BAD TEETH

Taranaki Daily News, 7 January 1927, Page 10

BAD TEETH

CAUSE VERY MANY ILLS MISSHAPEN JAWS AND DECAY OF DENTURES. (Issued by the New Health Society, London). Breeders, fanciers and other experts rightly attach the highest value to sound teeth of animals. The condition of jaws and teeth is considered vitally important not only because of the services rendered by them, but also because the state of the teeth reflects general conditions of the body. Sound animals have as a rule sound teeth ami well-formed jaws. Well-formed jaws and sound teeth are as important to us humans as they are to the quadrupeds which we keep, and their condition stands in relation to our general health. Hence the deplorable state of our jaws and teeth is a grave reproach to us and to our civil ■ isation. It is humiliating that practically all savage races have perfect jaws and perfect teeth. The New Health Society has been founded by a number of eminent physicians, surgeons and laymen who believe that prevention is better than cure, and that in the vast majority of cases, of disease there is no possibility of a perfect and complete cure. This general idea applies with particular force to the jaws and teeth.

We have probably the best dentists in the world. However, not even the ablest dentist can improve badly misshaped jaws to normality, nor can be put sound strong teeth in the place of weak and diseased ones. At best he can slightly improve the shape of the jaw, unless of course the patient is willing to submit to a great and very serious operation whereby the jaw- can be re modelled. Besides, he can skilfully patch teeth, extract them and provide a false set, which after all is a very unsatisfactory substitute. Meanwhile, the bad state of the teeth and gums may have done irremediable mlscmef.

Diseased gums and teeth produce poisonous matter, which is swallowed, especially at night. The continued absorption of these poisons is apt to have very serious oonpequeuees. It often leads to grave digestive troubles and to various rheumatic affections which are only too often followed by considerable damage to the heart and to the entire mechanism of circulation.

Rheumatic diseases followed by heart disease are exceedingly common. According to a recent report of the Ministry of Health, these diseases constitute the most serious disabling factor among the workers. Sir William Willcox stated in the January bulletin of the New Health Society, under the heading “Chronic Rheumatism”: “The commonest cause of chronic rheumatism and fibrositis is septic infection from the gums and teeth. This accounts for something like 70 per cent, of the cases.”

People who have bad jaws and teeth will do well to go to the dentist for treatment. Neglect is a very serious master. The great and most important problem is how to improve the jaws and teeth of the coming generation and to save our children from rheumatism, heart disease and countless other troubles springing from bad teeth and jaws. A great many people consider bad jaws and teeth as inevitable because they are almost universal. That fatalist attitude is quite unjustified. Goodteeth might and ought to be universal. The fact that excellent jaws and teeth are universal among savages and animals living their natural life shows that dur tooth troubles have something to do with civilisation, and are unavoidable. It is worth noting that, while naturally-living animals have excellent teeth, pampered lap dogs and house dogs suffer almost as much from dental defects, rheumatism, etc., as we do ourselves.

The teeth, and particularly thl extremely hard outer surfaces, are composed very largely of mineral matter, especially lime. The mineral elements contained in the teeth are to be found in milk, vegetables, fruit and various other natural products. Animals and savages give to their babies and young children a considerable quantity ct milk, and the milk •of the primitive human mother and of the anima! mother is very rich in lime and other mineral substances, because savages and animals consume large quantities of vegetables, fruit, etc., in their natural condition. Meat-eating animal mothers derive the mineral elements required for the building up of bones and teeth in their young from the hard and soft bones of their prey. Tho body extracts the minerals from these, and they go by way of the bloodstream to the unborn baby, and later on into the milk for the nourishment' of the young.

The condition of teeth and bones depends very largely upon the food of the child-bearing mother. Unfortunately, the advance of civilisation has caused us to disdain natural food. Child-bearing mothers do not drink enough milk, and the mineral substances which they could absorb from vegetables and fruit are only too often discarded. The invaluable mineral elements contained in the vegetables are boiled out of them and are thrown away. Nature has placed a superabundance of these essential mineials into the husks of grain and the outer skin of fruit. Wholemeal bread contains an abundance of these minerals, but tho majority of men and women live on impoverished white bread, and the skin of apples, etc., is thrown away. Natural brown sugar and dark treacle are rich in minerals. However, we prefer the deadly white sugar.

The race is mineral starved, and as a result we are given weak bones and weak teeth, and the deficiency cannot be made good by supplying our babies with lime-water, which is an inadequate substitute, especially if mothers have been severely mineral starved while child-bearing. Good jaws and teeth depend not only on an adequate supply of lime and other minerals before and after birth, but also on exercise. Adequately exercised portions of the body are strengthened, and inadequately exercised ones become weak and degenerated. Exactly as we can get strong arms and legs only by energetic use, so we can obtain strong jaws and teeth only by giving them the exercise they need. Disused legs shrink and insufficiently exercised jaws and teeth do not develop properly.

Civilised nations have discarded food which requires chewing. We live on liquid food and on pap which require no masticating. Hard crusts of bread are soaked or thrown away. We refuse to eat tough meat, and we have lost the instinct of gnawing bones. We need not live like savages or like animals in order to get perfect jaws and teeth. If we merely learn the value

of wholemeal bread,brown sugar, raw fruit with the skin, and vigorous exercise of the teeth, we can supply future generations with perfect jaws and teeth and we can eliminate the numerous crippling and painful diseases which spring .from the causes mentioned. White bread and refined sugar harnr us not only because they lack the most essential mineral elements which wo require, but also because white flour and sugar stick to our teeth, and the sticky coating becomes acid, which (rtfacks the dental surface and gradually destroys it, opening the way to decay. Heneo it is very important to clean one’s teeth after meals. We can in this respect learn from savages, who carefully clean their teeth after every meal with bits of wood and rinse out their mouth.