, 1861-12-20
IcoMMuNIcATEp.l
The Economy and Preservation of Teeth

COMMUNICATED.
The Economy and Preservation of Teeth.
The writer of this article is not a dental sur
geon and claims not an acquaintance with those
minutia of pathology and manual appliances per-
tanning to dentistry as practical science yet
with those more general laws and principles rea-
ting to its hygiene, structure and economy he
does profess familiarity.
1t is an established law of the human mind,
that it is more disposed to notice and remedy
such physical arrangements as may be termed
subjective, l. e., expressed through the nervous
system by pain or annoyance of some kind while
those which, in contradistinction, may be called
objective, l. e., obvious, but slow and progressive
in their outward manifestations, are scarcely ap-
preciated, if not entirely ignored.
Very much in this way, then, daily experience
proves that the moving masses of humanity re-
gard those important organs of the animal econo-
my-the teeth-whether considered as instru-
ments of practical utility or an element of person
al beauty.
Indeed, it is notorious and lamentable what
slight attention is paid to their healthy condition
and preservation by persons generally. They are
not like so many nails, implanted in the aw-bones
purely for masticatory purposes A system of
false education has too long reigned in this res
pect the enlightenment of the future, let us trust
will dissipate the delusion of the past.
True, like scrofula, consumption, ETC., affections
of the teeth "run in families as the popular ex
preston has it that is are hereditary in great
er or less degree. We not infrequently find chill
dren whose teeth disclose the same structural fig
ure and mould as their parents possess.
Although not SO intimately concerned in the
salutary, harmono%Ss and successful Z l2aing of
the animal machine as are other parts and func-
tions, still they play no unimportant part in the
general welfare of the body though not so highly
vtalized and endowed with nervous arrange
ment as complex as the principal organs, never
theless they have vitality, a nervous influence,
and range of sympathies peculiar to themselves;
and while, for example, gangrenous limb, or
necrosed joint in its destructive march, superadds
new disorders to the original, just so surely but
more insdiously does carious or decayed tooth
njuriously impress contiguous parts and functions,
by reason of that wide scope of sympathies it en-
Joys This is well exemplifed in the common
cases of gum-boils, scurvy gums, swollen glands,
toothache, neuralgia of face, offensive BREATH de-
ranged stomach, and manifold sensations about
the mouth generally; add to these, alterations of
mechanical nature, viz impediment to speech
ndstinct articulation of voice, change in the ex-
preston of countenance, and finally depression of
spirits.
Kind parents and guardians will not take it
amiss, it is hoped when their special attention is
directed to an important NATTER as far as con-
Germs the health and comfort of their children and
wards; a sense of duty should compel them to
concern themselves in this regard just as zealousy
and relgiously as they would supply them with
The period of " shedding as mothers say, merits
particular watchfulness; then it is that those ir-
regularities arise, which, if not corrected in time
tend to give certain impress to the conformation
of the jaws, and consequently more or less modify
the features-a condition rremediabe afterwards
No satisfactory reason can be offered why the
resources of art should not be appealed to by all
who need Them scores of dollars are daily
dropped by the wayside without the receipt of an
equivalent; sound health must not be subjected
to the qualification of the passions; an "od snag'
Or bony angle, which had tortured the poor suf-
ferer for months unheeded and neglected is as
poweress before the forceps and key of the expert
well-nstructed and experienced dentist, as was
the Nemean lion in the stout arms of Hercules.
In connection with this, it may be remarked,
that the many popular dentrifces so invitingly
displayed in the shops, more frequently crafty
silly whim or notion than subserve any real good
and useful purpose. A soft brush, and water of
medium temperature, form the daily essentials for
cleansing the teeth.
The injurious and vulgar practice of teasing the
mouth by pins, needs only to be mentioned to be
condemned
If the above hints and suggestions will be re-
ceived in the spirit which prompted them and
any suffering mortal can be benefited thereby, the
serious anxiety the writer has felt whilst contem
plating the myriad 8" ills which flesh is heir to,
will be amply requited. M.
Walla Walla, Dec. II, 1861.
Nor A BAD IDEA-A boy in sunday school