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Last week dentists who specialize in making twisted teeth align with normal teeth in a patient's mouth met at Manhattan. They constituted the First International Orthodontic Congress. Simultaneously, at Philadelphia, the National Society of Dental Prosthetists was in annual session. Its members are dentists who specialize in making plates, bridges and like artificial dentures. Orthodontists. Six hundred, including nearly all the 450 in the U.S., convened from 15 nations. They heard—that orthodontia lies at the basis of the science of dentistry (Dr. Augustus S. Downing of Albany, N. Y.); that universities are now recognizing orthodontia as a dignified science and that the average dentist earns more than the average doctor (Dr. Leuman M. Waugh of Manhattan); that adenoids, mouth breathing and thumb-sucking mess up the arrangement of teeth (Dr. Percy R. Howe of Boston); that an underslung jaw and prominent chin does not of necessity indicate strength of character but simply that the individual's mother kept his thumb out of his mouth when he was a baby (Dr. W. Stanley Wilkinson of Melbourne, Australia); that all children should begin to have their teeth straightened between the sixth and eleventh years. The next congress will be in London or Paris in 1930 or 1931. Prosthetists heard with acclaim that the phrase "false teeth" is to be deplored when "denture" more pleasantly describes the "exquisite creations of the master dentist of today" (Dr. Harry J. Homer of Pittsburgh); that every time a child eats a lollypop "he might as well say goodbye to one of his teeth," and for "every man who habitually eats soft, mushy foods" the human race is one step nearer utter toothlessness.* "Diet is the most important factor in keeping the teeth ... in good health" (Dr. S. E. Butler of Tokyo, Japan). Some artificial dentures (plates and bridges) were shown, which deserved the description of "exquisite engineering in miniature."
*A modest scientist, he never signs his first name even to personal correspondence. Correspondents recall that given name as being "Felix." He was born in Montreal in 1873 ; educated in France. From 1901 to 1905 he was government bacteriologist in Guatemala. At present he is at Alexandria, Egypt, director of the bacteriological service of the Egyptian Sanitary, Maritime, and Quarantine Council. †A millicron is one one-millionth of a millimeter, or one one-thousandth of a micron, or one twenty-fifth of a billionth of an inch. *This is the basis of the argument for Ipana tooth paste as advertised princeipally in Sunday papers and fiction-magazines.