Painless Parker

Book excerpt: Throughout his professional life, Painless Parker - a self-promoting dental crusader & a patient advocate--sought to gain respectability from his profession. Instead, he was rejected by his colleagues because he used the unacceptable practice of advertising blatantly to the public. The ultraconservative Profession of Dentistry regarded Painless as an outlaw, a renegade, a fraud, a charlatan, a quack, a scoundrel, a thorn in their sides, & above all else--unprofessional. However, Painless may have been years ahead of his time. Parker's very active life, which spanned 80 years, can be divided into three periods: THE FORMATIVE YEARS in the Canadian Maritimes, where his youthful experiences prepared him for his destiny; THE INTERVENING YEARS on the East Coast of the United States, where his revolutionary ideas, ways & circus methods for dental advertising & unconventional practice were developed & refined; & his LATTER YEARS ON THE PACIFIC COAST, where the region's fertile & easygoing lifestyle facilitated his establishment of 37 dental offices & tolerated his flamboyant manner of advertising. This book tells Painless' story as he wanted it told--from his perspective, using many of his own words & aphorisms. To order: Dr. Arden G. Christen, D.D.S., M.S.D., M.A., Indiana University School of Dentistry, 1121 W. Michigan St., Room B-19, Indianapolis, IN 46202-5186 or (317) 274-3859. Price $24.95 plus shipping.