The Reading Free Dental Dispensary
The Psychological Clinic Cupyrig’.it, by Liglitner Witmer, Editor. Vol. 111. No. 9. February 15, 1910. :Author: Geoiige S. Schlegel, D.D.S..
Secretary Reading Free Denial Dispensary Board.
The free dental clinic, apart from the clinic connected with a dental college, is a new form of public charity. Europe and Australia have taken the initiative in this important work. The United States, however, is alive to the necessity for free dental service, and at the present time movements are on foot among dentists and dental organizations, getting information, and planning and securing the necessary funds to establish such public charities.
The Reading Free Dental Dispensary is one of the first ten to be established in this country and certainly the first one on record in the state of Pennsylvania. At intervals during the past ten years, members of the Reading Dental Society have agitated the necessity of giving free dental service to the indigent poor of our city. The main obstacles were the lack of suitable rooms, and a modern equipment. To impress upon City Councils or the Board of Education the necessity of such a charity, without some statistics to prove our assertions, Avould no doubt have proved fruitless. However, it was our good fortune to find a philanthropic citizen who volunteered to raise the necessary funds not only to fully equip a dispensary, but to furnish the money to supply it with materials, etc., for one year. The members of the Reading Dental Society grasped the opportunity at once and signed the following resolution, which showed how eager they were to do a public service: Whereas, We the undersigned have agreed to contribute not less than four dollars each, towards a fund to be used for the equipment of a free dental dispensary in Reading, Pa.; Be it resolved, That we the undersigned promote the interests of this Free Dental Dispensary, by giving our service gratis, to (249) ‘A-fr 1? i ; .;”-j a? * ?^TT’ * ‘ ‘? ” * ‘* -fx .. ?; * *a ? v t THE FREE DENTAL DISPENSARY OF READING, PA. BEADING FREE DENTAL DISPENSARY. 251 all persons duly qualified, who report at the dispensary for any service provided for in the rules of the dispensary. The frequency and order of attendance of each dentist to he determined by the Heading- Dental Society. This obligation shall remain in force as long as any of us the undersigned are in legitimate and active practice in Reading, Pa.
The society started the fund by subscribing over a hundred dollars. This was made compulsory by our financier, because he wanted us to feel that we had not only a charitable interest in the work but also a financial interest, in other words that it belonged to us, the Reading Dental Society.
The members pledged themselves on Thursday, January 7, 1909, and after a delay of two months to arrange details, signed the above resolution on April 1st. The Dental Dispensary committee, which was a standing committee for years, but which never delayed meetings with any exhaustive reports, immediately selected a location and equipment, and 011 May 28th, Ave sent all our prominent business men, school directors, city officials, and others, an announcement that -Tune 1st would be inspection day at the Heading Free Dental Dispensary. The first man reported for duty on June 2, 1909. In less than five months with two months of unavoidable delay, we founded, equipped and paid for this necessary charity.
Our equipment is modern in every particular and includes electrical engine and fan, electric water heater and atomizer, compressed air outfit, hydraulic chair, dental cabinet, sterilizer, dental laboratory bench, roll top desk, record system, and telephone. The rooms were furnished with linoleum, rugs, clothes tree,, ‘etc., through the generosity of local firms.
The organization of the dental dispensary will be made clear by the following resolutions and rules adopted by the Reading Dental Society:?
Resolved that the following shall be a standing resolution of the Reading Dental Society,?
Sec. 1. The dispensary shall be known as the Reading Free Dental Dispensary. Sec. 2. There shall be a board for the manage? ment of the dispensary to be known as the Dispensary Board.
Sec. 3. This board shall consist of six members in active practice, who shall be in good standing in the Reading Dental Society.
Sec. 4. The members of the first board shall be elected at the annual meeting as follows:?two for one year, two for two years, two for three years, and at each succeeding annual meeting, two shall be elected for three years.
