A STATE DENTIST.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 99, 24 April 1909, Page 2

A STATE DENTIST.

THE CHANGE IN MODERN FOOD

Last year the Cambridge Borough. Council took the important step of appointing a Borough Dentist to examine the teeth of school children. Mr A. W. Gant was selected to fill the post. His first report was recently published, and in this article he puts forward a* plea for State dentistry in the interests of public health. Much can be said both for and against the case of physical deterioration, but in regard to the, teeth it must be admitted that the present race is infinitely worse than any preceding one. In fact, so prevalent has dental disease now become that it assumes a national aspect, and demands as full a consideration as other serious preventible diseases which, in these days, are combated and alleviated, not by individual effort alone, but by the State as A duty. The "man in the street" connects decayed teeth solely with toothache, and when one offends him has it taken out or else he calls it neuralgia and suffers agonies with as much resignation as is in him. This, however, is only the fringe of the subject-; many diseases which fill 'our hospitals to overflowing with patients are the outcome of decayed and septic teeth. Particularly is this so with diseases of the digestive and respiratory organs. Nor is this surprising when one considers that in every mouth are found many kinds of bacteria, often comprising those of the chief and most mortal diseases of mankind, including tuberculosis, pneumonia, etc.

DISEASE IN BAD TEETH. No better medium could be found for cultivating bacteria than a decaying tooth, placed as it is in constantly warm and moist conditions, and nothing could be more .injurious than to retain as many people do, twenty or even more of these danger areas in their mouths. Moreover, the nerve or.■• pulp of a decayed tooth which is not treated must sooner or later die and form pus, which is discharged into the mouth. . With several such teeth in the mouth a person is certain to suffer from severe gastric troubles, that are aggravated because the food cannot be masticated properly, and in many cases this leads to the body being so debilitated that it cannot withstand the slightest attack of disease, and succumbs. Medical men are unanimous in ascribing much of the disease which they are. called upon to treat directly to diseased teeth. Professor Osier, of Oxford, has said that "If I were asked which caused the more physical deterioration, alcohol or decayed teeth, I should unhesitatingly say decayed teetn." The only reliable method for obtaining statistics for a large number of adults at present is from the published army returns. Last year fortyeight recruits per 1000 were rejected solely on account of the unsatisfactory condition of their teeth. This is nearly double the proportion that is returned for any cause excepting lack of height and chest measurement. The standard of dental efficiency is very lenient, and a recruit is not rejected on account of so many teeth being decayed, but because of having

lost a specified amount of his "grind- ' ing capacity," and consequently only ! the back teeth are concerned. j Such a condition is serious enough • in' itself j but is made doubly so when one takes into account the number of men who are rejected by the recruiting officers themselves, and are' not included in the published medical returns.

EXAMINING 3000 CHILDREN

A successful recruiting sero-eant in the provinces, in giving his figures for five weeks' recruiting, shows particulars wnich are astonishing even to a dentist. He had to refuse 31 per cent, in that .period for bad teeth alone, and afterwards the medical officer rejected a further 7 per cent, for the same cause. In several places and in several countries statistics have been carefully compiled regarding school children's teeth. It has been proved that at least 90 per cent, of the children have decayed teeth. At Camonage a step further has been taken, due to the efforts of Dr George Cunningham and a private donor, and an effort is being made, with the support of the Borough Council, to treat as many of the children as possiole who have been found during the examination of the schools to need dental treatment. Of 3000 children, whose ages ranged from two and a-half to fourteen years, examined, only 2.4 per cent, were found to have perfectly sound teeth. This means that, under-ordinary conditions, practically every child would be doomed never to have the means for performing one of the most important functions of the body throughout life. ,

Without a competent masticating system children cannot obtain the full nourishment from their food, and in many instances of underfed children this, of itself, must have appreciable and lasting effects. More convincing still are the details of the examination. One in three of all the children had free pus in the mouth, discharged from one or more dead teeth. Particles of this pus are ejected into thef air, particularly during speaking, and help to vitiate the atmosphere of the school and "to lower temporarily, the mental capacity of all present.

VDUE TO BAD COOKING

At eight years of age the total number of carious temporary teeth is much greater than the total of' sound ones, which figures exclude those toeth which are prematurely lost. At the same age> these children have normally four permanent molars in the mouth, and one-fourth of these were found already decayed. At thirteen years of age the general condition of. the teeth is appalling. In 70 per cent, of the mouths were from one to six "unsavable" teeth; 50 per cent, of the children had from nine to nineteen decayed permanent teeth each. Although the causes of decay in the teeth have not as yet been thoroughly investigated, there is no doubt that the reason why the teeth of this generation are so much worse than those of the preceding ones is to be found in the change of the food and cooking.

Nowadays all the food we eat is softened by cooking so much more

than formerly; in earlier times it was more fibrous, and during the process of mastication which was necessary then, naturally cleansed the teeth. Our food now, so far from acting in this way, tends to adhere to the teeth and stick there.

Worst oi: aii the changes is the one from wholemeal to ultra-white steambaked bread, Which forms the staple diet of many elementary school children. It destroys the last hope of sound teeth, since it is in no way crisp, and so the stimulus for masticating the food and using the teeth disappears. It is surprising the number of children one notices in a day's examination on whose teeth are the remains of this spongy bread. This leaus to the most obvious and efficient remedy, which is to encourage the "cult of the toothbrush. There are practically no school children who use toothbrushes regularly. Even those who possess and claim to use them only do so at intervals, and far from thoroughly, To effect an improvement it would be necessary for teachers to pay individual attention to each child, and to assist upon its teeth being brushed regularly and well.

The other necessary step is the inception of school dental clinic? for the purpose of treating decay in the teeth immediately it appears. We have found that to be certain of restoring the mouth to its perfect state, even only regarding the permanent teeth, is necessary to start with the children before eight years of age. After this there are so many unsavable teeth that only a proportion of the children can be efficiently treated. By taking the children before that age and excluding the few who have teeth defective in form, and by treating them periodically as required, it is certain that they could leave school and start life with a serviceable set of teeth.—Daily Mail. '