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Student vote issue
piration dates m ust be considered in form ulating new o r revising old spe cifications. A changeover to a clear labeling of th e date of m anufacture of a product also has been discussed with the m ajor trade associations in the dental indus try. A suggestion has been m ade that a six-digit num ber be used; the first tw o digits would indicate the m onth of m anufacture, the second tw o would indicate the lot or batch num ber made during that m onth, and the last two digits would indicate the year of m an ufacture. A s soon as a decision on this m atter is m ade by the Council, it will be an nounced in THE JOURNAL.
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b e tte r s o lu tio n ’
state and federal governm ents, which m ust be m ade up by higher taxation of the taxpayers. A b etter solution would be to ex pand the v eteran s’ hospital facilities to accom m odate the family with a catastrophic illness w ithout further cost to th e family. T h ere are m any in the population who are eligible for adm ission at the present tim e. Why not extend eligibility to all catastroph ic cases? N ow during the planning stage is the tim e to petition your rep resen ta tives to submit to the H ouse W ays and M eans Com m ittee the objections you have to both th e K ennedy and N ixon bills. Suggest the v eteran s’ hos pital facilities, which already have the structure. C ertainly, no oth er govern m ental facility will be any better.
m T he editorial, “ Right on, dental stu d e n ts” (M arch j a d a , page 450), is an o th er in a long list of contributions to our profession by H arold Hillenbrand. I thank him for sharing his observations w ith us in his usual beautiful prose. M any with m ore tim e and m uch less wisdom are doing nothing, at w orst, or less, at best, to try to unify the profession.
E U G E N E S IM S , D D S
JA M E S H . S IM M O N S , D D S
ALA
FO R T W O R T H , TEX
M ONTGOM ERY,
m Prolonged (catastrophic) illness in a family should be the concern of all sectors of ou r society. W henever the insurance industry or governm ent pays the health care bills, everyone is entitled to equal treatm ent, which is a dem and fo r the best and which is not econom ically practical. High taxation by the governm ent and high prem ium s by the insurance industry will be necessary to cover the cost of health care. F or either of these to operate efficiently, there must be a centralized p eer review admi nistrati ve agency. T he only function for either the insurance industry or governm ent in health care is protection. M ost people can risk the cost of a physi cian and dentist without interference by a third party. T he K ennedy bill and the N ixon bill now being considered by Rep. W ilbur M ills’s W ays and M eans C om m ittee will cost the taxpayers billions o f dollars and will deny much free dom to the A m erican people. T he K ennedy bill is direct taxation and su pervision by the federal and state governm ents, and is estim ated to cost $80 billion. T he N ixon bill will cost the taxpayers even m ore, probably $100 billion plus. T he N ixon bill, in brief, requires all em ployers to pay insurance premiums for all em ployees. This will be treated as a tax deduction by the em ployer, and this in turn reduces the revenue to
D e n tis tr y 's im a g e
m 1 like the editorial, “ T he now and future im age,” in the January j a d a (page 15). I long have been concerned about the image the public might have of us as a profession, but even m ore, I have been concerned about our own dow n grading of ourselves. F or exam ple, to the question, “ W hat kind of a doctor are y o u ?,” many of us are likely to reply, “ O h, I’m only a d en tist.” It has seem ed to me that we have had still less determ ination to look and act like the profession we are since we have been bargaining with unions and other com mercial manipulators. T hey seem to have convinced som e of us that we are in fact selling m erchan dise. A small filling gets less than a large one. T hat sounds like we get a bonus for aw kw ardness. A filling in a “ baby” tooth gets less than the same in a perm anent tooth. T he term s “ us ual and custom ary” bother me. I have yet to find a “ usual and custom ary” patient. T he dentist has agreed to these things. I w onder if it was necessary. Only the patient loses if he expects to get som ething for nothing. My reply to those w ho have ques tioned my fees and indicated that
som eone else would do it for less is, “ H e should know w hat his services are w o rth .” HUGO M. K ULSTAD, DDS B A K E R S F IE L D , C A L rF
S t u d e n t v o te issue
■ I believe H arold H illenbrand to be correct on the issue o f the vote for student A D A m em bers at our annual session. H ow ever, I also feel his flashing bursts of liberalism are prim arily re sponsible for th e rapid advancem ent of socialized m edicine upon th e health professions and dentistry in p artic ular. R. M . S T E T Z E L , D D S F O R T W A Y N E , IN D
‘Q u i c k i e s ’ o n a c u p u n c t u r e
■ A t a tim e w hen the dental profes sion has taken a clearly cautious of ficial position on the applications of acupuncture to dental p ractice, I am Concerned that the profession is being circularized by th e N ational A cupunc ture R esearch Society fo r “ quickie” courses on the subject. It is to the credit of the D ental So ciety of the S tate of N ew Y o rk and the N ew Y ork S tate Board fo r M edi cine and for D en tistry th at, while one organization is apparently trying to exploit d en tists’ desires for know ledge in this new field (and it is new despite the claim s th at it has been used for thousands of years), they have only approved another course, w hich con sists o f 50 hours o f co n cen trated di-
LE TTE R S TO TH E E D ITO R / JA D A , V o l. 88, M ay 1974 ■ 909
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b e tte r s o lu tio n ’
state and federal governm ents, which m ust be m ade up by higher taxation of the taxpayers. A b etter solution would be to ex pand the v eteran s’ hospital facilities to accom m odate the family with a catastrophic illness w ithout further cost to th e family. T h ere are m any in the population who are eligible for adm ission at the present tim e. Why not extend eligibility to all catastroph ic cases? N ow during the planning stage is the tim e to petition your rep resen ta tives to submit to the H ouse W ays and M eans Com m ittee the objections you have to both th e K ennedy and N ixon bills. Suggest the v eteran s’ hos pital facilities, which already have the structure. C ertainly, no oth er govern m ental facility will be any better.