Sec. 5. Vacancies occurring shall be filled by special election. Sec. 6. The operators shall serve in the order in which their names are affixed to the Constitution. Sec. 7. The Dispensary Board shall present a written report at each annual meeting. Rules. 1. The management of this Dispensary shall be in the hands of the Dispensary Board of the Reading Dental Society. 2. This Dispensary will be open from 1.30 to 5 o’clock daily, except Saturdays and Sundays^and legal holidays, and such days as the Board may designate. ‘5. All property of the Dispensary shall be in charge of an assistant, who shall be held responsible to the Dispensary Board for its safe keeping, and who shall dis, pense instruments, materials, etc., as required by the various operators, from the reserve stock. 4. The assistant shall also keep a record of supplies needed, and shall attend to the ordering of various materials as directed by the Dispensary Board. It shall also be the duty of the assistant to keep records of all operations. 5. ISTo person shall receive free dental services without the endorsement of the Associated Charities. 0. If any operator is unable to be present on his appointed day, it shall be his duty to provide a substitute; the said operator shall be responsible for the appearance of the substitute.
The patients are received through the Associated Charities from the public schools and the general public. The teachers of the public schools are provided with blanks to be filled out by them. The form of the blank is as follows:
APPLICATION FOR FREE DENTAL SERVICE. To bo approved by Associated Charities, 539 Franklin Street. Hours : 1) to 12 a, m>, 2 to 5 p, m. Saturday afternoons excepted. Dental Dispensary, 114 S. Sixth Street Hours : 1.30 to 5 p. m. Saturdays excepted. Name Address Age Grade Name of Parents Occupation of Parents Name of Teacher Name of Principal or Name of Supervisor Location of School Note.?Additional application blanks can be procured at the 6fHce of Associated Cliarities.
The dispensary employs a competent woman assistant, who makes appointments with patients, records all operations and sterilizes all instruments; a sort of chargee d’affaires. Where twenty-five different men operate in rotation it is absolutely necessary to have some one person constantly in attendance. The dispensary has been in operation for about seven months, and like all new work it has taken some time to become well known. The summer months were not productive of a great demand for free dental service because the schools were closed. However, taking everything into consideration the dispensary is a success, and we hope to make a fine annual report by January 1, 1911. We are doing everything we can to bring to the notice of our public school teachers the mental and physical improvement which may be brought about through proper care of children’s teeth. With this end in view E. C. Kirk, D.D.S., Sc.D., Dean of the Dental Department of the University of Pennsylvania, lectured at a teachers’ institute in Reading, October 30, 1909, on “The Dental Disabilities of School Children”.1 The patients who received treatment during the brief existence of the dispensary, have been for the most part of a slightly higher grade than we hoped to reach. The very poorest class must first be taught the value of saving their teeth, and this will require time. However, we realize that a dental charity must be carried out on a higher plane than a soup house. Many parents earn enough to keep their children supplied with simple food and 1The Psychological Clinic, Vol. Ill, No. 8, p. 1*17. clothing, but no more; to pay for dental service is entirely out of the question. So far we have worked mostly for this class, but we hope to reach the poorer classes later. We have also done a great deal for children from orphanages. If the patient does not possess a tooth brush and cannot afford to buy one, the dispensary furnishes one together with tooth paste or powder, and the proper instructions for their use. This movement is both educational and charitable. Dental inspection in the Reading Public Schools will begin with the September session in 1010, possibly sooner. The members of the Heading Dental Society have volunteered to make an examination of the eight grades of the public school of the city, numbering 10,000 pupils. All these influences must bring pressure to bear in the direction of better teeth, hygienic mouths, and perfect health.
In closing this article I wish to make an appeal to all educational authorities, to interest themselves in this great work. Don’t wait for the dentists to begin the work for you. Dentists are slow to come forward in some localities, and a little urging on your part may be productive of a vast amount of good. The public school system is intended to develop a child’s mind and body. This cannot be accomplished as long as the child’s capabilities are constantly or intermittently reduced by some physical infirmity, and decayed teeth are very often the causes of grave physical or mental defects. Therefore it behooves all who claim to be educators or caretakers of the human economy to reduce every active cause of deficiency in the individual to a minimum. Co-operation is the keynote of this, as of every other important movement for social betterment.
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