NEGLECTED TEETH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11730, 21 June 1916, Page 2

NEGLECTED TEETH.

n .mi .m. WIDESPREAD ILL EFFECTS. MAJOR PICKERILL'S WARNING. Considering tho unfavourable, weather, there was a good attendance last evening at tho Technical College, when Major Pickerill, who is Dean of the Dental Faculty at OLago University, and who was mainly instrumental in organising tho New Zealand Dental Corps, gave an interesting address on '" The Ciu'o of tho Teeth." Mr T. D. Boag presided, and apolo"iscd for the- absence of the. chainnan of the Hospital Board (Mr F. Horrell). ancl tho chairman of the Technical wvuego Board of Governors (Mr G. Scott). Major Pickerill refrained from using nil excess of technical language, and tho diagrams screened assisted those present to follow his remarks with added interest. He said the threo- great scourges affecting the human race were —(1) cancer, (2) consumption, and (a) caries of the teeth. All recognised tho seriousness of the first two, but few realised the dangers of tho last. The i number of victims could not be ascertained, but it was certain that caries of the toeth was responsible for more deaths than the other two diseases combined. Bad teeth w<are it. _ starting point in many diseases, and in treatment of any ill they must get back to the primary cause. More than half of tho cases in the. hospitals to-day wero diseases of tho digestive system, and it 1 would not he difficult to prove, that diseases of the teeth were mainly responsible. for diseases of tho digestive organs. There wa,s an old saving that " ho who kept his mouth kept his life,'' and it was a true saying. Bad, jagged or septic teeth were responsible for the great spread of cancer in the digestive orgaus. People with healthy > months rarely suffered from that form of cancer. It was also seldom, that a consumptive had healthy teeth, and so bad air reached the lungs, having to first pass through a defective month. The lecturer spoke of other ill effects arising from neglect of tho teeth, and insif-te'd upon the importance of tho subject, which was, ho said, beyond tho scope of the dental profession. Thero was far too much to be done. _ Thoy must aim at the prevention erf dental caries if tho rae> were to continue to bs physically fit. Major Pickerill gave statistics of the prevalence of den-' tat caries, and &aid that, in this country among children of twelve years of age, 952 per c?nt had dental caries and 88 par cent, of their • teeth were affected. That was a serious matter. Tho cause was not. easily explained. The problem had beej. carefully studied for many years, and tho primary causes of decayed teeth wero starches and sugars. When these remained in tho crevices of the teeth, the microbes which 'swarmed in all to work, and fermented tho sugar and starch, and eventually the acid penetrated to tho bone of the teeth. Dental -caries w.%s thus formed from the outside, by these little molecules of acid formed from the fermentation of the foodstuffs leit in the crevices of the teeth. A tooth was saved, or lost oil the. very surface of the enamel. , The enamel of the teeth, continued the speaker, was the hardest substance formed by Nature, and its surrace was most important. They must know howto preserve it. Food' substances caus-, ins acids in the mouth included bread, cake, eauo sugar, rice and' figs, whilst oranges, apples, pineapple, bananas, lemous, potatoes, nuts and meat were antidotes to the acid. Nature when providing a. sweet also provided an acid, and the eating of any foods or sweet-s causing acids in the mouth should be»-followed by the eating of on,e of the "antidoes." Regarding "toothpowders," thero was great danger ui the excess of alkali coutaiued in of them, ar.d instead of doing good they did harm to tho teeth, as they cut off Nature's own mouth-wash. Not alkali dentifrices but acid dentrifices should be used. Alkalies predisposed the teeth to caries. Concerning the toothbrush there was a difference of opinion, Somo ; doctors thought the brush unnecessary and .harmful, while others said it should be used after ever" in cat. If used, 'a. toothbrush should'he small; irany of those sold were too large. Scrubbing the teeth did not prevent decay, but frequently rubbed tha food within tho between the-teeth. - It was the soft materials between the teeth that caused decay, uot the discolouration on a tooth. '' _ _ .. 1 . luyconclusion. Major Pickerill said that ib would nay handsomely to solve the problem of defective teeth, and local bodies should bo urged to take up the question. A vote of thanks to the lectun?r was agreed to unanimously, on tho motion of Sir Boag. who said that t:;o lecture was the first of a series of public lectures to -be given on health uuestioris, inaugurated by the Hospital Beard