Transactions of the National Dental Association at the ... Annual Session ...

The fifth annual meeting of the Southern Branch of the National Dental Association was held in the Kimball House ballroom, Atlanta, Ga., April 18, 19, 20 and 21, 1902, Dr. H. H. Johnson, Macon, Ga., presiding.

The first session was called to order by the president at 10 o'clock Tuesday morning. The session was opened with prayer by Rev. Dr. J. Orme Flynn of Atlanta.

Mayor Livingston Mims, on behalf of the city, gave the association a very cordial welcome to the city, and in appropriate words, characterized by his usual wit and eloquence, turned the keys of the city over to the association.

Dr. J. A. Chapple, on behalf of the Atlanta members, delivered an address of welcome to the society, as follows:

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Southern Branch of the National Dental Association:—To visit the metropolis of the state and be accorded its freedom and hospitality through her Chesterfieldian representative, is an honor quite sufficient to the native Georgian. But, to emphasize (if such a thing be possible) the cordiality of his greeting, in behalf of my confreres I assume the task most willingly.

If it be true that the average man reaches the zenith of his chosen career at the age of thirty-three, is it not equally true of organizations? Believing in the affirmative of this proposition, we hail your presence at this time as most significant and auspicious.

Since 1869, when we made our modest advent into the world, down to this good hour, busy brains and deft fingers have elaborated so much of genuine intrinsic value as will justly characterize the period

the most illustrious in our history. We shall not dispute the claim that this is pre-eminently the "Electrical" and the "Woman's Age," but we shall also insist that they share the honors equally with the "Dental Age."

Should the demand be made for the "rhyme or reason" of this claim, we would briefly cite the marvelous increase of our standard literature the larger portion of which has made its appearance within the last fifteen years.

Educational facilities have kept pace with, if, indeed, they have not exceeded, her literature; and for every one institution of learning that was in existence thirty-three years ago, there are now eleven.

While there is very little to offer in way of tangible results in the domain of bacteriological research, yet there is quite enough to give a scientific flavor to our calling, and more than enough to stagger and confound the young novitiate who seeks admission to our ranks.

In further substantiation of our claim, in the absence of definite data on the subject, it is reasonably safe to assume that the universal revival of interest in pyorrhea alveolaris, has wrought the salvation of thousands and thousands of teeth, which, thirty-three years ago, would have been doomed to annihilation. To contemplate for a moment what this means as a contribution to general hygienic conditions and consequent longevity, forces the honest conviction that this one feature alone in our progress entitles us to no small recognition.

Before an impartial jury we might confidently rest our pleadings here. But remembering the proverbial "last word" of a possible contestant, to "make assurance double sure," we pass rapidly on to march in review other living witnesses to our claim.

From the purely artistic and inventive standpoint, the last thirtythree years have been most prolific, giving us the engine, the mallets, the dam and the separator, porcelain and gold crowns, inlays and bridge-work.

As a fitting acknowledgment of this almost incomparable achievement, the national government has but recently invoked our aid in the national service; and in the felicitations of the hour, there is at this moment in process of crystallization an international sentiment which will inevitably culminate in a universal recognition of the American diploma.

Thus you will observe that in these thirty-three years of toil and

« Previous Continue »

Books