Varga Benedek szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 149-157. (Budapest, 1996)
TANULMÁNYOK / ARTICLES - Huszár György: Balogh Károly professzor (1895—1973) életútja és iskolája. Születésének centenáriumára. Magyar és angol nyelven
the Clinic together with a chemist, Katalin Petrucz, Ph.D. Among other things, they succeeded in producing two types of artificial dental plaques. One they considered pathogenic: On teeth kept in vitro for 80 days in a mixture of saliva and pathogenic dental plaque, chalky white spots developed on the enamel, similar to those seen in early caries. Together with György Huszár, Balogh examined the teeth of old gypsies who camped outside villages under primitive conditions. (21, 22) The teeth of these individuals showed, almost without exception, marked attrition, but were free of caries. The investigators spent their weekend at the then still existing campsites examining the teeth of gypsies 60 years of age or older. Afterwards they stated that, based on their dental status, "these gypsies are our Eskimo". The anthropological analogy recalled the work of Scandinavian investigators who had found that the teeth of Eskimo living under primitive conditions show marked attrition, but no caries. A review of Balogh's close to 200 scientific publications would be beyond the scope of this biography. The more so, because Balogh was not the type of dental scientist who studies one narrow topic or problem throughout his life, and investigating it from various angles. Balogh was interested in many facets of stomatology (dental surgery, dental anesthesiology, caries research, gerostomatology, preventive dental medicine, and the education of dentists) as well as disciplines bordering on it (dental anatomy, histology, physiology, biochemistry, bacteriology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, oncology, industrial toxicology, etc.). Balogh had ideas in all these fields and tested them; his publications summarized the results of these inquiries. Likewise, students of Balogh's school have published a large number of scientific articles in the Hungarian and in world literature. They were also authors of numerous chapters of books and wrote many monographs. The bibliographic data of most of these have been listed in the bibliographic compilations issued by the School of Dental Sciences (26) and in the 1945—1960 volume of Bibliography of Hungarian Stomatology. (64) Balogh developed good relations with scientists in Hungary and abroad. These relations were further strengthened by annual reports (in English, French, German and Hungarian) presenting the abstracts of all scientific publications from the clinic. These annual reports were sent to many dental institutions throughout the world. Balogh directed and organized numerous national scientific meetings where he reviewed timely topics. Outstanding amongst these is the 1947 congress where Balogh delivered the Arkövy Memorial Lecture. In 1948, at the Congress of Hungarian Dentists, held on the occasion of the Centenary Medical Week, Balogh gave the keynote lecture entitled Dental Caries: A Significant Public Health Problem. These two congresses were also helpful in reviving our international relations; we could step out of the isolation caused by World War II. In 1957, the Fédération Dentaire Internationale (FDI) held its world congress in Rome. With Balogh at its head, a larger delegation could travel from Hungary to this meeting. Several Hungarian dentists presented papers, and a significant part of an international exhibit on the history of dentistry consisted of triatrial from Budapest. The opening ceremony of this Congress had an interesting episode. Customarily the names of the participating countries are announced, their representatives arise, and are welcomed by polite applause. When it was the turn of the Hungarian participants in 1957, less than a year after our 1956 uprising, thousands of dentists from around the world arose from their seats and greeted them with unceasing stormy applause. Afterwards Balogh remarked ' 'we witnessed the glorification of a nation".
