A DENTIST'S DISCOVERY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 74, 24 September 1938, Page 19

A DENTIST'S DISCOVERY

One hears very little of the wonderful work and inventions made by doctors and dentists, and consequently they get the reputation of being mere pill-givers and tooth-pullers, says the Melbourne "Age." So that it is interesting to record that after nine years of wonderful work an announcement has been made that a Sydney dental surgeon has given speech to more than 500 people suffering from cleft plates. He has invented a rubber plate, and by its use people suffering from palate disability are able to speak correctly. This invention deserves to be better known, as it is stated that the disability, said to be due to a deficiency of phosphorous and calcium, occurs once in 1200 births. The dental surgeon says that if the impediment is discovered early it can be cured, and he has done so when the infant has been a day old. But the great idea !is found in the ability to correct the fault by means of the rubber moulded to the roof of the mouth. There must be thousands who do not know of this to whom the discovery will come as a boon. He has corrected fifty a year at the Children's Hospital and the Women's Hospital, of which he is honorary dental surgeon.