A TOOTHLESS AGE?

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 24 January 1927, Page 7

A TOOTHLESS AGE?

pyorrhoea increasing. ADVANCE OF DREAD DISEASE.. Pyorrhoea has increased from 200 per cent, to 300 per cent, m the last in e to lo Ofa r il'the population of Christchurch over 10 years of age it is doubtful it more than 5 per cent, have perfect sets of teeth (says the Sun). Children of three and four years of .. ( , 0 - u - e losing the temporary teeth vdiie.li should be retained until they are nine or 10 ycurs old* _ . It is onlv in recent years that the general public has given much thought to the dread disease of the mouth that is now the big problem m the dental world, but even now scant thought is given to it except by those who have been treated for it. It m kecomi clearer each week, however, that the very great majority of people &uow very little about the proper care of the teeth. This Was recognised by the Government a few years ago, and dental clinics were established in State schools, hut despite their undoubted good work, the condition of teeth generally becomes worse each year. ~r Inquiries into the cause and effect of pyorrhoea led a reporter to interview Mr F. P. Tymons, of Christchurch, who was Deputy-Director of Dental Services m the New Zealand Expeditionary force during the Great War, and who was able to note conditions in other countries during his service abroad. In the course of an interview lie made the tliree statements with which this . story opens. Pvorrhoca aveolaris, to give it its correct name, is a disease of the aveolar process, and the symptoms are the oozing of pus around the free edge of the gum, and a loosening of the teeth. It spreads poison throughout the body, and, if allowed to continue unchecked, will materially affect the strongest phvsique. It is really unfortunate that there is very little pain attached to this disease, for it is thus often able to spread considerably before the sufferer is constrained to seek medical or dental advice. Pyorrhoea is hereditary iu some eases, and many persons who take meticulous care of their teeth have been surprised to find that they suffer from it. „ _

TOO MUCH SOFT FOOD. Research work into the cause of the disease is going on at present, and dentists are puzzled to account for it and for the great increase iu recent years, hut Mr Tymons holds the opinion that the lack of mastication of hard food stuffs is one of the principal factors. Too much soft food is eaten, and the jaws are not used enough. He holds that if the teeth were used in the way nature intended them to be used there would not be so much pyorrhoea, and in support of this contention turns to his experiences among the peasants of Belgium and Franco, and the hardy poor folk of Ireland and Scotland. These people he found to have beautiful teeth, and all were used to. exercising their teeth on hard foods that called for proper mastication. The Arab, too, has splendid teeth, but perhaps the best illustration is provided by the Maori. Before the pnkcha brought civilisation to the land the Maori had splendid teeth, as is shown by old skulls that contain teeth worn down to the pulp, but otherwise in the best of order. To-day the Maori, living as the white man does, lias teeth that are as bad as, if not worse than, those of the white man. Sweets, white bread and soft food that requires practically no chewing bring trouble upon the present generation in the form of teeth that have not been exercised and developed as nature intended them to be, and the position is very serious iu relation to children. The average child to-day is allowed sweets from infancy, is not taught to develop the jaw bone for proper mas--tieation, but lives on soft and easily masticated food. Consequently, caries develops too early, and the majority of children lose their temporary molar teeth at the tender age of three years and four years. These teeth should be retained until children are nine or 10 years of age, for the temporary teeth that are lost; prematurely allow the other teeth t’o develop prematurely and irregularly. Moreover the loss of the temporary teeth so early gives the children less chance to mnstieate food properly at an age when it is important for them to do this. Worse still is the condition when these early teeth decay and are allowed to remain without attention, causing pain and injury. If the teeth of children of even the tender ages of three to six years can be treated, and the small cavities in them filled, so that they give service for the time intended by Nature, the child has a much better chance of health when the permanent teeth come.

PARENTS’ RESPONSIBILITY. Mr Tymons blames the parents for the fact that the children are growing up with decaying teeth, but finds some excuse for them on the grounds of ignorance. Children going to school are provided with money for sweets, and sweet shops at the school gates cater solely for their trade. Some parents even provide money for children to buy biscuits for lunch instead of providing them with a good lunch that calls for proper mastication. The State clinics at the schools are certainly doing something in the fight against, dental disease and are doing good to the extent (that they are educating children to look after their teeth, but until the cause of the disease is removed they can only tamper with it. And the child can step out of the school clinic into the sweet shop at the school gates. 'Really, it looks as if, in another gen<(‘ssoprn'jnop oq xpjqs aM " os 10 uorpß.io said Air Tvmons, w'ho expressed the opinion that it should be made compulsory for every child to undergo regular dental examination, and he would extend that compulsion even to children of three years of age.