OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2955, 2 November 1910, Page 70

OUR BABIES.

Bt Hygkia.

Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health cf Women and Children. " It is wiser to put up a fence at th» *iop of » precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

HYGIENE OF MOUTH AND TEETH. Last year a very important address, bearing on dental hygiene, was delivered by Dr Sim Wallace at the annual meeting of the British Dental Association, held at Birmingham, and Dr Wallace's views received the hearty support of leading representatives at the Cengress. The paper is one of such general interest and importance that I should have liked to rcjproduce it practically unabridged; but lack of space: prevents this, and I therefore ffivo the following condensation. In order to make the matter clearer and simpler for the general reader a few liberties have been taken with the text—especially in the direction of substituting simple popular words for scientific terms: ADDRESS BY DR SIM WALLACE. "Most of us must often have wondered why it is that so many professional people seem to.take little interest in the hygiene of the mouth, for the mouth is admittedly the great entrance portal of disease. The natural processes of the mouth are, as a rule, unknown, and instead of aiding these self-cleansing processes procedures are advocated which would really appear to have been deliberately invented to ruin the perfection of the mouth and its functions at the earliest possible ago. We, of course, as dentists see what actually takes place, and are painfull? aware of the havoo wrought ;n children's mouths and teeth at and before the age of six." Note by " Htgeia." The following is'adapted from a recent address by Dr Pickerill, Professor of Dentistry, Otago University:— Decay of teeth is largely due to errors of diet commencing in the mother before the birth of her offspring, and extending over the first 12 yeaTS of her child's life. It is just during this period that a medical man's advice is most often sought as to the suitability or otherwise of articles of diet, and he then has opportunities of pointing out authoritatively the injurious effects of common dietetio errors. This gives the doctor a great power to lessen the prevalence of dentai disease. Knowing what is beneficial and 1 what is deleterious to teeth, and putting this knowledge into practice, he will ba fulfilling the general principles of correct dietetics—foir it might t>3 stated im general terms that " what is best for the teeth is best for the rest of the alimentary system." Further, I need scarcely point out that what is best for the alimentary system—that is, for the proner nutrition and growth of the body —is" best for the whole human organism, both body and mind. See " Feeding and Caro of the Baby," pages 133 to 139. DR WALLACE'S ADDRESS (Continued).

It has been shown that in some towns in England where accurate statistics have been taken, that each child has on the average about nine carious teeth at the age of six years. Note. —Professor Pickerill .says- that on the average he finds tho teeth of children in the Dominion even worse than those it Home, due, he thinks, mainly to the excessive consumption of sweets. It is not possible to say that the bad state of children's teeth results from failing to carry out the advice as to feeding, which lias generally been given up <to the present time, for it is common knowledge that children brought up most carefully according- to what has been regarded as the orthodox regime, have their teeth as carious as those children who have but little care bestowed upon them. Note bt "Hygeia." The cardinal error of the past halfcentury has .been the advocacy of milk, " mush," and soft food generally, instead of insisting that a due proportion of hard, drv, or tough foeds should be given from infancy onwards. Naturally, the cottage child who happens to be fortunate enough to be given bones and crusts forms better jaws and teeth than the pampered child of wealthier parents brought up on speci-ally-prepared soft foods. The more care parents bestow on their children the bettek, provided the care is sensible and in the. right direction, but nothing is more injurious than the common perverse form of care directed towards shieldf.ng theni' from necessary work and exercise, not only for teeth and jaws, but for all the muscles of the body ; not only for the muscles, indeed, but for every organ and tissue of the body. The child who is given insufficient work for the structures of the mouth is too often the child who is pampered and coddled all round, guarded from cool air and cold water, muffled from head to foot, kept in doors during rainy weather, and allowed to dawdle about instead of being encouraged to walk and play vigorously. Bad Teeth Dee To Bad Feeding Habits. "It is not enough to recognise that tho 6ystem currently advocated will bring ailxmt the destruction of the teeth, and then io blame fate or the depravity of the human constitution. Nor is it sufficient to advocntc that children should be taken to the dentist every six months. This practice is obviously necessary, and will always remain a wise precaution, however much things are improved ; but it should be distinctly realised that teeth do not decay except when a faulty dietetic regime has brought the mouth into an unhealthy state. The unhygienic Tcgimen should be rectified immediately, for an unhealthy state of the mouth not only spoils the teeth, but tends to ruin tho child's general health as well LAST FOOD AT MEALS. " There has been of late an enormous amount of investigation as to the so-called nutritive values of foods. This is, of course, important, but there is another equally important question—namely: Is the food broadly speaking, hygienic? Is it such as to conduce to health ? The nutritive value of a pound of putrid meat may be about as much as the nutritive value of a pound of fresh meat; but from the hygienio point of view it may have a totally different value. So, too, the value of food which lodges and ferments in th© mouth is quite different from that of food which is

digested in the stomach. In general the chemical composition, or so-called ' nutritive value ' of ordinary food has less influence on the state of tho teeth than has the structure or consistency of the food. Will it give enough exercise to jaws and glands? Will it leave the mouth "clean' or ' dirty ' ? It. is with regard to the value of certain articles of diet from tho latter point of view that I intend to speak. '" Now, it is obvious that the hygienic state of tho mouth, in so far as it depends upon foods,- depends more especially on what is taken towards the end of the meal, for it i 3 the food that remains or lodges in tho mouth after the meal is over, ■which ferments and causes the disastrous results to the teeth. It is not a matter of indifference, therefore, whether a meal be finished with food which leaves the mouth clean or leaves it dirty. And, overlooked though it may have been, eome foods do leave the mouth clean and 6ome leave the mouth dirty—or, rather, do not leave it at all until they have undergone fermentation or putrefaction in the mouth. .This a simple, obvious, and important point." For the finish of a meal nothing is better than a piece of raw, ripe apple; "while nothing is worse than sweets,' chocolates, cr biscuits. (See " Feeding and Care of the Baby," page 130 "Apple rule.'*) We shall conclude Dr Sim Wallace s article next week.