BRIDGE AND CIGARETTES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1084, 24 March 1911, Page 9

BRIDGE AND CIGARETTES.

FURTHER OPINIONS. (By Tclezraph.—Special Correspondent/) Auckland, March 23. A leading dentist has told Mr. Ell, of Christchurch, that the greater part of his business was "the whitening of women's teeth, blackened through smoking, no doubt playing bridge." To that statement leading Auckland dentists apply unanimously the adjective "exaggerated." Olio of their number told a reporter that it was on very rave occasions that a. female patient came to him for attention with her teeth in such a condition, though he knew that smoking among ladies was fairly prevalent. Teeth would only be blackened, he said, after smoking had been indulged in constantly and hoavilv, and the effects of such indulgence, particularly on ladies, would be decidedly injurious. The practice of whitening ladies' teeth after they had been blackened by smoking would not form fjve per cent, of the business of a leading dentist in New Zealand. "I don't think there is a habitual cigarette smoker among the ladies of Auckland," said the manager of a large dental establishment. Several tobacconists questioned in regard to the demand for ladies' cigarettes said that as far as they could judge it was a demand that was growing in New Zealand. The nature of some of their orders from customers led them to believe that cigarettes were often provided for functions such as bridge parties, but the quantities were usually small.