HEALTH OF CHILDREN.

Northern Advocate, 22 October 1920, Page 1

HEALTH OF CHILDREN.

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE TEETH

under the authority of *he Education Department.)

It is the object of this article to correct some erroneous ©pinions pre valent amongst parents .concerningchildren's teeth. It is comomnly assumed that the .first set.of teeth are

yf little "iriiportance as they are replaced by the second set, and also that it is necessary for them to decay in order to make room for the permanenit set. O,n the mntrairy the first set are relatively more important They are in use during a period of life When growth is active and the constitution is being 'built up, when healthy nutrition 'and adequate mastication in a clean mouth, are so essential. It is more important to have a .complete sound set of teevh during %is period than, at any other in the life of the individual.

Nature's meithod is that'each tooth of the first set gradually loses its roots, which are absorbed by the pressure of the permanent tooth, coming up beneath it. The first tooth being left without a root becomes loose and painlessly ahells off the 'gum. When these teeth decay early their roots not being absorbed in this way extraction may be necesaary. It is \\n* natural for the first teeth to decay. That they do so is in a large measure due , to the errors of diet whicli have ibeen set forth in pnevious articles of this series. When they dp decay they should receJiv© careful attention f a dentist,

A third error —*and one of serious that the four large grinder or molaf teeth which eoflve through at albout six years of age are temporary te&th, and belong to the first set. They are in consequence frequently neglected and allowed to decay in the belief that they will , soon be replaced by others. !

The first set of testh, 10 in each jaw, have all come thtfou'gih by the age of two years or a little later. These large grinders of which we speak appear one at each side behind the first set in each jaw. They do not displace any of the teeth of the first set. They come through about the same time as the front teeth pf the first set are coming put. They take the brunt <of the work o.f mas'i* cation and act as buttresses or outposts in the developing jaw while the teeth of the first set are being shed and replaced by their successors.' The importance of taking every precaution to preserve these sixth-year permanent grinders cannot be .over-es-timated.