m T he editorial, “ Right on, dental stu d e n ts” (M arch j a d a , page 450), is an o th er in a long list of contributions to our profession by H arold Hillenbrand. I thank him for sharing his observations w ith us in his usual beautiful prose. M any with m ore tim e and m uch less wisdom are doing nothing, at w orst, or less, at best, to try to unify the profession.
E U G E N E S IM S , D D S
JA M E S H . S IM M O N S , D D S
ALA
FO R T W O R T H , TEX
M ONTGOM ERY,
m Prolonged (catastrophic) illness in a family should be the concern of all sectors of ou r society. W henever the insurance industry or governm ent pays the health care bills, everyone is entitled to equal treatm ent, which is a dem and fo r the best and which is not econom ically practical. High taxation by the governm ent and high prem ium s by the insurance industry will be necessary to cover the cost of health care. F or either of these to operate efficiently, there must be a centralized p eer review admi nistrati ve agency. T he only function for either the insurance industry or governm ent in health care is protection. M ost people can risk the cost of a physi cian and dentist without interference by a third party. T he K ennedy bill and the N ixon bill now being considered by Rep. W ilbur M ills’s W ays and M eans C om m ittee will cost the taxpayers billions o f dollars and will deny much free dom to the A m erican people. T he K ennedy bill is direct taxation and su pervision by the federal and state governm ents, and is estim ated to cost $80 billion. T he N ixon bill will cost the taxpayers even m ore, probably $100 billion plus. T he N ixon bill, in brief, requires all em ployers to pay insurance premiums for all em ployees. This will be treated as a tax deduction by the em ployer, and this in turn reduces the revenue to
D e n tis tr y 's im a g e
m 1 like the editorial, “ T he now and future im age,” in the January j a d a (page 15). I long have been concerned about the image the public might have of us as a profession, but even m ore, I have been concerned about our own dow n grading of ourselves. F or exam ple, to the question, “ W hat kind of a doctor are y o u ?,” many of us are likely to reply, “ O h, I’m only a d en tist.” It has seem ed to me that we have had still less determ ination to look and act like the profession we are since we have been bargaining with unions and other com mercial manipulators. T hey seem to have convinced som e of us that we are in fact selling m erchan dise. A small filling gets less than a large one. T hat sounds like we get a bonus for aw kw ardness. A filling in a “ baby” tooth gets less than the same in a perm anent tooth. T he term s “ us ual and custom ary” bother me. I have yet to find a “ usual and custom ary” patient. T he dentist has agreed to these things. I w onder if it was necessary. Only the patient loses if he expects to get som ething for nothing. My reply to those w ho have ques tioned my fees and indicated that
som eone else would do it for less is, “ H e should know w hat his services are w o rth .” HUGO M. K ULSTAD, DDS B A K E R S F IE L D , C A L rF
S t u d e n t v o te issue
■ I believe H arold H illenbrand to be correct on the issue o f the vote for student A D A m em bers at our annual session. H ow ever, I also feel his flashing bursts of liberalism are prim arily re sponsible for th e rapid advancem ent of socialized m edicine upon th e health professions and dentistry in p artic ular. R. M . S T E T Z E L , D D S F O R T W A Y N E , IN D
‘Q u i c k i e s ’ o n a c u p u n c t u r e
■ A t a tim e w hen the dental profes sion has taken a clearly cautious of ficial position on the applications of acupuncture to dental p ractice, I am Concerned that the profession is being circularized by th e N ational A cupunc ture R esearch Society fo r “ quickie” courses on the subject. It is to the credit of the D ental So ciety of the S tate of N ew Y o rk and the N ew Y ork S tate Board fo r M edi cine and for D en tistry th at, while one organization is apparently trying to exploit d en tists’ desires for know ledge in this new field (and it is new despite the claim s th at it has been used for thousands of years), they have only approved another course, w hich con sists o f 50 hours o f co n cen trated di-
LE TTE R S TO TH E E D ITO R / JA D A , V o l. 88, M ay 1974 ■ 909