CARE OF CHILDERN'S

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4870, 3 July 1901, Page 4

CARE OF CHILDERN'S

TEETH.

Because the milk teeth must, in the course of Nature, fall out in a few years, to give place to the permanent set, parents are apt to assume that it is useless to pay special attention to tbemjthey think it will be time enough to instruct the child in the care of the teeth when he Has his permanent set. This ia a mistake. In the first place, it is never too early to inculate good habits in the child, and his permanent teeth will be always be better taken care of if he has been taught to brush the temporary set from the time when he could use a tooth brush. It is also 1 in the interest of the child's and man's good looks, comfort, and health that the milk teeth should be preserved as long as possible. One of their most I important functions is to keep a place in the jaws for the second set, and if they fall out too Boon, the second teeth may also come too soon out of their regular place; then the later teeth will not have room enough, and will ! be twisted sideways or pushed in front of, or behind, the others in the row. The first teeth, like the second, are 1 required also for the proper mastication of the food, which is all the more necessary in the growing child, who needs more nourishment than an older person of twice his size. Finally, the appearance of a child with three or four open spaces among his teeth is far from being attractive, and parents should be ashamed to see them as a consequence of tbeir own neglect in not watching properly over the preservation of the milk teeth. .As soon as the teeth appear they should oe cleaned with a soft cloth, and when the child is old enough a little brush should be put into his hand, and be should be taught the use of it. After this the mother or nurse should see that it is used regularlp. The mouth of every child should be examined two or "three times a year by the dentist, and any little cavaties should be Btopped with a temporary filling. Indeed, as much care should be taken of the first as of the second set of teeth, for they are, in their temporary way, just as necessary to health, beauty, and comfort.