Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1861-05-03
The Teeth.

| Natural teeth, clean, sound and perfect,
are essential to the comliness of any hu-
man face. Defective teeth mar the hand
soonest features, and cause us to turn away
/ our gaze with kind of disgust from a
countenance otherwise faultlessly beautiful.
| Sound teeth not only add to the comfort
and personal appearance, but contribute
largely to the health of all hence special
and scrupulous attention should be paid to
them daily, from early childhood, from the
time when the fast permanent tooth makes
its appearance, about the sixth year.
Whenever it is practicable, every tooth
| in childs head should be minutely exam
| ined every few months, by a careful, con-
scientious, and skillful dentist, and the
great Importance of special attention to
their cleanliness. the avoidance of cold and
hot drinks, and of the use of any picks
harder than wood or quills, and of all dem
trifces prepared by unknown hands, should
be impressed on the minds of the young
with great assiduity.
Harm has been done by propogating tho
notion that sugar is injurious to the teeth,
| by diverting attention from real causes Of
destruction or decay. Tie eating of any
amount of pure sugar cannot injurc the
teeth directly, because it has no residue !;
it is wholly dissolved and passes into the
| stomach.
But let it be remembered that the praet-'
ice of eating sugar or candies, or any other
sweetmeats largely, will inevitably cause
disorder of the stomach and generate gases
there, which will speedily undermine the
health of the teeth.
By insisting to much on the fact that
sugars and candies destroy the teeth, an
impression will grow that if these are
mainly avoided, the person SO doing will
have good teeth and this leads the mind
away from the necessity of keeping the
mouth clean and the stomach hcalthful
If these things are well done, and the teeth
arc kept plugged in finished style, teeth
naturally or hereditarily "poor," may be
kept in a good state of preservation for
many years.
All forms of dyspepsia have a direcs
| tendency to destroy the teeth. Wha tevef
causes acidity of the stomach, is ruincus
to teeth. A tablespoonful of the purest
syrup of loaf sugar, taken three times a
day before meals, will destroy the tone Of
the healthiest stomach in very short time
And when it is remembered how many pa
tent medicines are made up in the form of
syrups and sweet lozenges, and how com
mon the use of them has become, it need
not be wondered at that every second or
third person met on the street knows the
meaning of "sour stomach, or dyspepsia
1t has beeH shown that if a sound tooth be
stepped in syrup Cor some days. it becomes
a soft, pulpy mass That does not prove
that it is injurious to the teeth, because;
it was dead tooth !; and further, such
sleeping of live tooth is impossible. The
gastric juice is innocuous to living stom-
ach, but at the very moment of death that
| same gastric juice begins to eat up the
stomach So it is inconclusive to reason
from the living to the dead, or, vice uersd
1t is urged by many that calomel is
most deadly agent to the teeth, and yet if
sound tooth be soaked for weeks togeth-
cr in solution of calomel, no apparent
effect whatever is produced on it.
| SO far from sugars and pure candies in
juring the teeth or health. they would, if
used wisely and in moderation, as desserts;
be actual preservatives of both; especially
if alternated, as desserts, with fruits and
berries in their natural raw, ripe, perfect
state, by banishing from our tables the
pestiferous pie, the leaden pudding, and
pastries and cakes of every name, which
lay the foundation for diseases which tor
| ture for lifetime or bring speedily to the
grave.
Let the spirit of this article be distinct
ly understood. Pure sugars and candies
| do not injure the teeth, except indirectly,
by their injudcious use melting acidity of
stomach or dyspepsia, as will any other
kind of food, drink, or beverage if ex-
traVagantly used.
At seasons of the year when fruits and
berries may not be had, ripe fresh and
perfect, as desserts, pure sugars and can
dies may be used as such in their stead to
great advantage, because they are health
full, being warming, nutricious and agree
able: hence, as table article, they are
very valuable, while the almost universal
love of them shows that they were intend
ed to be eaten. If child is not allowed
to eat anything containing sugar, it will
sicken and die in very short time
Children need the carbon, the fuel con-
tanned in sugar. to keep them warm with
out 1t they would perish from cold hence,
the love of sweet things is an instinct, inn
planted by the kind and wise Maker of US
all for the child's preservation. There are
parcel O. stupid creatures in this world
whose whole stock of brains and logic
amounts to this st that whstpvet &c oooH
is unhealthy" 1t is not advised that
children should be allowed to eat sugar
wherever they want it; but as dessert,
after each regular meal. the use of pure
candies and sugars would benefit. ard not
injure. Journal of Health.
Charles Dickens last provincial tour
Melted him upwards of e20, 900, after pay
ing all expenses.