The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-10-31
cHrLpREN's TEETH.
Cleanliness Should BE Inculcated as Soon
as the worries Appear.

as the worries Appear.
LET good digestion wait on appetite and
health on both" says Shakespeare. Health
will fail to "wait" on either if parents al.
low their own and their children's teeth
ito become a mass Of decay" at an early
age.
There is no one point on which people
are so careless as the proper care of chill
dren's first teeth, and those of the second
set that erupt between the fifth and seventh
years of age.
There is no one condition that tends in a
greater degree 70 produce good health and
vigorous growth of the body than good.
sound set of teeth.
People do not relish the idea of being
told they are careless or worse, but it
would seem that a subject of such vital
Importance would receive the most careful
| attention.
Incalculable harm is done to both the
health of a child and to the integrity of
the second set of teeth, in allowing the
temporary teeth to become decayed and
abscessed, carrying pain and suffering and
frequently indigestion and all its accumu-
lated evils.
The number of children who have de-
cayed teeth, and in many cases, part OF
the first set gone and the second set badly
broken down, is too great.
Neglect is the mortal enemy of the
teeth" If the first set of teeth is lost be-
fore the proper time the second set suffers
much from their loss, and in some cases
does not erupt at all If decayed. the first
should be filled with plastic filling material
and let remain until their places are ready
to be taken by the second teeth
But a great deal of good can be accom-
plished by keeping the teeth brushed and
cleaned. The patient should be taught to
brush his own teeth and use the pick after
every meal. 1t will do the parent no harm
to practice the lesson occasionally himself
In this manner one can save more teeth,
using no instruments but the brush and
pick land, by the way, one should use moth
ing but quill toothpick) and silk thread.
than all the dentists can by performing
their usual dental operations.
Ii must not be inferred that we can, by
any means, always or in every case avoid
the necessity of filling children's teeth.
But when cared for properly, the defect
would be detected at so early stage that
the operation for repair (flling) would be
painless, not tedious, involving but little
expense, and its durability beyond ques-
ton.
If not filed then, while decaying, the
mouth will be foul and unhealthy, the lips
and tongue will be irritated, often severely,
by the rough and ragged edge presented,
the decay will be likely to reach the pulp,
causing excruciating pain, the death and
premature loss of the tooth. and lasting in
jury to the jaws and position of the incom-
ing set.
The child will not and cannot chew on
sore gums and teeth. The food will be put
down and out of the way as soon as posi-
bic without the proper preparation of it for
the stomach, and the result is early dys-
pepsia with its train of horrors The one
point of paramount Importance which
wish to urge is, that the teeth should be
kept clean from their first appearance
through the gums, no matter how young
the child may be, even if born with teeth,
as some are.
They should be kept as scrupulously
clean as the cheeks, the eyes or the ears,
for they will suffer more from neglect, even
though milk be the only food for the
younger years. The brush is the only
thing that will accomplish this.-Healthy
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