for my inspection, because I had exhibited an interest in these things during our conversations.

In placing a child, especially a nervous one, in the chair for the first time, I make it a point to draw the attention, as far as possible, from anything that suggests work upon the teeth, until that timid open-eyed wachfulness that expects every moment to see the Jack pop out of the box, passes off. If it can possibly be so arranged, do not have the mother accompany the child, for the mother is often harder to manage than the child. They are sure to say something like this: "Now, it won't hurt; you needn't be frightened, mother is right here;" and likely as not in the same breath tell of some awful experience they have had in the dental chair. Never suggest such a thing as hurt, to the child's mind, unless it might be in a case of extraction where you know it will, when it is better to tell them it will hurt them some, but assuring them you will be as gentle as possible; but never tell them it won't hurt when you know it will, for in the majority of cases they have learned from the inconsistencies of their parents not to take too seriously what you say about it. I have heard of dentists concealing the forceps up their sleeve, and, asking the child to just let them look at the tooth, they would slip the forceps on and extract the tooth. He only gets that chance once, when he has lost the confidence of the child and made it to fear and hate everything in connection with dentistry. It is supposed by some to be clever. It isn't. It is wicked, and should be condemned in the strongest terms.

Now we all know that in most children the imagination is developed to a wonderful degree. This can be turned to excellent account. I sometimes liken the chair to an elevator, and ask them if they would like to go up to the toy department, or as I elevate the chair I make allusion to the story of "Jack and the Beanstalk" which most children have had read to them, and they very much enjoy the "Hitch my toe and up I go." It is surprising how quickly they, through their well-developed imagination, enter into the spirit of it all. One step gained, viz., the fear of the place, and the fear of the dentist overcome, I proceed to examine and excavate the cavities. By this time I have become so far acquainted with my little patient as to have discovered the direction of some strong inclination or pet theme, which, as I have already hinted, I follow

For example, a little patient of mine I soon discovered was passionately fond of fairy stories, in fact she was so absorbed by them she seemed to live in Fairyland all the time. Taking advantage of this and following out a suggestion of her own, that a bad

fairy had made a house in her tooth, I said, taking up an excavator, "Now, I'll just take this little fairy axe and break into his house and drive him out. You listen to him jump from his bed when he hears the noise on his roof." And so I got the walls of the cavity broken down, much to the amusement and enjoyment of my little patient. Then wishing to use a bur I remarked, "I'm going to take this fairy broom now and brush the fairy family out of their house," so I proceeded to drill. Any pain connected with it I blamed to the fairy family rushing around to escape the broom, and that one by one they were being caught and thrown out by it. After the house was swept clean I repaired the hole in the roof and the tooth was filled.

Another case, a little lad who is a soldier from the ground up, made the remark to me that the enemy had entrenched themselves in his teeth. His enjoyment and interest were intense when I attacked the fortifications with picks, shovels, and machine drills, and finally compelled the enemy to surrender. The breaches in the forts were then repaired and our men placed on duty to guard against a return of the enemy. My orders were that every night and morning he was to go carefully over the outside walls with a brush and dentifrice to clear away any of the enemy that might be lurking around. So I succeeded, not only in making the operation a pleasure to him, but in getting him to take an interest in keeping his teeth clean. I could name dozens of other cases where, by taking advantage of the child's power of imagination and love of stories, I have succeeded in changing its thought of terror to one of pleasure so that the child would even pretend there was something wrong with its teeth, as an excuse to be taken to the dentist. One little chap came in with the remark, "Dr. Eaton, I've come back to hear the rest of that story."

Now, what has taken place in the above mentioned cases? Simply this: by the attention being diverted, new and pleasing pictures have been formed in the child's mind which are intimately connected with dentistry. The story or suggested thought is the prominent feature of the visit in the child's mind-filling the teeth a mere incident.

To illustrate my point: I contend that a very large part of the disagreeableness in connection with a dental operation is due to the picture that is formed of it in the patient's mind. For instance, have you not all experienced the following: Begin to prepare a cavity by breaking down the walls and your patient goes through all sorts of contortions until you say, this is not near the

nerve, or this is not a sensitive part of the tooth, when they iminediately quiet down and allo wyou to proceed with the work. It · seems strange that it should be necessary in certain cases to inform one's patient that this part or that is not sensitive when they should be the first to find it out. What is the explanation? They have the thing so pictured in their minds that it is going to hurt, it is necessary to inform them to the contrary before they can realize that it doesn't. As I have said, there is a great variety of dispositions to deal with, and while the methods I have suggested might work wonders in certain cases, they would not appeal in any sense to others. For instance, there are those who, if played with, would become so familiar that you would lose control over them. These require to be treated with firmness, but understand, not impatience. Let me say with double emphasis, never under any circumstances lose your temper with children. This sometimes requires an abundance of grace. Again, there are natures that study to oppose you in everything. These are not always hopeless cases. They are to be handled as Paddy did the pig that persisted in going in the direction opposite to that desired. He just began to drive it in the opposite direction to that in which he wished it to go and so succeeded. To illustrate: I attempted to put in some cement fillings for a little girl; I could not apply the rubber dam, and the trick was to keep the cavities dry long enough to get the cement in, for as soon as she discovered that I was anxious to keep them dry she was just as anxious to get them wet. After an unsuccessful attempt I said to my assistant, "Now, I'll say she will get them wet this time, what do you say?" "I'll say the same." I could then see determination in her face to keep them dry, and as I proceeded I would remark, "If she would only begin to talk and get those cavities wet then we would be right;" but no, her tongue would remain motionless until the operation was completed, when I would announce to her great satisfaction that we were wrong.

