FOOD AND THE TEETH.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17740, 17 April 1923, Page 2

FOOD AND THE TEETH.

MALFORMATION AND DENTAL DECAY. Some of the statements attributed to Dr. E. Gordon Bender, of Wellington,

regarding the causes responsible for the teeth of New Zealanders not being as good as the teeth of Americans, which were made in an interview that a Wellington "Post" reporter had with Dr. Bender, are controverted by a wellknown Christchurch medical man. The interview referred to was reprinted ill "The Press" of last Thursday. The Christchurch medical .man, in a statement to a representative of "The Press," said:—

Malformation of the jaws and dental decay are not primarily due to unsuitable food. At any rate, the difference between the Americans' food and ours cannot account for the difference in the regularity of the jaws and the quality of the teeth of the two peoples. The Americans eat just as many soft things and just as many sweet things as we do. Their griddle cakes and maple sugar, their ice-creams, and numerous substitutes for porridge are worse for teeth than our' foods. ■ The drinking of cold water, particularly iced water, with meals is supposed to be bad for digestion, and this would react upon the teeth 1 We must look to pother factors for the admitted superiority of the Americans' teeth over ours. There are three causes for their superiority:— (1) The Americans long ago recognised the necessity for treating decay in the early stages, and in teeth of the first dentition.

(2) Americans live in a continental climate, where humidity is lower, where climatic changes are not so sudden, and where hot winds and cold winds, dry winds and moist' winds, do not blow a dozen times in the same day. The consequence is that the vaso. motor system of the American gets a chance, but here it doesn't and the result is that the nasal mucous ntem-' branes become permanently- engorged, and respiration has to be carried on through the mouth. In some of the Eastern States where the continental conditions are absent, the Americans deal with these vaso. motor weaknesses in a scientific manner, and by change of climate and local means combat the mouth-breathing. (3) The feeding-bottle commonly used in New Zealand is a powerful cause. The bottle requires strong suction to get milk out of it. The child does not suck its mother's breast. It is a totally different action, and the cheek muscles do not come, into play as in sucking a bottle. In the latter cheek muscles powerfully compress the delicate jaws, while the tongue lies, dependent in the mouth. The' tongue in breast-feeding is forcibly pressed against the palate, and does most of the outward movements of the maxillary arch." n Now the open mouth causes diminution in the flow and alterations in the character of the saliva which is. the natural flush and antiseptic oi the mouth. Food therefore remains among the teeth, and saprophytic organism from the atmosphere causes fermentation producing acids which dissolve the elements of the teeth, and thus with the incoming of pathogenic organisms lead to decay.