President’s Introduction and Past Presidents Address Homer C. Brown, DDS

A notable feature of the recent meeting of the Ohio State Dental Society was the Health and Science Conference Dinner held at the Commerce Club, Toledo, or Wednesday evening, Dec. 3d, 1913. Dr. Weston A. Price, President of the Society, acted as toastmaster. Governor Cox was represented by his Secretary, Mr. G. F. Burba, who spoke on the subject. “The State and Dental Science.”
Dr. Homer C. Brown, President of the National Dental Association, spoke on the subject, “Greetings from the National Dental Association.”
Dr. Victor C. Vaughan, Dean of the Medical Department, University of Michigan and President-elect of the American Medical Association, gave an interesting and instructive address on the subject, “How Dental Infections Reach Other Organs and Tissues.’”
Dr. Edward C. Kirk, Dean of the Thos. W. Evans Museum and Dental Institute School of Dentistry, University of Pennsylvania, and editor of The Dental Cosmos, spoke on the subject, “Exact Knowledge and How it is Obtained.”
Dr. E. F. McCampbell, Secretary of the State Board of Health, spoke on the subject, “The Relation of Dentistry to the Health of the People.”
Aside from the speakers, the special guests of the evening included the entire membership of the State Board of Health, Dr. J. H. J. Upham, President-elect of the Ohio State Medical Society, and Dr. C. D. Selby, Secretary-Treasurer of the Ohio State Medical Society.

There were also present many prominent dentists from other states. The dinner was attended by nearly five hundred. The conference was a great event, of which the Society members should feel proud, and one that will be a lasting benefit to the dental profession.

The proceedings will appear in full in The Dental Summary, the first installment of which is appended hereto.

 

Dr. Price: In the last fifty years the world has been literally turned upside down because a band of men found a key, and that key made possible for the death rate or, rather, the life rate, to be changed from an average of twenty years, fifty years ago, to an average of forty years at this time; and that key which has turned the world upside down and doubled the longevity of people living today was found in the scientific research laboratory, and this meeting tonight, is, in a sense, in recognition of the effort of the National Dental Association to establish, if possible a means for removing from humanity those afflictions that come because of oral and dental lesions. If you were to go to the museums in Colorado Springs and examine the skulls of those cliff dwellers, you would find, if they are now as they were a few years ago, not a single instance of decay in all the skulls and you would find that practically all the arches are symmetrical. Humanity has been advancing, but she has lost the art of living, and this key is to unlock the door that we may again find the art of living. I want to say to these guests, and we have some very honored ones here tonight–we have the entire Board of Health of the State of Ohio; we have in the absence of our Chief Executive, his Secretary, Mr. Burba, our Governor at a late moment being unavoidably called to Washington–and while we regret very much that he cannot be here, we recognize that his Secretary has the spirit of our Executive. We have also the President-elect of the American Medical Association, an honor than which there is none greater that will ever be offered to any human being in this world, because the American Medical Association stands at the zenith of that personal quality that expresses itself in sacrifice and in the giving of all it can instead of getting all it can.

I want to say to these guests that the members of the National Dental Association, constituting virtually the dental profession, are alive to their responsibility. They realize that they have a large part in the unlocking of this door, and you may be surprised to know that we dentists are undertaking to finance a project that will equip laboratories, and make it possible for men to go into laboratories, without concern for their bread and butter, and work out these problems. In fact, they are already working, and those who were present this afternoon, I know, were thrilled and stirred by some of the reports that were given in those scientific papers, of some of the results already secured by the money that has been contributed in part by men in this room. And the dentists of Ohio, as usual, are leading. Of the magnificent sum of $20,000 contributed already by the dental profession of America, $9,000 is from the dentists of Ohio. Now, tonight we want to cultivate our relation with this great Empire State. We want to learn from our Chief Executive or his representative our duty toward the humanity of this State. We want also that the Executive may know something of our desire to help the humanity of the State. We want to learn from men who have made it their life work to study to unlock these doors what are the methods for exact study. So, without further explanation, I am going to introduce to you a man for whom I can say nothing better than that the greatest reward that is ever offered to any man for service is a better opportunity for a better service, and that is what we have given to Dr. Brown. Dr. Brown, as Secretary of the National Dental Association, when he was Secretary, was capable of carrying forward a campaign of reorganization that raised the total membership of the National Dental Association from some 800 or 900 members to 12,000 members. What could be a more fitting reward than a greater opportunity for a greater service, namely, to be made President of the National Association in order that he might, in that position, direct the work of that Association; and Dr. Brown, the first dentist to occupy the position of member of a State Board of Health will now extend to us greeting from the National Association.

 

“Greetings from the National Dental Association”

By the President, Homer C. Brown, D.D.S., Columbus, Ohio

It is a distinct privilege, in behalf of the National Dental Association, to extend cordial greetings to the Ohio State Dental Society and her guests, and also to publicly commend and congratulate the officers and committees for presenting such an excellent program for this 48th annual session.

