Since the regime of Dr. Bock began, many changes have taken place in the Hygiene Building, all of them for the best. What had been before a most unsatisfactory system was revised and put in working order. The increase in visits and efficient treatment of minor and major ills is proof of Dr. Bock's hard work an eminent success.
But with the growth in demand for medical care have come other problems. The Dental Clinic, previously located in Stillman Infirmary, had a rise of over one third in its cases last year, and will certainly enlarge that figure this year. Emergency work has always held first place on the Dental Clinic's schedule, but with the increasing demand on the part of students conditions have become sorely crowded.
As a rule, general dental work is not done at the Clinic, but rather turned over to an approved list of graduates from Harvard's Dental School who are practicing in Cambridge or Boston. But certain needy students are taken care of by the Clinic. The main argument against an enlargement of activity, with resultant relief of the congestion, has been that these needy men would suffer by it. This hardly seems necessary.
The fear that an enlargement would put Harvard in the dental business does not seem particularly valid. Most of the student body would never normally patronize a local dentist; they have their own dentists at home. But spending nine months of the year in Cambridge, they deserve care while they are here. These are the men, as well as needy students, for whom the Dental Clinic is a necessary part of the Hygiene Building.
A yearly deficit has always been one of the problems the Clinic has had to face, since it practices none of the work that brings gold to the pockets of other dentists. If the Clinic did more of the work for students instead of farming it out to other men, there would be at least the possibility of relieving congestion and balancing the budget.
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