DENTAL DISEASE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20101, 18 May 1927, Page 6

DENTAL DISEASE.

A MODERN SCOURGE. SYSTEMS OF DIET RESPONSIBLE. (Special to Dailv Times.) WELLINGTON, May 17. “In an attempt to fulfil the ideals of the dental profession, a duty which has been assigned to us as our life’s work, there is a weight of responsibility to civilisation and the well-being of humanity which we would do well at times to consider.” In these words the president of the New Zealand Dental Association (Mr G. Lawrence Taylor) introduced his presidential address to the delegates to the annual conference to-day. “The scourge of dental disease that has confronted us during this generation presents a problem that was never anticipated by our forefathers, and it has pradually assumed such dimensions among civilised races that it is now recognised as the commonest, and if neglected, one of the most harmful and destructive diseases in our midst,” said Mr Taylor. “Until about the year 1900 we find that the general public was very apathetic about the necessity of dental treatment, and a visit to the dentist was beset with many trials and tribulations that are not endured to-day. The general practitioner did a certain amount of conservative work, but in the average practice 80 per cent, of the treatment consisted of extraction and ttr fitting of artificial dentures. This was partly because people refrained from visiting the dentist until the teeth were hopelessly diseased, and it was quite the fashion, particularly among the fairer sex, to prefer the appearance of a row of pearly white artificial teeth to what Nature had endowed them with.

“With the diet at present In use among the more civilised races, it is essential that children should bo taught that the proper cleansing of the teeth and surrounding tissues after each meal Is necessary.’ said Mr Taylor, “but what we should emphatically impress on the people is that they should adopt a correct diet taking classified foods in proper sequence at a meal. Then the teeth will be kept clean in the natural way, and this is tlm main secret in the prevention of dental disease. The present fashion of diet is wrong, and is the direct cause of much disease. Many members of the medical profession endeavour at times individually to impress this on the public, but what we need is some definite concerted action that will make people realise the seriousness of the position. I should like sec a small committee appointed from this association to bring before the Government the necessity of more propaganda on the subject of diet. The newspapers should be induced to take the matter up in a prominent way, and the subject of “Dietetics should be taught in every school. “Undoubtedly the change would come slowly, as any attempt to alter the people’s habits of life, particularly in the matter of diet, would be treated in a jocular and apathetic manner by many, but if propaganda were continually before the public iw the form of authoritative statements as to what was right, and the danger and ill-effects of what was wrong in dietetics public opinion would be roused, and would gradually bring about the desired change. It is no use denouncing the miller who makes refined white flour, the baker who bakes white bread, or the confectioner who sells such a variety of enticing sweets. They arc all in business simply to supply what there is a demand for. cate the public to know "hot. forma of manufactured foods arc good for the sys tom, and then the merchant will soon supply them. If we could only teach people to take fewer meals, and to cat the different classes of food in concct sequence, finishing every meal with raw fruit, or something that will leave the mouth clean and stimulate the flow of saliva, we should have done somethin,, very useful without causing any drastic restrictions. Then the curtailment of the more harmful forms of diet would have to come gradually.”