SUGAR AND DENTAL DISEAES

Evening Star, Issue 17394, 2 July 1920, Page 2

SUGAR AND DENTAL DISEAES

Examination has proved that over 90 per cent, of school children in the Dominion are suffering from dental disease. Experience has proved that jthia dis«ise is primarily responsible for many others. It is the one disease above all others j on which the public should concentrate its attention. It affects almost every member of-the community. It begins in childhood. It lowers the health and resisting power of the child, and consequently predisposes to tuberculosis and disease generally. It is impossible to exaggerate the suffering and economic loss caused to the community bv this apparently trivial but really terrible disease. Research goe3 to prove that the use of free Bugar is one of the most predominant causes of dental disease. By [ free sugar is meant that not included in the natural composition of fruit and other foods. Dental disease will progress in .proportion to the' consumption of free sugar. It is the, duty of parents, guardians, and all who have the interest of the health and economic welfare of the Dominion at heart to realise tnis fundamental truth. ' They should realise that in allowing and encouraging their children to consume large quantities of sugar in the form of chocolate and eweets generally they are laying in store for them suffering and ill-health, and endangering their future welfare. It must be made clear that the common craving for sugar is an acquired one, that children in the past did not' get sugar, and that to allow them to develop the craving is a positive cruelty. Not only should sugar and distinctly sugary foods be kept down to a minimum, but also the eating of sweet biscuits, chocolate, and confectionery should be discouraged. These foods consist almost altogether of highly refined starch and sugar, which is an ideal combination for lodging about the teeth. At the same time, it does not stimulate, but weakens the flow of saliva. Hence it is not readily washed out of the crevices, but remains there to undergo acid fermentation and destroy the enamel of the condemn these refined foods absolutely and banish them entirely from our diet, but rather that their use should be restricted instead of their occupying a prominent place in our diet, and being taken at such very frequent intervals. Sugar causes harm in more ways than by its direct action in the mouth and upon the teeth and flow of saliva. When taken in any quantity it causes congestion of the mucous lining of the stomach, and leads to catarrh, disturbed nutrition, and much vague ill-health. It gives rise in children to that' very- common and vague ailment mucous disease, which has been aptly termed by.an eminent medical authority "the dyspepsia of sweet-eating children." Replacing the excess of sugar and refined starchy foods by more coarsegrained and albuminous foods tends with little other treatment to restore health. SUGAR UNNECESSARY AND HARMFUL. Free sugar is not necessarv to human ' health and nutrition. It has only become a_ common article of diet during comparatively modern times, and only during the last 50 or 100 years has its "consumption increased to the present enormous extent. Three hundred years ago sugar was a very rare luxury, and was unobtainable except in an apothecary's shop. During the 17 years preceding 19C0 the qnantitv of sugar consumed in America rose from nearly 101b per head to more than five times that amount. Since then it has increased enormously. A similar ranid increase has taken place in England. The consumption of sugar per head in New Zealand for the year 1878 was 64£lb; in 1913 it was 122i1b, nearly twice the amount. This means an average consumption for each individual of about per day! Dental disease in its present magnitude is also comparatively modern, and its increase has been parallel to that of sugar consumption and other modem dietetic errors.

In the medical inspection of schools a noticeably smaller amount of decay of the teeth has been found to prevail" at the smaller out-of-the-way schools. The factor deciding this difference appears to be the absence of sweet—or confectioners'—shops. Where no such shops are within' reach of the school the teeth are, on the average, in better condition. The difference is evident between schools only a fe%v miles apart, where one has and the other has not a sweet shop in the neighborhood. Such shops are frequently situated only a few dcors from schools, and trade busily with the children at lunch hour. Apart from their destructive effect upon the teeth, these shops interfere with the children eating proper lunches. So long as these temptations are there to act upon their childish tastes the inculcation in children of healthy dietetic habits appears a forlorn hope. When Europeans first came to New Zealand the Maoris ate coarser and more natural food, and had perfect .teeth. Now the Maori has adopted our dietetic habits, and his teeth have been reduced to almost the same deplorable state as our own.

The Government have inaugurated a scheme to treat dental disease in school children. This oan only be regarded as palliative. No real progress can be made unless fundamental causes are dealt with. For this reason parents are urged to give their serious consideration to the suggestions given in this and other articles of the series.