The patient is likely to suffer ill-health or prolonged discomfort from the fetid breath of the dentist and, indeed, many of less acute sensibility, will be inclined by and by, to seek more acceptable service.

The dentist should be able at all times to discriminate in regard to the character of his own breath; it may sometimes be a necessity to submit to this annoyance from others, but he should see to it that he never imposes upon his patients in this way. I have known superior operators-persons of gentlemanly deportment in every other respect, whose breath was in such a condition as to disgust all those who came within its influence; indeed, I have known some such who were compelled to abandon the practice of dentistry.

There are some instances in which this affection seems uncontrollable, but in the great majority of cases it is amenable to proper treatment, and can either be modified, masked, or wholly eradicated. It can in many instances be wholly, and by proper care, permanently relieved. In others the change is only of a temporary character, irrespective of any treatment that may be employed.

Derangment of the stomach, alimentary tract, kidneys, liver or skin is almost certain to result in more or less marked change of the breath, from the fact that in part, at least, the waste that thus fails to be removed is thrown into the lungs, and will, in many instances, produce a markedly offensive breath. But in some instances the breath may be contaminated with excrementitious matter that possessed little or no offensive odor. The defective function of the digestive apparatus is, in nearly all cases, a source of fetid breath. Disease of the lungs of almost every variety is attended with more or less vitiation of the breath.

Of the local sources of this difficulty there are many, and of these there may be said to be two classes, the one embracing all the local disorders that may contaminate the breath after it leaves the lungs; this will embrace the various forms of diseases found in the throat, mouth and nose. Diphtheria, scarlet fever, tonsilitis, and perhaps some other affections, though affecting the entire system, possess a local manifestation that results in greatly vitiated breath.

The various catarrhal affections that are found in the nose, the throat and mouth, in all cases more or less affect the breath, ranging all the way from the very mild, almost imperceptible, change to an intolerably disgusting degree. This affection should be well studied

by the dentist, in order that he may be able to give his patient some, if not permanent relief, and that he may protect himself so far as he may against an intensely annoying and offensive condition.

Diseases of the gum and mucous membrane of the jaws are often the occasion of this offensive condition. This will result, sometimes, from a vitiated exudate from the mucous membrane, or it may occur, as is frequently the case, from a discharge from the margins of the gums, and from the sockets of the teeth.

Necrosis and sloughing of the bony tissues of the sockets nearly always produce a very offensive condition.

The discharge from alveolar abscess is oftentimes so vitiated as to load the breath which passes out of the mouth with an exceedingly offensive odor.

Decayed teeth are charged, especially by various medical writers, as a very frequent cause of offensive breath. This is true not only of physicians, but to a greater extent, perhaps, of the laity. There is not, however, as much in this as is usually attributed to it. Оссаsionally cases are presented in which an exceedingly foul breath is wholly attributed to one small innocent cavity of decay in the grinding surface of a molar tooth. Were all other causes of offensive breath eliminated, than that which comes directly from the decay of the teeth, there would be, in the aggregate, an immense improve

ment.

Another fruitful source of offensive odors of the oral cavity is found in the presence of foreign substances or matter in the mouth in the shape of soft salivary calculus, accumulation of food, and a glutinated mucous deposited upon the teeth or the artificial dentures undergoing decomposition, and necessarily throwing off an effluvia that will be mixed with the breath. The saliva and mucous, mixed thus with foreign substances, and retained for an undue time in the mouth, will undergo such change as to present a very offensive condition. Now as to these extraneous causes of the affection under consideration, it is not difficult for the educated patient to determine what should be done; simply purification of the oral cavity in the most thorough manner by the entire removal of all offensive material, and after this the intelligent use of disinfectants upon the teeth, mucous membrane and dental plates, if they are in the mouth.

With a large variety of disinfectants, antiseptics, cleansing materials and methods there is no difficulty in rendering almost every

such case from the objectionable condition, for a time at least sufficient for operations.

A great many formulas have been given for the correction of offensive breath; the suggestions made for the use of these, however, in the majority of cases, are upon a false basis; with many of them it is only the substitution of one odor for another, or the mixing of two offensive conditions, and producing a third that is, perhaps, temporarily more tolerable than either of the others.

In treatment here, however, the aim should be, as in all other medical treatment, to attain the most permanent results; that doubtless, is the true theory of all medical and surgical practice.

Temporizing should never be employed when something better can be attained.

