Care of the Teeth.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1815, 25 July 1891, Page 2 (Supplement)

Care of the Teeth.

" What ehouid a man use to clean his teeth ?" waa tho question asked of a wellknown dentist recently. The dentist replied at once : " Nothing but water. There are more good teeth ruined by 80-oalled dentifrices than by all other causes in the world put together. Tbe otject of tha mekers of these dentifrices, is, of course, to produce a preparation that will, with very little rubbing of the brush, make the teeth look perfectly clean Bnd white. To accomplish this they DUt pumice-Btone, and sometimes strong* alkalies in their preparations. Pumice-stone will unquestionably tako all the tartar ctf the tooth, and will uleo ju=t as unquestionably, take ell the enamel with it. An alkali will make a yellow tooth look white in a few stconds, but before a week lias passed it will h&%2 eaten away nearly all the 6namel and 1 "terly destroyed the tooth. In walking aX r» the street yon often see a ' fakir ' by wv.- of advertising his patent dentifrice, call a c nil boy from the crowd near by, and. opting the boy's mouth, rub the dentifrice en bis dirty teeth, and in a minute almost, ta! c eft' all the tartar and make the teeth look perfectly pure and white. Now a man like that fakir ought to be arrested, for he has forever destroyed tbe boy'fl teelh. His preparation, composed of a powerful alkali, ia eating away the enamel of the boy's teeth, and in a few months the poor youngster will not have a sound tooth in his head. The dentifrices compoHed chiefly of pumioe-stoce are not as bad as those containing an alkali, becauEe they will not destroy the teeth co quickly ; but if used habitually they will es certainly destroy them in the end. I should advise a man by all means to ess no dentifrice cf any description, unless it be prepared chalk. If this is used not oftencr than once a week it will not icjura the teeth, and may help to cleanse them, but it should, on no account, be us£d every day. Orris root does the teeth no harm and gives a pleasant odor to the breath ; and if all our dentifrices were composed simply of orris root and prepared chalk, they would bo harmless enough, if not beneficial, My own plan ia to use a moderately hard brush and plenty of cold water, and nothing else, and my teeth aro ia excellent condition."