It is doubtful whether any other dental organization has ever been so fortunate in having as many interdependent interests represented as constitutes tonight’s program, and I am quite sure that I voice the sentiment of every member of our National Association in stating that the Ohio Society is most fortunate in this, and that we have every reason to assume that this meeting will be a stimulus that will result in marked benefits in many ways.

My position tonight is rather an embarrassing one, since I am extending greetings to the first dental society with which I became affiliated. Twenty-two years ago I joined the Ohio State Dental Society, and I will mention two regrets in connection with such membership. The first is that I did not immediately become active in the affairs of the organization, and second, that I have attended only twenty-one of the twenty-two meetings held since then. I personally know most of our members as well as our guests, and most of these are probably aware that I never received any medals as a public speaker, and I naturally feel at a decided disadvantage in appearing on the same program with our distinguished speakers of the evening; therefore, my embarrassment.

In this connection I desire to impress upon the younger members of our profession, and this applies alike to other professions and vocations, the advantages of becoming affiliated with your local, state or national organizations and assuming your full responsibility in each. In no other way can you hope for a full measure of success, and I am frank to say that whatever professional success I have attained, or whatever service I may have been able to render our profession or state in any official positions I hold or may have held, I attribute much of this to my affiliation and active interest in our society work and the willingness to make any necessary sacrifices in order to do my full part.

I am not unmindful of the signal honor which has been conferred upon me, and through me the profession of Ohio, by being elected the first President of the reorganized National Dental Association, and I fully appreciate all the responsibilities associated with this preferment, especially at this particular time. However, with the loyal support of all, which I earnestly solicit and hope to receive, I propose to assume and discharge my duties to the best of my ability, and to the best interests of the Association as I see them, and will at all times endeavor to be just to all and lenient with those who may differ as to policies.

For the benefit of those who may not be informed relative to our National Association, it may be of interest to state some facts which should be convincing that our profession was never so favorably situated for advancement as it is at this time. Heretofore, we have had only some seven to eight hundred members, while under our reorganization we feel confident that our membership will approximately be twenty times this number for our 1914 meeting which will be held at Rochester, N. Y., July 7th to 10th. That we are confronted with an auspicious future should readily be appreciated when it is understood that our National Organization has, with few exceptions, every State Society as a constituent thereof, with some 15,000 of the most progressive and aggressive dentists laboring not only to advance conditions within our profession, but also striving to educate the public to a better appreciation of the necessity of a healthy mouth as an important factor in health conservation.

No doubt the first thing that will best advance the interests of our The Association will be the publishing of a National Dental Journal. The reason for this is because of the fact that it is necessary to have a medium by which our members may be kept in touch with the affairs of the Association. Another important work is that of our Research Commission, of which many of you heard Dr. Price speak last night, and no doubt will further discuss this tonight. Other important national questions are as follows: Relief Fund, Dental Education, Legislation, Oral Hygiene, Public Health and Public Dental Education. All of these have active committees working out the various details, and the solution of these questions will mean much to the progress of our profession.

Ohio has always been conspicuous in all progressive movements, and her former citizens are today occupying positions of trust in other states and nations, and there is no exception to this in the progress of the dental profession. The American Dental Association was organized at Niagara Falls in 1859, and Ohio was doubly honored by Dr. William H. Atkinson being elected President and Cleveland selected for the place of the meeting in 1860. Dr. Chapin A. Harris, the man most responsible for the establishing of the first dental college in Baltimore in 1839, formerly practiced dentistry in Ohio. The second dental college was established in 1845 at Cincinnati. Ohio has the second oldest dental organization in existence today; passed the third state dental law, shared honors with Pennsylvania in publishing the second dental journal, and has furnished the profession many notable characters who have been called to their reward, such as: James Taylor, Jonathan Taft, George Watt, William H. Atkinson, John Allen, F. H. Rehwinkle, W. D. Miller, H. A. Smith, and others. We are optimistic enough to think that some of our dentists present tonight may very ably continue the work of these dental pioneers, and those from other states, and that their names may be recorded as having rendered faithful service.

Some are fortunate in the possession of wealth; some are called to positions of honor and influence; some are blessed with a surplus of energy and time, and some are qualified to formulate plans and execute progressive policies for the good of the masses. All of these may be considered as talents, entrusted to the individual, and he who gives of his purse, his influence, his counsel, his energy or time with a view to improving conditions for the present or future generations, is generously contributing to a worthy cause, and his closing days will be brighter for having rendered some real service for the uplift of humanity.

“There’s a destiny which makes us brothers,
None takes his away alone;
All that we send into the lives of others,
Comes back into our own.”

Dr. Price: We have had executives of state and national honor who have striven to make health and happiness for their people, but none who appreciated the relative merit of the tree or the horse as compared with the human element; but Ohio has the proud distinction of having a Governor who places at the top of the pinnacle of all that is to be desired, the health of the human element, and in Governor Cox (Applause) and in his representative, Mr. Burba, we have the highest expression of a civilization that would save its people rather than its poultry and its trees. We will now hear from Mr. Burba. (Applause).