It is very desirable that the profession should give more attention to this subject than heretofore. In our literature very little will be found upon this subject, and in all medical literature so far as I have been able to examine, only a fugitive reference to it has been here and there made; and I may here refer those who have not investigated the subject to a little work entitled, "The Breath and the Disorders which give it a Fetid Odor," by Dr. Joseph W. Howe, the third edition of which was issued in 1885, and a paper published in the Dental Register, by Dr. D. C. Hawxhurst, Vol. 27, page 104.— Ohio Dental Journal.

THE PRELIMINARY EDUCATION OF THE DENTAL STUDENT.

BY C. G. KUHN, LIGONIER, IND.

What are the requirements of the dental schools in the way of a preliminary education? One would judge from reading their catalogues that it was a good common-school education. But what do they consider constitutes such an education? Have all the colleges that belong to the American Dental Association the same idea which constitutes that requirement, or do such schools construe it as their pecuniary interests may appear, as each applicant presents himself for admission?

I am willing to give the colleges credit for giving better instruction and making better professional men out of their students than they did a few years back. But if they draw the lines a little closer in regard to the student's intellectual qualifications that apply for

admission, would not the men they turn out be better professional men?

I think there is not one present but will agree that the student with a college or university education is better prepared to grasp the demonstrations and lectures given by the faculty than he whose qualifications would hardly pass him out of the grammar school.

The greatest requisite of the student before entering on his professional studies, is a broad, solid foundation upon which to build his professional structure, which consists of the great underlying principles of all science, truth and culture.

His mind will be so developed by the requirements of such a foundation that he will be able to arrive at a reasonably correct conclusion and capable of ascertaining the great lessons and facts from the many suppositions and demonstrations of advanced thinkers. Upon such a foundation he may be able to build a professional structure that will be an honor to the profession and himself.

It is true that upon a poor foundation he may rear a structure, and cover it with colors that glitter and deceive many, but rarely does such a structure reach completion before the trials of professional life come and carry it away to give place to the one grounded and reared upon true principles of success. Perchance here and there one may stand and make what men call success, but his success is attributable more to the ignorance of the masses around him than his own merits. Some of the fathers of our profession began on poor foundations, but during practice they have been continually repairing the beginning. Dr. C. N. Johnson, in a paper read before the International Dental Congress in Paris, 1889, said "that the first of all the evils is the allowing applicants to matriculate without the proper qualifications." There is a great laxity in this matter in most of our schools, and to it is largely due many of the ills which to-day we are called upon to criticise. It may be accepted as a rule that unless an applicant has the fundamental principles of a general education perfectly engrafted in his mind, it is impossible for a dental college to make of him a practitioner who will take his proper place in the world as a fitting representative of a learned profession, and if in future the profession is to assume the position in the community of a cultivated body of men, he must see to it that those who enter our ranks are fitted to sustain its reputation. It is true that many enter college under the disadvantage of a limited education

and by close application and a natural talent eventually make a creditable showing, but this is no argument in favor of the lax method of matriculation. The same student entering college with a good education would have advanced to a higher state of perfection than is possible without it; and it is the desideratum in all college instruction to raise the student to the highest perfection possible. The time has come when it should be rendered impossible for a young man to chose dentistry simply from the fact that he is unfitted for any other reputable profession.

It may appear strange to some of you that I have assumed this position, but, when one looks at the dental profession and sees the number that are practicing quackery, one is apt to ask the question, "Why is all this so?" For my part, I cannot help coming to the conclusion that a greater part is caused by persons whose preliminary education before entering the dental college was neglected. Call to your mind all the persons that are conducting their practice in this unprofessional manner and see what kind of an education they have, and I am convinced that seventy-five percent come under this class. Now I don't say that all persons whose preliminary education was neglected are quacks. Far from it. Many of our leading men in the profession to-day had not the advantage of a college education. No matter what the condition may have been in the past, it now lies within the means of every youth who has the mental and physical ability to become a dentist-the advantages of a good high school enucation.

Dr. Smith, Dean of the College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati, Ohio, said that graduates in theology showed only twenty-five percent who had degrees in letters or any other kind of degree. In law fifteen percent, in medicine five percent, and in dentistry about the same as medicine. And that in what are now called the newer professions, engineering, etc., it was found a larger proportion had degrees than in the learned professions.

I am afraid hardly so strife to see who shall Dr. G. V. Black, said,

When shall we expect it to be different? long as the different schools are making such have the larger number of matriculations. "it certainly will not while the qualifications of the pupil both for entrance and exit are controlled by that circular god with the eagle stamped on the reverse side." Gentlemen, this condition of things is to be greatly regretted, but I am glad to see at least one college

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