Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-15

perch, he held him tightly with one hand while
with the other he separated the lips OF the
youth SO to exhibit two rows OF teeth which
had evidently never known a brush.
Did you ever see wOrse-looking set OF
grinders than these 'ere?' he inquired, appeal
ing to the crowd 'Dut l will show you that
my elegant and uneoualed oriental tooth paste
will make EN- white rs snow in jiffy."
The small boy thus summarily selected for
treatment was not even asked whether he was
willing or not to be operated upon. Holding
him firmly the vender dipped n little piece of
cloth into some greasy substance and proceeded
to rub the patients teeth with il for the space
of minute or two with much vigor and thor
oughness. Then. throwing away the bit of rag
he again exposed to the general view the un-
fOrtunates gums and showed two rows of
molars and incisors, which were in truth as
white as could be.
'All done. gentlemen, with one application
OF this astounding tooth pasten' said the fakir
triumphantly. Not a cent charged the boy
either. Step up now and buy box. Every
one of you may have beautiful teeth and your
wives and sweethearts also for the SIN all sum
of one dime. with this beautiful pencil case
and glasscutter thrown into the bargain
well-known physician who had been stand
Ing for a minute or two in the crowd turned to
a writer for The STAR ana remarked:
That sort of thing is an outrage the police
ought to put a stop to. OF course. the BOYS
teeth arc to a great extent ruined for life.
What the fellow called tooth paste contains a
powerful acid, which eats the enamel right off
tn. SUFFICE of a tooth. Incidentally the tooth
Is made white but it is deprived Of the coat
intended by nature to prevent decay. The
enamel. so called, is ono of the hardest things
in nature. After all the other materials that
go to make up human being or other animal
have turned to dust or been transformed into
other shapes the teeth are likely still to remain
as sound and whole ever. Grinders shat
once belonged to beasts now extinct for thou
sands of years are picked up at this day in per-
feet condition. But if the enamel be destroyed
the teeth in the mouth are readily attacked by
decay"
What is a tooth made of?''
1T Is not, as most people imagine. merely
solid bone, replied the doctor. as he and the
newspaper man walked up the street together.
On the contrary, II Is living structure.
Nerves and blood vessels connect its interior
pulp with the general system and circulation
OF the body. and from the pulp pass into the
ivory of the tooth an immeps number of lit
tie tubes containing threads of soft bone-mak-
ing substance. Inside of each tooth is a cavity
filled with the pulp which gives it life. Sur
rounding the pulp cavity is the ivory. or dent
Inc, and this, which makes up the hard body of
the tooth, is covered over by the surface of
enamel Both the ivory and enamel are harder
than any other bones of the body, because they
contain a greater percentage of bone earth.
The ordinary bone of a man contains two
thirds of bone earth, while the enamel is more
than ninety-slX per cent bone earth. Hence it
is the hardest of all organic tissueG.
The enamel is at its thickest points, on the
tops OF the teeth, a sixteenth of an inch
through, and consists of little six-sded prisms
placed side by side and held together by an ex-
quisitely fine cement This structure forms an
admirable defense against decay, which. once
having reached the interior ivory, however
makes havoc in that relatively soft bone; the
pulp of the tooth becomes diseased and tooth
ache may be the first sign observed of the fact
that disease has reached the citadel of the
tooths life. The tartar which made that luck
less small boys teeth so unpleasant to look at
before it was removed together with good
part of the enamel, by the acid preparation is
a peculiar secretion made by three glands in
the mouth 1t is full of small living organ.
isms as 1t Is put forth by the glands.
and these organisms assimilate matter
in the saliva and deposit it on the teeth
III the shape of what is chiefly phos-
pnate of lime. The jaw Of civilized man has
contracted SO much, as compared with that of
the earlier progenitors, that he has no longer
enough room in 1t for his teeth. Ever SO MANY
people have to have two to four teeth pulled
out In order to make space for the rest to grow
In properly. On this account, because they
are not needed, nature is steadily making the
wisdom teeth OF poorer material, SO that
wisdom teeth commonly begin to decay nova
days as soon as they have made their appear
ance through the gums. At one time the lower
jaw IN human beings projected beyond the
upper, as does that of an orang -outang instead
OF closing with the lower teeth inside. and the
canine teeth were very much larger-iu fact
small tusks, to tear the meat food with