DECAYED TEETH.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 6 September 1913, Page 12

DECAYED TEETH.

The following enquiry was received a ■short time ago from a country township. As the care of our children's | teeth is a matter of the first importance, we feel sure that "Ir.quirer's" i •letter and Dr. Pickerill's reply will be .read with great interest: — Dear "Hygeia".—l wish to ask your -advice about a little girl's teeth. She is nearly six, and" some of her lower luolars are badly decayed, two being -mere shells. Should these decayed teeth he extracted? We might have had this <k>ne, but were'told her permanent teeth vould then come through prematurely, and would not therefore be so durable. Xn her upper jaw her second teeth are very irregular, the two front ones being ■very broad, but those adjoining quite «mall. —I am, .etc., , " INQUIRER. This question was submitted to the leading authority in the Dominion — namely, Dr. Pickerill. Professor of Dentistry at the Otago "University, who, as our honorary dental surgeon, has always given every encouragement and assistance to the Society. The following is his reply:— DR. PICKERILL'S REPLY. I am always very glad to be of any ttse to -you and •your work.. As regards "the questions you ask, it is very difficult to lay down hard and fast rules. It-all depends upon whether sepsis is-present or"/not, and: whether *be latier-is amenable to treatment.;

Biit m all cases of carious deciduous teeth something must be done. It must not be allowed (as is often the case) to slide. The teeth should be filled if" possible, and if not they should be extracted. Two or three years of septic absorption may far outweigh in evil effects any deformity which may result from too early abstraction.

I am having typed extracts on the subject from my latest hook on '"Stomatology," which explain the position, I think; if not, pleas© let m& know. EXTRACTS FROM "STOMATOLOGY" The necessity of children masticating food which requires the exercise of somfe force should be pointed out, and if necessary suitable diets arranged for particular cases. Great care should betaken of the deciduous teeth, that these do 1 not beoome^so diseased as to necessitate j their extraction Hsefjore the tight age. -Should they, however^, become hopelessly septic, they must be extracted, since the risk of septic absorption for, perhaps, a year or two far outweighs the evil effect of crowding the permanent teeth.

Deciduous teeth retained beyond the normal age should be extracted if there is any sisn of the presence-of the permanent tooth^-usually to "be detected as a Tjulgii'g of the bone upon palpation immediately below the deciduous tooth. Sometimes a difficulty may arise in deciding whether a particular tooth is a deciduous or permanent one. This may be determined by drawing a fine-point-ed probe over the termination of the enamel' at the cervix. In deciduous teeth it terminates in a distinct ridge; in permanent teeth "its termination is not noticeable. A deciduous too+h should not, however, be extracted if possible before the age at which its permanent successor 6nould erupt, and it should not be allowec! to remain much after this period without cue reason. It is therefore eminently necessary to remember the numbers which represent the ages at which the respective deciduous teeth should be lost physiologically:— 7 central. 8 lateral. 10 .first, deciduous molars. 11 canine. 11 second deciduous molars.