Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-02-09
A Chapter ON Teeth..-An Illustrative
Incident

"A WhlTHh III tuc CpIluS uclu 1tCDuOttCNn
says;
twenty years ago remember DR.. North,
then one of the standard bearers Of the
medical profession there. To great official
tific knowledge, and his little book on the
of that locality, and their respective adap-
tation to various diseases is, 1 believe, still
valued as manual of reference.
During visit with him in 1854, he
told me that he had made the early decay
Of teeth, particularly in our own country,
q special study for some time. He had at
tributed it to various causes, which fur.
ther investigation proved erroneous One
of those was the enormous and increasing
use of sugar in various FORMS But visit
to the sugar plantations Of Louisiana and
the West Indies disproved that theory, for
he never saw finer teeth than were pos
sessed by the negroes who conducted the
manufacture, and who were always chew
ing the cane, sucking the juice, and eating
the sugar by handsful during the saccha-
rine season. He had finally come to the
conclusion that the trouble in question
arose from the present disuse Of many ar-
ticles of food which formed large part of
the diet of the past generations, and the
boiling Of our farinaceous cereals SO fine
as to exclude most of the silecious ele-
ment of which nature forms the enamel of
our tooth.
"He had put his last theory to the test,
to his entire satisfaction, in case that had
recently fallen under his professional
management. A Southern lady was visit
ing the Springs, mainly for the benefit of
an only daughter, some four or five years
old, who was living poor puny, pining
life, having always been sickly, and who
had lost all her teeth by utter decay in
their sockets. On inquiry, he found that
the child had never eaten anything except
food, chiefly cake, made Of the finest flour,
and confectionery 0d lsbitum. He put the
patient upon diet-nauseous at first, and
only accepted as the alternative of starva-
tion--Of wheaton grits, Graham bread,
dried peas and beans, 30 to procure slick
enough for Natures wants. In eighteen
months time the child had not only be-
come strong and hearty, but new set of
teeth had superseded the former, strong,
white, handsome, and with splendid
coating of enamel which laughed at the
dentist. This seemed to settle the truth
of his theory; but he thought it received
still further confirmation by an incident
which I furnished him shortly after.
II was on visit to the ttle-field of
Burgoyne's invasion and, on my arrival at
Bemis Heights, learned that the owner of
the battle ground of October Z, 1777, had
lent preservation. confess to certain
ANTIQUARIAN weakness, and 1 Immediately
sought the aforesaid landowner / found
tkcs IN MI IN avr1o 10
which lay upon the site of the old British
intrenched camp, he had invaded the for
gotten grave. Of eight officers, who had
been buried in the same trench. That
they were officers was proven by the uni
Vorsal tradition that they alone were car
ried from the field which remained in the
hands of victorious Americans, while the
dead OF the rank and file were left to the
disposal of the conquerOrs.
Moreover, with one Of the skeletons
was found quite piece Of his scarlet coat,
perfect in texture and color after burial
of nearly eighty years, and two gold-faced
buttons, whose bearings enabled me to
determine the wearer to have been one OF
Gena11l Frazier's grenadiers, who were
terribly cut up in that fight. the General
himself having been killed at their
head The skull Of the said officer
had been pierced through the temple by
a musket ball, which was still within it.
This, and the relic Of the uniform the
finder had Laid aside, while he had
reburied the rest of the bones. But
at nay instigation, he reopened the grave
and permitted me to select whAk L chose from
its contents. A competent douceur OF
currency secured to me the possession CT
all these articles, which still hold. What
connects the story with DR. North and his
teeth theory was the splendid dental de-
velopment manifest in all the. skulls,
scarce tooth being wanting, and, with
very few exceptions, every tooth in the
finest condition, although the effacement
of the suture In some of the crania be-
tokened that the age Of their former own
ers must have exceeded flfty years.
Son my way home called on the doc
tor and exhibited my trophies. He almost
danced to see in those beautiful teeth an.
other proof Of his last hypothesis concen'
ing dental decay. See there" said be-
"those fellows were soldiers all their lives;
they ate unbolted -four and leguminous
conestibles; the reflnements Of pastry,
cakes and comfts rarely passed beneath
their splendid molars. And behold the
consequences No decay, no loss, per
petual immnnity from tooth ache, and
magnificent eating apparatus all their
lives! That's the text preach from here
AFTER"
And I,think the let dsntal professors