Page 26 - My FlipBook
P. 26
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mouth napkins handy, so that if there was sUmy mucus to
remove or things that I wanted to wipe away, I could do it.
Often we have mouths come to us in a condition in which we
want to wipe away considerable masses of material from about
the teeth, and in these cases a small napkin is better than
cotton in the pliers. This should be followed by a stream of
water from a large rubber bulb syringe. And, 1)y the way,
let me say a word now about assistants. Most of you expect
to make dentistry your life work, and if you are to be success-
ful dentists you will need to employ an assistant, not simply to
mallet gold—and yet, a mallet in the hands of an assistant is
better than any other mallet you can use—but you will want
an assistant for a thousand other things about the office.
First and foremost, perhaps, you want an assistant to look
after your patients, look after their necessities and relieve you
of that. That I regard as very important in a dental office.
Then you want an assistant to assist you about the chair in a
hundred dififerent ways. In fact, my assistant was as con-
tinually employed about the chair as myself. Instruments
cannot always be at hand ; you will discover the need of an
instrument after an operation has begun ; it is not within
reach, perhaps—an assistant brings it ; an assistant handles
the gold, prepares it ; an assistant prepares the amalgam,
assists in adjusting the rubber dam, places a clamp, passes
a ligature ; an assistant does all these things, so that the
operator can continue steadily at his legitimate business
everything is brought to his hand that is necessary by an
assistant who is trained for this work. One who has learned
to use an assistant and has trained his assistant to do this
work can accomplish about double as much in a day's time
as one who undertakes to work without an assistant, no mat-
ter how skillful he may become. Anyone will do his opera-
tions better if he has learned to use an assistant than if he
has not learned to use an assistant and is dependent vipon
his own efforts entirely. He will do them more conveniently,
and this means better work always.
Usually I say but little to my patients when they first
take the chair about position in the chair. I simply put them
in the position I wish and do not always put them in the
position that is easiest for me at the beginning. Some people
get nervous with much fussing about the chair, and it is often
T2
mouth napkins handy, so that if there was sUmy mucus to
remove or things that I wanted to wipe away, I could do it.
Often we have mouths come to us in a condition in which we
want to wipe away considerable masses of material from about
the teeth, and in these cases a small napkin is better than
cotton in the pliers. This should be followed by a stream of
water from a large rubber bulb syringe. And, 1)y the way,
let me say a word now about assistants. Most of you expect
to make dentistry your life work, and if you are to be success-
ful dentists you will need to employ an assistant, not simply to
mallet gold—and yet, a mallet in the hands of an assistant is
better than any other mallet you can use—but you will want
an assistant for a thousand other things about the office.
First and foremost, perhaps, you want an assistant to look
after your patients, look after their necessities and relieve you
of that. That I regard as very important in a dental office.
Then you want an assistant to assist you about the chair in a
hundred dififerent ways. In fact, my assistant was as con-
tinually employed about the chair as myself. Instruments
cannot always be at hand ; you will discover the need of an
instrument after an operation has begun ; it is not within
reach, perhaps—an assistant brings it ; an assistant handles
the gold, prepares it ; an assistant prepares the amalgam,
assists in adjusting the rubber dam, places a clamp, passes
a ligature ; an assistant does all these things, so that the
operator can continue steadily at his legitimate business
everything is brought to his hand that is necessary by an
assistant who is trained for this work. One who has learned
to use an assistant and has trained his assistant to do this
work can accomplish about double as much in a day's time
as one who undertakes to work without an assistant, no mat-
ter how skillful he may become. Anyone will do his opera-
tions better if he has learned to use an assistant than if he
has not learned to use an assistant and is dependent vipon
his own efforts entirely. He will do them more conveniently,
and this means better work always.
Usually I say but little to my patients when they first
take the chair about position in the chair. I simply put them
in the position I wish and do not always put them in the
position that is easiest for me at the beginning. Some people
get nervous with much fussing about the chair, and it is often
T2
