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Eleventh International Dental Congress London, England, July 19-26
544 • T H E J O U R N A L O F T H E A M E R IC A N D EN T A L A S S O C IA T IO N
The Faribault editor plays further on the fears of a war wearied world by warning that “ the mechanism for fluoridation o f water supplies in any community would provide the perfect weapon for saboteurs. With large amounts of the fluorides in storage the enemy could dump these into the water supplies and destroy all the people in the community.” This sounds like something found in the wildest “ who-done-it” — something which even world traveler Herrstrom knows is untrue. Cox and Ast1 point out that even in the case of gross negligence it would require more than four tons of sodium fluoride per million gallons of water processed to produce a concentration of 450 ppm fluorine— sufficient to produce salivation and vomiting— and such a concentration they point out is not possible in any program of water fluoridation. “ If,” queries Mr. Herrstrom, “ fluorides harden the teeth what is to prevent them from hardening all the bones in the body making them easy to break and too weak to support the body.” If the Minnesota editor were as well informed as he would have his readers believe he would know that several studies2’ 3’ 4 have been made by excellent authorities which indicate that the concentration of fluorides in the public water supply shows no effect on the incidence o f bone fracture. Neither time nor space nor the patience of the reader permits a listing of the 25 reasons advanced by the Faribault world traveler as to why community water supplies should not be fluoridated, but one of his reasons is so ridiculous that it hardly needs to be challenged. “ It is reported,” writes Mr. Herrstrom in his Sep tember 1951 bulletin which sells for 10 cents, “ that in Russia fluorine was added to the milk given babies in order to weaken their wills and make them more amenable to dictatorship when they grew up. This method was used following the revolution in 1917. Is the American public going to be ‘doped’ into submission to dictatorship here?” The answer is “ no” and neither is the American public going to be “ doped” into believing the anti-fluoridation nonsense published for profit by world traveler Herr strom in his Americanism Bulletin. 1. Cox, Charles R., and Ast, David B. Water fluoridation—a sound public health practice. J.A.W .W .A. 43:641 (Aug.) 1951. 2. McClure, F. J. Fluoride domestic waters and systemic effects. I. Relation to bone fracture experience, height and weight of high school boys and young selectees of the Armed Forces of the United States. Pub. Health Rep. 59:1543 (Dec. I) 1944. 3. Dean, H. T. Testimony given during the hearing on the tolerance for fluoride spray residue on apples and pears held pursuant to the notice issued by the Federal Security Administration May I, 1944 (9 F.R. 4654). 4. Hodges, P. C., and others. Skeletal sclerosis in chronic sodium fluoride poisoning. J.A.M.A. 117:1938 (Dec. 6) 1941.
Eleventh International Dental Congress London, England, July 19-26 Slightly more than 60 days remain before the Eleventh International Dental Con gress is convened in London, July 19. Dentists here who plan to attend but who have failed to make final travel arrangements are urged to do so at once. Travel agencies report that air and ocean accommodations to Europe this summer are rapidly being exhausted and that even now little preferred space is available.
E D IT O R IA L S . . . V O L U M E 44, M A Y 1952 • 565
The July 19 to 26 meeting, the eleventh quinquennial congress organized by the Fédération Dentaire Internationale, bears promise of being the most influential and substantial o f any world dental meeting thus far held. The organizing committee, aided generously by the British Dental Association, has extended itself to the limit in order to make this meeting an international success. The principal scientific sessions will be held in the main hall of Britain’ s Royal Festival building and smaller meetings will be housed in adjacent conference halls. Television, motion pictures, scientific exhibits, and table demonstrations are planned to augment the principal program and conducted tours, balls and banquets will provide members and guests with lighter entertainment. Breaking away from the orthodox method o f presenting a large number of long and highly scientific essays each day the organizing committee has arranged that the international reports on various sections of dentistry, prepared by eminent world authorities, be published in the current year’s quarterly issues of the International Dental Journal. The preconvention publication o f these reports will obviate the necessity of their being read at the Congress, save time, streamline the meeting and permit a more studied discussion of their contents as the main feature of the scientific program. The American delegation will watch with interest this particular innova tion. The successful execution of such a plan might lead to its adoption here. With the passing of the Eleventh International Dental Congress five more years will elapse before another will be held— and five years is a long time. For those who would appreciate an international postgraduate education— limited though it may be; for those who would hear firsthand the opinions of world famous dentists, and for those who would learn of the dental problems of other peoples and the manner o f their attempted solution, the Eleventh International Dental Congress, London, July 19-26, promises to fulfill their requirements.
Graduate study: all things to all men The purpose of graduate work in dental education came in for much animated discussion at the 1952 meeting o f the American Association of Dental Schools in Colorado Springs in March. A surprising diversity of opinion among educators was revealed as to the objectives o f study leading to advanced degrees in dentistry. Almost every conceivable aim for educating the dentist beyond his undergraduate course was brought forward by one or another of the educators present. And the striking feature of the discussion was that every speaker implied or asserted that only the objective urged by him should motivate a graduate dental program. In the assembly were those who contended that the schools should train dentists exclusively to practice some specialty such as oral surgery, pedodontics or orthodontics. Proponents of this point o f view recommended that clinical experience be given aca demic credit in order to enhance the skill and knowledge of the prospective specialist.
