OUR BABIES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 32, 1 October 1912, Page 7

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia.), Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health of 'Women and Children. “It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.” WHY CHILDREN'S'TEETII DECAY. (Continued.) NATURE AND QUALITY OF FOOD. So far I have spoken only of the means of feeding as influencing the quantity of blood supplied to mouth, jaAvs, teeth, etc., but it will be readily understood that the nature and quality of the food is also of extreme importance. We cannot make sound mortar and concrete without good lime and cement, and avo should not try to make sound bones and teeth out of condensed milk or patent foods, or even out of coav’s milk, unless it has been modified so as to approximate the composition of human milk. It is Avonderful lioav Avell the jaws and teeth of bottle-fed babies develop if due attention is paid to the above points besides observing the simple primary needs of health in regard to regular feeding,. proper intervals, no night-feeding, fresh air, exercise, etc., etc.

It is no Avonder lioav badly babies do when the mother fails more or less in all the above particulars and brings on indigestion, diarrhoea, etc., to further impede the groAvth of jaws and teeth and prevent the formation of good strong ‘enamel.

The folloAving passages from the “Feeding and Care of Baby” makes very clear the damaging effect of disease in babyhood on the groAving teeth:—

During illness of any kind all work in the direction of building and repair is imperfectly done. Hence it is that the nads are always marked by a after fever—the bottom of each groove consisting of tho portion of the nail which was formed during the illness. For the time being all the nails are thus locally thinned, but this matters little, since nails are constantly growing and being cut off. Not so with the enamel of the'teeth. Enamel is formed once for all, in infancy and childhood, and if there are thin portions, due to attacks of diarrhoea, etc. ,during the time when the enamel is in course of formation, the teeth will tend to decay wherever there has been an inadequate deposit of the necessary protective covering. Dental surgeons arc always telling us that nowadays the coating of enamel is exceedingly thin—often, indeed, almost absent in places. Can we wonder at this, seeing that few children enjoy uninterrupted good health- during their early and most important growing years! The mother who wants to ensure her baby sound, long-lasting teeth must see to it that he is kept a® healthy as throughout. Every illness should be . regarded as at least a temporary victory for the microbes—a defeat which retards the growth and development of the whole human organism, and renders it an easier prey to most other germ® in the future. Pitched battles waged with microbes are a waste of time and energy precious to the growing child ,and leaves his tissues weakened, not strengthened, by tho light. Yet a® soon as the baby has “recovered” from any Illness, the mother thinks the results of her mistakes are at an end ; but this is not so—more or less life-long damage has been done.

DR. UNDERWQOD’S SUMMARY. At the conclusion of his article in the July Nineteenth Century on tho prevalence of Decay of the Teeth, Dr. Underwood significantly sums up as follows:

Decay of the teeth is more prevalent among English-speaking and other civilised races at the present time than it has ever been in the world’s history. It is at least 10 times as common in England and America to-day as it, was even 150 years ago. Its prevalence is increasing rapidly, and, unless something is done to check its progress, is likely to increase in what might almost be called geometrical progression. Principal Cause of Decay of Teeth. It is due principally to the widespread and spreading system of artificial feeding of infants, rendered possible by the contrivance of civilised ingenuity and favoured by the decay of the maternal instinct and the mammary function, resulting in ' imperfect infant tissue formation and, consequently, poorly-formed teeth. 1