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The British Dental Trade Association is a Company Limited by Guarantee and registered in England and Wales no. 3488299 Registered office: Mineral Lane, Chesham, Bucks, HP5 1NL
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History
A Century of Family Dental Practice in the Northeast of England - Part 2
Jul 14, 2009
Thomas Henry Brown, LDS (1906—1993)
| In 1923, Tom took up his place as a dental student at the College of Medicine, Newcastle on Tyne and in 1926 was proud to win the class medal for Dental Anatomy. For clinical practice, Tom had to provide himself with a portable, cast iron, foot treadle dental engine which he had to carry round between clinics in one hand whilst carrying his fully stocked, six drawer, student mahogany instrument cabinet in the other. On his qualification, the family practice accounts show that the sum of £250 was invested in machinery, tools and alteration to the premises, and the front upstairs room, formerly a storeroom, was equipped with an “Electro-Dental” unit, gas steriliser and metal barrelled anaesthetic syringes. |
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| Thomas Henry Brown's Rathbone Dental Unit 1938 |
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| Thomas Henry Brown's student cabinet c.1907 |
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In 1938, a more suitable pair of adjacent terrace houses across Parliament Road was bought and knocked into one. This involved substantial structural alterations and was probably the equivalent of the purpose-built surgeries of today. His new surgery was provided with a state of the art, Dental Manufacturing Company, “Rathbone” Model No. 2 Dental Unit in black with cord arm electric motor which lasted him until the 1970s when it was traded in for a Rathbone conversion unit incorporating all the up to date features. Its 1937 instruction book extols its virtues rather quaintly as follows:
“The Rathbone Unit creates an atmosphere of scientific efficiency and modernity tempered with dignity. It arouses the patient’s interest and awakens in him a new respect for dental science and a greater appreciation of the importance of the treatment he is undergoing.”
Perhaps we could do with such a machine today!
Dental treatment since the beginning of Tom’s career had consisted of either private treatment or treatment under the “Approved Society” scheme under which extractions and dentures made up 80% of payments. When the N.H.S. began in 1948 and free dentures became available, even to those who had quite happily managed without for many years, demand hit the practice like an avalanche and enormous queues developed at the beginning of each month when a new quota of patients was accepted. Naturally this demand had a favourable effect on profitability which doubled in one year. In 1951, patient’s charges damped down demand, the cost of the dental service and dentist’s profits. Barbara, a dental receptionist of the time says:
“The first morning that charges came into being, I announced to a full waiting room that they would now be obliged by the N.H.S. to pay 7 shillings and 6 pence (37p) for an extraction and four guineas (£4.20) for a set of dentures. At this point the waiting room emptied very quickly!” |
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| Thomas Henry Brown 1973 |
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Dr. A. T. Brown
The author would welcome any feedback from this short synopsis via the website. |
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