The Faribault editor plays further on the fears of a war wearied world by warning that “ the mechanism for fluoridation o f water supplies in any community would provide the perfect weapon for saboteurs. With large amounts of the fluorides in storage the enemy could dump these into the water supplies and destroy all the people in the community.” This sounds like something found in the wildest “ who-done-it” — something which even world traveler Herrstrom knows is untrue. Cox and Ast1 point out that even in the case of gross negligence it would require more than four tons of sodium fluoride per million gallons of water processed to produce a concentration of 450 ppm fluorine— sufficient to produce salivation and vomiting— and such a concentration they point out is not possible in any program of water fluoridation. “ If,” queries Mr. Herrstrom, “ fluorides harden the teeth what is to prevent them from hardening all the bones in the body making them easy to break and too weak to support the body.” If the Minnesota editor were as well informed as he would have his readers believe he would know that several studies2’ 3’ 4 have been made by excellent authorities which indicate that the concentration of fluorides in the public water supply shows no effect on the incidence o f bone fracture. Neither time nor space nor the patience of the reader permits a listing of the 25 reasons advanced by the Faribault world traveler as to why community water supplies should not be fluoridated, but one of his reasons is so ridiculous that it hardly needs to be challenged. “ It is reported,” writes Mr. Herrstrom in his Sep tember 1951 bulletin which sells for 10 cents, “ that in Russia fluorine was added to the milk given babies in order to weaken their wills and make them more amenable to dictatorship when they grew up. This method was used following the revolution in 1917. Is the American public going to be ‘doped’ into submission to dictatorship here?” The answer is “ no” and neither is the American public going to be “ doped” into believing the anti-fluoridation nonsense published for profit by world traveler Herr strom in his Americanism Bulletin. 1. Cox, Charles R., and Ast, David B. Water fluoridation—a sound public health practice. J.A.W .W .A. 43:641 (Aug.) 1951. 2. McClure, F. J. Fluoride domestic waters and systemic effects. I. Relation to bone fracture experience, height and weight of high school boys and young selectees of the Armed Forces of the United States. Pub. Health Rep. 59:1543 (Dec. I) 1944. 3. Dean, H. T. Testimony given during the hearing on the tolerance for fluoride spray residue on apples and pears held pursuant to the notice issued by the Federal Security Administration May I, 1944 (9 F.R. 4654). 4. Hodges, P. C., and others. Skeletal sclerosis in chronic sodium fluoride poisoning. J.A.M.A. 117:1938 (Dec. 6) 1941.
Eleventh International Dental Congress London, England, July 19-26 Slightly more than 60 days remain before the Eleventh International Dental Con gress is convened in London, July 19. Dentists here who plan to attend but who have failed to make final travel arrangements are urged to do so at once. Travel agencies report that air and ocean accommodations to Europe this summer are rapidly being exhausted and that even now little preferred space is available.
E D IT O R IA L S . . . V O L U M E 44, M A Y 1952 • 565
The July 19 to 26 meeting, the eleventh quinquennial congress organized by the Fédération Dentaire Internationale, bears promise of being the most influential and substantial o f any world dental meeting thus far held. The organizing committee, aided generously by the British Dental Association, has extended itself to the limit in order to make this meeting an international success. The principal scientific sessions will be held in the main hall of Britain’ s Royal Festival building and smaller meetings will be housed in adjacent conference halls. Television, motion pictures, scientific exhibits, and table demonstrations are planned to augment the principal program and conducted tours, balls and banquets will provide members and guests with lighter entertainment. Breaking away from the orthodox method o f presenting a large number of long and highly scientific essays each day the organizing committee has arranged that the international reports on various sections of dentistry, prepared by eminent world authorities, be published in the current year’s quarterly issues of the International Dental Journal. The preconvention publication o f these reports will obviate the necessity of their being read at the Congress, save time, streamline the meeting and permit a more studied discussion of their contents as the main feature of the scientific program. The American delegation will watch with interest this particular innova tion. The successful execution of such a plan might lead to its adoption here. With the passing of the Eleventh International Dental Congress five more years will elapse before another will be held— and five years is a long time. For those who would appreciate an international postgraduate education— limited though it may be; for those who would hear firsthand the opinions of world famous dentists, and for those who would learn of the dental problems of other peoples and the manner o f their attempted solution, the Eleventh International Dental Congress, London, July 19-26, promises to fulfill their requirements.
Graduate study: all things to all men The purpose of graduate work in dental education came in for much animated discussion at the 1952 meeting o f the American Association of Dental Schools in Colorado Springs in March. A surprising diversity of opinion among educators was revealed as to the objectives o f study leading to advanced degrees in dentistry. Almost every conceivable aim for educating the dentist beyond his undergraduate course was brought forward by one or another of the educators present. And the striking feature of the discussion was that every speaker implied or asserted that only the objective urged by him should motivate a graduate dental program. In the assembly were those who contended that the schools should train dentists exclusively to practice some specialty such as oral surgery, pedodontics or orthodontics. Proponents of this point o f view recommended that clinical experience be given aca demic credit in order to enhance the skill and knowledge of the prospective specialist.