CARE OF PRIMARY TEETH.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18266, 27 December 1924, Page 2

CARE OF PRIMARY TEETH.

Mr George Thomson, in a lecture on the "Care of the Primary Teeth," at the Institute of Hygiene, London, strongly condemned /the method of feeding babies. At six months of age, he said, a child was able to bite fruit and even to tear meat from . bones. Consequently it craved for something hard upon which to exercise the jaws and develop powers or mastication. Instead, it was given bread soaked in milk, or mashed potatoes in gravy, with the result that the muscles atrophied and the blood supply became insufficient to augment the growth of the jaws. "It is an extremely bad thing," said Mr Thomson, "to develop a love of sweet things in children. In many cases the teeth become hopelessly decayed in a very short time and demand extraction." What was needed was dry, solid food. It was almost incredible that many text-books recommended pap and soft foods like milk puddings, minced meat, and fruit juices which required no mastication. Most of the defects in adult mouths could be traced to neglect of the primary teeth, nnd repeated toothache involved impaired appetite and lowered resistance to disease. Good teeth and good digestion went together.