Another little patient brought by her mother would not sit in the chair. I at once had her mother take the chair and I proceeded as if doing work for her while the child stood in front of her saying she would not let me fix her teeth. I said, “O! I haven't time to do yours today I'm too busy; couldn't do it if you wished me to.” She immediately changed her tune and wanted her teeth fixed.

I feel that I have very inadequately expressed what has long been in my mind and heart regarding this very important subject; but I trust I have thrown out some hints that may at least stimulate interest and thought along this line. As we are the fathers of the

next generation of dentists, so these little ones are to be their patients; let us shoulder the responsibility that is placed upon us and hand them over to our successors in such condition as will reduce in a very large measure the disagreeable aspect that seems to be associated with the name of dentistry in the mind of the public, as well as of the dentist.-Dominion Dental Journal.

SOME POINTS ON EXTRACTION.

A. K. FINLAYSON, L.D.S.

The extraction of teeth whose removal will permanently benefit the patient, and no other, would seem to be the best practice.

At the outset, it would be better to eliminate all cases where the patient only consults the dentist when driven to do so by pain, and comes simply to have the tooth removed. To suggest treating the tooth, and restoring it to a state of usefulness, giving as your reasons the preservation of the opposing teeth, the articulation, not to speak of the serious loss to the denture and power of mastication, would not be appreciated. The patient's mind is made up that the tooth must come out, and no amount of reasoning will alter the decision.

It is the class of patient who desires that the very best be done for the mouth, that we should consider; taking some of the conditions met with in such mouths where extraction is undoubtedly the treatment; but which tooth, and when to extract, especially in very young mouths, are the debatable points.

I should never think of removing a deciduous tooth, except in very rare cases, until the successor is ready to take its place.

The extraction of a deciduous tooth should be decided upon when its retention would cause great and persistent pain, and a deciduous root when tending to cause irregularity.

Deciduous molars if extracted before the other teeth are ready to come, cause loss of space by the movement forward of the tooth behind to the space made by the loss of the other tooth, but it must be borne in mind, whatever the influence upon the second tooth, that it would be inhuman to allow a child to suffer torture that an adult would not tolerate.

When called upon to decide whether a six-year molar should be extracted or not, it very much depends on the condition of the tooth and the age of the patient. Presuming that the tooth is very badly broken down and the patient is much below ten or eleven, I

To

should endeavor to patch up the tooth or teeth until nearer the time of the eruption of the twelfth-year molar, and then extract. attempt to save the tooth so that it may be useful in the permanent set would be, in my opinion, a mistake, as, at its best, it could not possibly be made a very good tooth, and would probably be taking up room which would be of more importance to the other teeth than the presence of it.

One generally finds that if one of the six-year molars is irreparably gone, the others are much in the same condition. There are exceptions. If the molar above or below the condemned tooth is sound, I would not remove it at the same time, as the twelfthyear molar articulation would be interfered with, and so do more harm than good.

If the sixth-year molars on the opposite side of the mouth are good and sound, I should be inclined to leave them.

There is one case which I can recall where great harm was done to the mouth by injudicious extraction. The patient, a boy, came to me suffering greatly from all the six-year molars, which were very much broken down and in such a condition that it was impossible to do anything but extract. While he was under chloroform I was persuaded by the doctor to take the temporary molars as well. Their crowns were certainly much broken down, but the roots had only begun to be absorbed.

I saw the patient some considerable time after, and found very marked protrusion of the upper incisors, caused, I am certain, by the bite being thrown entirely on these teeth. Had the temporary molars been left to come away of themselves, or, at least, removed when the bicuspids were first coming in, no such deformity would have occurred.-Dental Record.

CURRENT COMMENT.

According to Health Culture the use of sweets is one of the most prevalent and most pernicious customs of the day. The habit of using sweets is usually contracted in early life. The child before it can walk is frequently a victim of the candy habit; and this love of sweets often lasts through life. Although it contains food elements, ordinary cans sugar is not actually a food; but for all practical purposes may be regarded as a condiment. It is injurious in many ways. In the first place it acts to retard digestion through neutralizing the action of certain of the digestive fluids. A cereal taken unsweetened is converted by the ptyalin of the saliva into a