HYGIENE OF MOUTH AND TEETH

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 19, 9 November 1910, Page 60

HYGIENE OF MOUTH AND TEETH

LAST year a very important address, bearing on dental hygiene, was delivered by Dr. Sim Wallace at the annual meeting of the British Dental Association, held at Birmingham, and Dr. Wallace’s views received the hearty support of leading representatives at the Congress. The paper is one of such general interest and importance that I should have liked to reproduce it practically unabridged; r.t lack of space prevents this, and therefore give the following condensation. In order to make the matter clearer and simpler for the general reader a few liberties have been taken with the text—especially in the direction of substituting simple popular words for scientific terms:—

Address by Dr. Sim Wallace. “Most of us must often have wondered why it is that so many professional people seem to take little interest in the hygiene of the mouth, for the mouth is admittedly the great entrance portal of disease. The natural self-cleansing processes of the mouth are, as a rule, unknown, and instead of aiding these self-cleansing processes procedures are advocated which would really appear to have been deliberately invented to ruin the perfection of the mouth and its functions at the earliest possible age. We, of course, as dentists see what actually takes place, and are painfully aware of the havoc wrought in children's mouths and teeth at and -before the age of six.” NOTE BY “HYGEIA.” The following is adapted from a recent address by Dr. Pickerill, Professor of Dentistry, Otago University:—Decay of teeth la largely due to errors of diet commencing in the mother before the birth of her offspring, and extending over the first 12 years of her child’s life. It is just during this period that a medical man’s advice is most often sought as to the suitability or otherwise of articles of diet, and he then has opportunities of pointing out authoritatively the injurious effects of common dietetic errors. This gives the doctor a great power to lessen the prevalence of dental disease. Knowing what Is beneficial and what is deleterious to teeth, and putting this knowledge into practice, he will be fulfilling the general principles of correct dietetics —for It might be stated In general terms that “what is best for the teeth is best for the rest of the alimentary system.” Further, I need scarcely point out that what is best for the alimentary system—that is, for the proper nutrition and growth of the body—ls best for tho whole human organism, both body and mind. See “Feeding and Care of the Baby,” pages 133 to 139. Dr. Wallace’s Address. (Continued). It has been shown that in some towns in England where accurate statistics have been taken, that each child has on the average about nine carious teeth at the age of six years. (Note. —Professor Pickerill says that on the average he finds the teeth of children iu the Dominion even worse than those at Home, due, he thinks, mainly to the excessive consumption of sweets.) It Is not possible to say that the bad state of children’s teeth results from failing to carry out the advice as to feeding, which has generally been given up to the present time, for it is common knowledge that children brought up most carefully according to what has been regarded ae the orthodox regime, have their teeth as carious as those children who have but little care bestowed upon them. The cardinal error of the past halfcentury has been the advocacy of milk, "mush," and soft food generally, Instead

of insisting that * due proportion ol bard, dry, or tough foods should be givert from infancy onwards. Naturally, thd cottage child who happens to bo fortus nate enough to be given bones and crust.} forms better jaws and teeth than thd pampered child of wealthier parent} brought up on specially-prepared eofi foods. The more care parents bestow on theirt children the better, provided the car® 14 sensible and in the right direction, bun nothing is more injurious than the ooms mon perverse form of care directed towards shielding them from necessary! work and exercise, not only for teeth and jaws, but for all the muscles of tha body; not only for the muscles, indeed, but for every organ and tissue of tha body. The child who is given insufficient Work for the structures of the mouth la too often the child who is pampered and coddled all round, guarded from cool ait and cold water, muffled from head td foot, kept In doors during rainy weather, and allowed to dawdle about instead of being encouraged to walk and plajj vigorously. Bad Teeth Due to Bad Feeding Habits. “It is not enough to recognise that tin} system currently advocated will bring about the destruction of the teeth, and then to blame fate or the depravity of the human constitution. Nor is it sufficient to advocate that children should ba taken to the dentist every six months. This practise is obviously necessary, and will always remain a wise precaution; however much things are improved; but it should be distinctly realised that teeth do not decay except when a faulty dietetic regime has brought the mouth intr} an unhealthy state. The un-hygieuiq regimen should be rectified immediately, for an unhealthy state of the mouth not only spoils tike teeth, but tends to ruin! the child’s general health as well. Last Food at Meals “There has been of late an enormous! amount of investigation as to the socalled nutritive values of foods. Thia lSj of course, important, but there is an-i other equally important question —4 namely i Is the food, broadly speakings hygienic? Is it such as to conduce tq health? The nutritive value of a pound of putrid meat may be about as much as the nutritive value of a pound of fresh meat} but from a hygienic point of view! it may have a totally different value, So too the value of food which lodges and ferments in the mouth is quite different from that of food which is digested in the stomach. In general the chemical composition, or so-callea 'nutritive value’ of ordinary food has les.} influence on the state of the teeth tliafli has the structure or consistency of food. Will it give enough exercise to jaws and glands? Will it leave the mouth 'clean* or ‘dirty’? It is with regard to the value of certain articles of diet from the lattef, point of view that I intend to speak. “Now, it is obvious that the hygienic state of the mouth, in so far as it depends upon foods, depends more especially on what is taken towards the end of the meal, for it is the food that remains or lodges in the mouth after the jneal is over, which ferments and causes the disastrous results to the teeth. It is not a matter of indifference, therefore, whether a meal be finished with food which leaves the mouth clean or leave} it dirty. And, overlooked though it may have been, some foods do leave the mouth clean and some leave the mouth dirty— l ! or, rather, do not leave it at all unti| they have undergone fermentation or putrefaction in the mouth. This is A simple, obvious, and Important point.’* For the finish of a meal nothing 1} better than a piece of raw, rip® supple}] while nothing w worse than sweets, chocolates, or biscuits. (See “Feeding and Care of the Baby,” page 130 “Appld Rule.”) We shall conclude Dr, Sim \ValWj article next week,