Page 15 - My FlipBook

Our ceramic artists, our artificial-tooth manufacturers, supply a far
more ajsthetic and harmonious tooth-ci"own than can be made from
any of the known metals, — a crown which, if properly mounted, is of
equal utility and far greater satisfaction to both dentist and patient. I
should not dwell upon or emphasize this point in my address, but since
the reintroduction and more general employment of gold in our pros-
thetic work, I have heard of, and with my own eyes beheld, shocking
examples and illustrations of a violation of taste, harmonv, and beauty in
a polished, shining row of solid gold crowns, mounted upon the roots
and stumps of superior cuspid and incisor teeth ; and while the work
appeared to be mechanically well executed, it of course presented a
most horrid travesty of all the rules and laws of aesthetic taste and
art, and had been accepted and tolerated simply on the ground that
the crowns were gold.
And now, ]SIr. President and gentlemen, in concluding this address,
I beg leave to say that I honor the " American Academy of Dental
Science." I honor the high position it has taken and maintained as one
of the most advanced and cultured scientific and professional organiza-
tions known in the history of " American Dentistry ; " I honor it for its
efforts, labors, and researches, and for the contributions it is making to
the sum of professional knowledge, and look with trust and confidence
to its help and aid in exploring our yet untrodden fields, and in the
solution of our yet hidden problems.