The Cecil Whig., 1881-11-12
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DENTAL KNOWLEDGE.
AdHce About HE Preservation Of the
Teeth

\ htld crust i the best possible denti-
fricc. | never could get myself to be-
iere in the natural necessity 9f tooth
brush. The African nations, the Hin
docs the natives of Southern Europe,
the South Sea Islands. the Arabs. the
South American vegctarians-in short.
ee-fourth> Of our fellow men, besides
our next relatives, the frugivorous ami
mails, have splendid teeth without sozo
don't. | really believe that ours decay
from sheer disuSe: the boarding house
homo lives chiefly on pap-wants all his
meats soft boiled, and growls at cold bis
cuit or an under-done potato: in other
words he delegates to the cooi; the proper
! functions of his teeth. We hear occa-
sionally OF old men getting second. or
rather third set of teeth. | met one of
them in northern Guatemala, and ascer-
! tained that he had become toothless dur
! ing twelve years Soiourn in a seaport
/ town. and that he got his new set upon
/ his return to his native village, where
circumstances obliged him to resume the
( hard corn cake diet Of his boyhood years.
! His teeth had rcappeared as soon rs their
services were called for, and would proba-
bly, never have absented themselves if a
pap diet had not made them supertluous.
An artificial dentifrice will certainly keep
/ the teeth white, but that does not pre-
vent their premature decay; disuse gradu-
! ally SortenS their substance, till one fine
! day the hash-eatcr snaps his best incisOr
! upon an unexpected piece of bone. Every
old dentist knows hundreds of city Gus
/ toners whom the daily use of a tooth
! brush did not save from the necessity of
applying. before the end of the fnrtieth
I year, for a complete celluloid set"
! d. not say that 4 soft tooth brush and
such dentifrices as oatmeal or burned
arrow rot can do any harm, but for sani
I tary purposes such precautions must be
/ supplemented 10y dental exercise Let
/ child invigoratc its teeth by chewing a
hard crust, or better yet. a handful Of
"St. Johns bread or carobbeans, the
edible pod of the Mimosa sliqua. Chill
! dren and whole tribes of the northern
! to exercise their teeth upon some solid
substance. as pet squirrels will gnaw the
! furniture if You give them nut kernels
instead of nuts. Thus Kohl tells us that
/ the natives of southern Russia are adj
dicted to the practice of chewing a vege-
/ table product which he at first supposed
( to be pumpkins or melon seeds, but found
! to be the much harder seed of the Turk
! ish sunilower. Their national diet con-
sists of milk. kukuruZ (hominy, with
/ butter. etc., and boiled mutton. and
/ they seem to feel that their Turkoman
jaws need something more substantial.
The school boy habit of gnawing pen
! holders, finger nails. etc, may have a
/ similar significance. The Mimosa sliqua
would yield ahundantly in our Southern
! States, and its sweet pods would make
an excellent substitute for chewing gum.
! Our practice of slipping ice-cold and steam
ing hot drinks. turn about, has also a
very injurious effect upon the brittle sub
stance that forms the enamel of our teeth !;
no porcelain glaze would stand such
abuse for any length of time, and expe-
rience has taught hunters and dog fam
ciers that it destroys even the bone-crush-
ings fangs of the animal from which our
canine teeth derive their name.