The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-09-22
TEETH DETERIORATION.
A Doctor Quotes Facts About
the Mo1arS Of AnCientS
and ModernS.
WHAT Is FOUND IN MUMMlEs' JAWS
America the Paradise Of the Den
tlst-Cause of This Fact
Coarse Food Beneficial.

Not every one is born with teeth" as
brutal Glostsr was, and just as few sp-
pear to know the true use of them. All
the parts of the human body are for USE,
and are bettered by use. The teeth are
made to bite with, and those who do
most biting have the best teeth. In Nm
extremely interesting paper by DIR. l.. U.
F.. Hugo, lately published, on Dental
Deterioration" referring to DIR. Darby, OF
| Philadelphia, as an authority, he says,
'The teeth of the ancient monks in the
charnel houses on Mount Sinai show
that the farther back they date the more
nearly free from decay they are. He ex-
amined a large number of Egyptian
mummies, finding ample jaw and but
little defective dental structure. The re-
mains found in the huacas, or tombs of
Peru, show the teeth in almost perfe ct
condition, as is likewise the case with
those in the crypt at Hythe. England.
The Druids Of Auglesei. as attested by
their teeth. were seldom subject to dental
troubles
SIN disagreementiwith the examples of
ancient teeth just given are tue Elrurian
rernains, which show extensive dental
LESSONS. To my mind the condition or
these teeth does not antagonlze, but is
rather a confirmation of the opinion that
among civiliz d nations there Is progress
siye dental deterioration. Let us see.
Hundreds of years before the founding OF
Rome, Etruria wa q civilized country.
Commerce was the principal pursuit OF
It's Inhabitants. A luxurious life was the
goal of their existence.
IF furthermore, the teeth, having been
A., ~ y ,st MA In oil Drnho hiIit W
the remains of u class of persons in whom
ease, luxury, vice and Ca PRECIOUS appe-
tjtes had wrought the same results as are
now observed under similar cirCum-
stances among us. The Etrurian ex-
amples are only apparently exceptional.
Now, as to modern testh, DIR. Beers. OF
Montreal, sayS:-1t is probably a perfect
ly safe estimate to make that in Anieri-
can aud Canadian cities of so. 900 people
not a hundred native born can be found
between the ages of four and fourteen
who have wholly escaped carries and
premature loss of some of the teeth. Ii
the ravages were TO proceed in the same
ratio, men and women would be edentu-
lous by the time they were forty were it
not by the p~reservaiive skill of the dental
OPERATOR
EXAMINATION OF CHILpREN's EET
CDR. Ottofy of Chicago examined the
teeth, of children in public schools. OF
| OSO DuDllS GIVES Jle ayes Ol i've anu
fifteen only forty-eight had perfectly
sound teeth-that is, only seven and one
half per cent. DIR. 3. w. Richardson, an
| English observer, found that OF over 1000
persons of both sexes and OF all ages.
over eighty per cent. were affected more
or less severely with dental carries, while
it was rare to meet with u person in
whom both sets of teeth were altogether
free from disease. Though this is the
extreme Of widespread dental defective
ness, 1t may serve as an Illustration of
what is found among modern civilized
nations and among semi-clvilized or bar
barian people that come in prolonged
contact with civilization.
"Not only has there become observable
in the teeth a gradual structural change.
bu. an anatomical one as well. 1t has
been noted that frequently the upper
wisdom teeth of civilized nations nave
only two roots and these often coalesced
whereas the dens sapientiR, as seen in
the most ancient Jaws eXhuMed in
Europe. shows uniformly three distinct
roots. =.
mature does not stop here, but, in &C
cordance with the law of economy of
growth she is stamping condemnation
upon the tooth under consideration by
permitting it to be of ready d~ecayable
structure. or by suppreSsing it al; ogether.
The upper lateral, too, is occasionally
missing. These too classes of teeth are
the least useful in the set, and in Il
crowded jaw they may well be dispensed
with to give their better neighbors more
i room.
sAvAGEs WHO HAVE PERFECT MoLARs.
dental effectiveness was the excep-
tion noe only in ancient man, where he
lived, rs Aurelius advises, according to
nature but it is the exception even now
in uncivIlized man. where he still lives in
barbarian purity. An examination of
his mouth, or the skull of his immediate
ancestor, will give abundant proof Of
| what has just been stated. The Earth
men. living in The KallhaVi Desert, South
, Africa, are. it Is said. complete say yes,
and yet have ideally perfect teeth.' John
! r. Mummery has examined about three
Thousand skulls of modern barbariaus,
finding but little decay and few irregu-
larities.
"Dr. Winder found in 1000 skulls.
principally of Indians, only about fifty
! defective teeth. Observation goes to
prove that the more nearly pure his
type aud The nearer to original condi-
tions man lives the better his teeth are.
But let him come in contract with &c rtain
ways of civilization and he will III a few
generations bear the induhitable physical
record of it. The teeth grew In mans
jaw to meet certain requirements of his
diet: and they performed their office just
rs the teeth of the lower animals OF to-
day, living in a natural condition, still do
their whole duty.
EFFECT OF FOOD ON TEETH.
at will be found that where a people
is of pure type, does not intermarry too
closely, lives on plain food, whica to be
comminuted requires a POSITIVE effort on
the part of the oral mill, the teeth will be
of good quality. The Scotchman exercises
his chewing apparatus on coarse, hard
food: in some parts of Germany the we'll
known pumpernickel (olack bread)
thoroughly tests the efficiency of The
native grinders; the North Siberian eats
a coarse, black bread, aud after meals
chews spruce rosin; the Egyptian
and the Arab live on coarse bar
ley bread, with almost no meat;
our Indian has a meet diet with but
little bread, which, however. is coarse;
the Terra del Fnegian mas large, strong
teeth, which perform their whole duty on
very mare food. All these peoples. where
they lead a simple life, comparatively
free from strong drink and hereditary en-
cumbrances, have but little. If any, use
for the dentist.
AMERICAN DENTISTS KEPT BUSY.
"Of all peoples. we Americans are said
to have the greatest need of the MUS.
trations of dentistry. With us are 10 Us
found almost all the elements concerned
III bringing about dental deterioration.
Our food il multifarfous and of soft pre-
paraiion. Even il it were simple aud
hard, we would he TOO much pressed Tor