROFT Food Editor
